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Criticism of religion |
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Jesus was criticised in the first century CE by the Pharisees and scribes for disobeying certain halakhic interpretations of the Mosaic Law, for example by healing on Sabbath. He was decried in Judaism as a failed Jewish messiah claimant and a false prophet by most Jewish denominations. Judaism also considers the worship of any person a form of idolatry,[1][2] and rejects the claim that Jesus was divine. Some psychiatrists, religious scholars and writers explain that Jesus' family, followers (John 7:20)[3] and contemporaries seriously regarded him as delusional, possessed by demons, or insane.[4][5][6][7][8]
Early critics of Jesus and Christianity included Celsus in the second century and Porphyry in the third.[9][10] In the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche was highly critical of Jesus, whose teachings he considered to be "anti-nature" in their treatment of topics such as sexuality. More contemporary notable critics of Jesus include Ayn Rand, Hector Avalos, Sita Ram Goel, Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, and Dayananda Saraswati.
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That the other members of his own family considered him insane, is said quite plainly, for the openly declare, "He is beside himself."
He was thought to be insane by his own family and neighbors in 'when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself [...] (Mark 3:21–22 – The Greek existemi translated beside himself, actually means insane and witless), The Greek word ho para translated friends, also means family.