Jesus

Usually a name referring to Jesus of Nazareth, who lived from around 0 B.C to 33 A.D. His birth is celebrated on Cristmas day. He was supposedly born of the virgin Mary, and started preaching when he was about 30 years old. He went around the countryside preaching messages of peace, love, and acceptance. He was commonly mistaken as a political revolutionary, uprising against the Roman Empire which was occupying the region at the time. According to the Bible, he was both God-like and human-like, though nowadays the human part is often forgotton. He hung out with theives, crooks, prostitutes, and other people who were deemed "unacceptable" by society. He perfomed "miracles", such as turning water into wine, calming storms, multiplying bread, etc. Some people interpret these stories literally, while others interpret them metaphorically. Jesus, by today's standards, would be considered a hippie, a leftie, and an extremist. He preached acceptance and tolerance, not racist, sexist, and homophobic policies. He was not a pacifist. His whole "turn the other cheek" thing is advising people to use nonviolent resistance. In those times, a slap with the back of the hand was an insult, while a slap with the palm was illigal. The scripture says that if someone hits you on the RIGHT cheek... People's left hands were considered "unclean" and therefore they would have to hit you with their right hand, and to do it on the right cheek would have to be backhanded. If you turn the other cheek, you are forcing them to hit you with their palm, which then would be illegal. There are many other scriptures like this one that are interpreted out of context and have distorted meanings. (hope that clarified things) Jesus died on a crucifix, the modern-day symbol of christianity. The crucifix was a torture device used by the Romans as punishment. Tons of people tend to forget the origin of the cross. He was accused of calling himself the son of God (which he never did), died on Good Friday, and was resureccted on Easter Sunday.