I know this seems like a strange question to ask but Jesus exhibited all the characteristics of someone who has schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is one of the most serious types of psychiatric disorders as the symptoms are so disabling and prognosis is so poor. Although there has been much dispute as to what schizophrenia actually is, it is generally acknowledged as 'an inability to hold the personality together as one coherent whole'

There are three first-rank characteristics

1 - Thought Disturbances - Jesus believed that God had control over his life and that he had no choice in the way that he acted. Simply put God was controlling his thoughts and making him think in a certain way.

2 - Auditory Hallucinations - A few times in the bible, Jesus is said to hear Gods voice when others around him do not. If only Jesus heard God voice when other people were around, surely this is good evidence to show that the voices were in Jesus head?

3 - Delusional Behaviour - Jesus was under the impression that he was the Son of God. If other people went around claiming they were the Son of God, we would think they were crazy. But nobody says a word on the claims that Jesus made.

By no means am I saying that Jesus was not the Son of God but I just thought it was interesting thought to put across and see what other thought about it.



Pink Fairy ***

it was from my understanding that jesus never said he was the son of god, that would eliminate the concept that he claimed he was...many people hear "voices" of a spiritual nature, in and outside of the bible...perhaps all christians, pagans and anyone else who has that "little voice" are...schizophrenic?

jesus was just a man, with an extraordinary view on life, as for his mental state...there are a lot of "mystical" things attributed to him...his schizophrenia taken on a real persona maybe? He had the charisma to make others believe, a small group of people based a cult on his teachings and then once the proper emporer came along(i want to say cornelius(his mother helena went on a pilgrimage and brought back some artifacts) made it a world wide religion...nothing mystical about that...just the right people at the right time, with the right interest...and viola...christianity is born!

i don't think there's anything schizophrenic about that...most of the bible seems to have been written by schizophrenics...however jesus did not write the bible...people after him did...

It's Emperor Constantine you're thinking of. And IIRC Jesus did say he was the son of God, when he is being questioned by the Jewish priests after being arrested at Gethsemane. Or at least he fails to deny that he is the son of God. It's difficult to know, though, because I I have no idea how the actual Hebrew translates...

The main reason people believed in someone like jesus, because they need something to believe, someone to follow.
Add the fact that he was charismatic, the eledged(SP?) miracles and ofcourse preach of things that people are looking for. Kinship, safety, forgiveness etc. It becomes very asy to believe in someone like that. Whether he was genuine is uncertain. I think you would be surprised how many followers one can get these days, if you are good at the messiah act. There will always be disbelievers ofcourse.

If he was a skit? Who knows, the arguments you gave are compelling but somehow it seems unlikely to me. He could also be a drug addict tho, they tend to see and hear stuff too.

that's him!...i was close i watched discovery all evening sunday and they discussed some cross piece believed to be the cross he was crucified on, the spear that many rulers used to conquer, and his brother james and the bone box they found(it survived thousands of years in a hole, but could not survive the trip to canada)trying to scientifically prove if they are actual "jesus" artifacts or not...i don't think any of them were conclusive, and the spear they found was too young to have been the one to pierce christ...but there is a chance the crucifix nail that's seen attached in the center is possibly surrounding something older...however they will never know...typical of great mysteries from times past?

and next sunday they are recounting the story of mother mary and her life...*shrugs* maybe they can see if she was really a virgin or not science is amazing...sometimes