Did Jesus Christ Have A Messianic Superiority Complex?

by frankiespeakin 15 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  compound complex

  So I am still affected by JWism, although I am recovering. It's been about 3 years. I am getting better. Will I ever be "normal", probably not.

  DD

  Understood, DD. So well put.

  Apart from my own "compound-complex" (a grammatical term), I relate totally to the pressure of thinking oneself anointed, whether in the JW sense or in a looser form. I was surrounded from early youth by the so-called anointed remnant. Service to God and fellow man had been THE prime directive. Though essentially I'm out, yet I'm still in because of dear family and friends. As a little boy I was obsessed with religion and all its trappings. It had nothing to do with being force fed by family (they followed me). I guess I was a baby messiah -- ludicrous.

  Thanks, designs and cofty, for commenting on what I shared.

  Best wishes, All.

  CC
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  fulltimestudent

  frankiespeakin:

  A messiah complex (also known as the Christ complex or savior complex ) is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are, or are destined to become, a savior . The term "messiah complex" is not addressed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) , but symptoms of the disorder closely resemble those found in individuals suffering from grandiose delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur.

  That's what I keep thinking as I cover the material I'm studying this year in two of my selected study units (The NT and other early Christian documents). Jesus had to be deluded. I'm thinking that the description, "religious delusions," is the most appropriate term to cover his mental illness.

  There is no difference between Jesus and a young muslim man shot dead by police in Melbourne yesterday. It's clear that the young man suffered from religious delusions which caused him to come into conflict with the state. Which is essentially what Jesus did.

  Sadly, we were also caught up in that form of delusion. Some here still suffer from similar delusions.
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  fulltimestudent

  DATA-DOG:

  So I am still affected by JWism, although I am recovering. It's been about 3 years. I am getting better. Will I ever be "normal", probably not.

  DD

  What's "normal?"

  Here's another perspective. We all live our lives in a personally constructed story that explains (to ourselves) why the world we live in, is the way it is. The writing of our own story is dependent on the verbal and written views of the world told to us, or accessed by us, as we grow up. The JW story is a clear example, whether we had it inculcated by parents and congregation as we grew up, or whether we accessed it ourselves as adults.

  The story of the dead young man, who I mentioned in my previous post in this thread, is similar He hung out at a radical mosque in Melbourne, and started to live his life in harmony with the radical stories he learned at the mosque.

  As Jws we were no different to the young man. We also believed a story, and started to live within the story. We may have (if faced with the need) have chosen to continue to live in the story, and to refuse a life-saving blood transfusion. Not so different to the young Muslim man who chose death by a violent confrontation with the police.

  This past week. I've been reading some of the extant writings of Ignatius of Antioch. (Bishop of Antioch circa 110 CE). Arrested in 110 CE, he was sent to Rome to face trial and execution. Suffering from a religious delusion that he was on the way to meet God in heaven, he clearly started writing new chapters in his personal story - chapters that other early Christians started to include in their own life stories.

  Ignatius, the young Muslim, and our personal Jw stories are so similar.
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  frankiespeakin

  FTS,

  That's what I keep thinking as I cover the material I'm studying this year in two of my selected study units (The NT and other early Christian documents). Jesus had to be deluded. I'm thinking that the description, "religious delusions," is the most appropriate term to cover his mental illness.

  I'm sure that the gospel accounts are made up for what ever reason and that we can only have a foggy discription of the man. But if the word's of Jesus are even close to what he said about himself, then we can conclude that he was a very deluded person in his claims, and would naturally put him danger with the existing ruling elements and lead to his death. Which would fit nicely with the idea of the need for him to die in order to save the world, biasedly offered as a excuse for his absence and now in heaven the final desination for all his followers.
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  compound complex

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/269178/1/The-Four-Gospels-Hellenistic-Romances

  The real background of the Gospels?
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  opusdei1972

  I believe Jesus existed and was crucified, but I agree with some scholars of the line of the spanish Antonio Piñero. According to this line, Jesus did believe that he was the Messiah and God would establish the earthly Jewish kingdom soon with him as the king, but he thought he would not die as it happened. So, after his death, his disciples had to find in the Old Testament an explanation for that fiasco and shameful death. Of course, most of those OT verses were taken out of context. Thus, many things that are written in the Gospels were not said by Jesus, only some colection of sayings.....but, surely, Jesus believed that he was the savior of the Jewish nation, so he did something politicaly wrong which caused his unexpected death.