This is how the Five Gospels/Jesus Seminar treats John 5:22-24. (Like much of John, most quotes are rated “black”-- unlikely to have been said by their Historical Jesus)
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This Alan Watts’ reading of the Bible seems to fit in nicely with his readings of other religious philosophies (e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) that we are all infinity, the universe, and one. But that’s still a good point. I can’t recall when Jesus was ever quoted as saying anything like,
“Bow down to me, the Jesus,”
“Just call me God,” or
“You must worship me in song.”
Or anything like that. It seems that his other quotes imply it, indirectly, but I do believe some things were lost in translation, as Watts claims, and could simply be misinterpreted.
Let’s take Socrates as an example. There are contemporary independent accounts of his existence, and what we do know is consistent among the sources.
For Jesus, we have no reliable contemporary accounts (the minor references in Josephus and roman historians are almost certainly spurious, i.e. later forgeries added to the texts). The synoptic gospels are not consistent with each other in either timeline or geography, and are not contemporary accounts.
So no, I do not have to reject the historicity of most ancient historical figures to reject that of Jesus. Jesus is a particularly dubious case.
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Exactly. Even if we decide that Jesus existed, we have to admit that we know virtually nothing about him at all.
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