Preacher "A" says that Jesus (1) was a rebel, (2) hated religious people, and (3) accepted the rich cheats and the crooks.
Preacher "B" disagrees, preaching that Jesus (1) commands to turn the other cheek, (2) was a practicing Jew, and (3) said it's nearly impossible for rich people to go to heaven.
So who really knows who Jesus was?
Since no one fully knows God right now, it is difficult to claim anyone from an opposing view is fully wrong. Still, everyone wants to be right about who God is and what he would say or do, but no one agrees. I have heard many people argue this point as a defense for agnosticism, or at least a reason to believe that "everyone is wrong." As obvious and frustrating as all this contradiction is, I can't see it being an indictment on God or reasonable proof that He can't be known. After all, two people who really know me would disagree about how I would react in certain circumstances. For example, one friend would say "Legalization of marijuana would outrage Jamin, and I know him!" and another would be sure "Jamin and I are best friends and I know would fully support legal pot!" ..and yet I usually would stay friends with both of them.
This phenomenon can be seen in most families where a father, for example, has passed away. Even a few months later, feuding family members (perhaps mother and son) will both evoke his name in defense of their position. "Dad would turn over in his grave if he knew you were spending your inheritance on a trip to Vegas!" might be answered by "It's only a fraction of the inheritance, plus Dad is the one who taught me how to play Blackjack while we were in Vegas! This is what he'd want for me!"
As another example, just watch one presidential debate. Ever. Two diametrically opposed enemies on the stage with exact opposite views are certain that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ronald Reagan would support their view. As soon as the debate turns to gun control, abortion, or separation of church and state, both sides are claiming the support of the same past American heroes. But here's the point: the former Presidents, the father who has passed, and myself are all very know-able people, who actually would take a side (or present a third perspective neither side offered). Our friends' disagreement about what we stand for in no way means we don't really have an opinion. The seems to me that the same would be true about God.
It takes a very mature Christian to be able to distinguish between the real Jesus and the Jesus one creates in his/her own mind. Especially when raised in a Christian family, people get confused between what they've been told repeatedly about Jesus and what they actually know for themselves. When you've heard the same stories or read the same passages with the same moral every time, it's easy to get in a rut and not see what's actually there: "The Prodigal Son" is not the name of the story. It's the Prodigal Sons, if it's anything, and an objective reading of it puts "the other son" as the main character, or at least equal with the prodigal. Did you know that eating the fruit in the Garden of Eden came after the first sin? Once Eve touched the tree, it was already over. If she would have thrown the fruit on the ground, we'd likely still be in the same predicament today. Furthermore, Noah didn't take 2 of every kind of animal into the ark. Many of the animals came in groups as big as 14!
So, as thankful as I am for a good up-bringing, I have to admit that those Sunday School lessons did a number on my ability to read what's on the page. It takes quite a bit of work to look at those stories freshly each time! Unfortunately, even what's on the page too often gets explained away by what we were planning on finding on the page. Instead of accepting who Jesus actually was, we feel responsible to make him make sense. Sometimes, he just doesn't. Anyone who hasn't come to that conclusion, hasn't read the Bible objectively.
Another cause of the opposing views of Jesus comes when a Christian knows for sure they are not supposed to do something, and they assume the same applies to the whole world. An alcoholic, for example, won't be right in his spirit if he takes even one drink of alcohol. The same is obviously not true for many Christians, including...yep, Jesus. When a preacher (or an extroverted Christian) can't distinguish between what they are supposed to do and what's right for humanity, the Christian name gets wrecked for all of us. It may be true that the Bible has some bad things to say about people who are drunk, but using the Bible to eliminate alcohol from the church steps way outside the bounds of Jesus' teachings. Call it your personal choice, call it your organization's principle, but don't call it Christianity.
Of course, alcohol is only one, polarizing example. The church divides on hundreds of such issues all the time. For more on this principle, see Romans 14.
In conclusion, I have found that nearly the majority of things which are claimed about Jesus are sketchy, at best: debatable topics that don't have a definite answer in scripture or anywhere else. When I honestly look for the reality of Jesus, what I find is relatively shocking, so I won't ruin the surprises. Look for yourself. Be open to what you might find about him when you don't go into it assuming you already know the answers.
