Comment 13 by JeffersonBible

What was left was some 90 pages of nice teachings and harmless notions.

Such as? While I love your post, I am struggling to see what wonderful teachings were left after Jefferson got rid of all the blatantly ridiculous stuff.

For instance, did Jefferson expunge Jesus' teachings that he was the Son of God sent to save mankind from eternal doom? And that even the effect of this saving act is conditional upon blind faith?

Did he include in his version Jesus' clear visions of the imminent end of the world, where the good will be rewarded and the evil punished?

Even Jesus' seemingly indisputably good teachings such as "love your enemy" can be questioned - why should love be unconditional?

Jesus' teachings, even when stripped of the wizardry and silliness, are still hugely problematic and potentially harmful. They can be summed up as follows: Jesus asserts that mankind lives in a kingdom ruled by a powerful and terrible celestial king, who created mankind for the sole purpose of serving the king. However, man has willfully disobeyed the king and as a consequence, will suffer greatly. To avert this suffering, Jesus teaches that he will be offered as a blood sacrifice for the benefit of a select few members of mankind. Those who do not blindly swallow these assertions as true will suffer terribly during the end of the world, which will happen within a few decades.

In other words, Jesus was a creator of fake problems, an incredible fear-monger, and a pie-in-the sky utopian who encouraged people to ignore their real-life problems instead of dealing with them.

I find nothing nice or harmless in this at all.