What if Jesus was mentally assessed today? (ritual, funeral, incarnation)

[Sunstone]

Very interesting thread!

I think that it is sometimes possible to make a shrewd guess about an ancient author's psychological state based on what their writings might reveal about them.

For instance, it's possible that at least one of the authors of Leviticus suffered from psychosis since the kind, style, and tone of several of the prohibitions in Leviticus are pretty much what we would expect to find coming from an untreated psychotic.

Again, apocalyptic beliefs, such as are found in the Book of Revelation, are also a frequently observed symptom of psychosis.

Having said all that, it seems to me the question in the OP is unanswerable by the above means if only because the records we have of Jesus are not from Jesus himself.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

I think that it is sometimes possible to make a shrewd guess about an ancient author's psychological state based on what their writings might reveal about them.

CS Lewis proposed the trilemma, saying that we are forced to conclude that Jesus was either 1) a liar, or 2) crazy, or 3) who he said he was (God). I suppose if a person rejects 3, and can't really support 1, then they must advance under hypothesis 2.

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by kadzbiz

Watching a doco on "The Real Family of Jesus" it was intimated that when Jesus was a boy he may have been ostrasized by the other children and even his sibling because of the stigma that his mother may have been with a man other than Joseph. That would be difficult for any child to bare, but also Joseph died around the time Jesus was 12 years old, which would have also devastated Jesus significantly, and then, poor Jesus wouldn't have even been able to attend Joseph's funeral to give his respects because he was not of Joseph's loins. All of this anguish surely would have caused Jesus some mental instability and may I even suggest, his susceptibility to seeing and believing the ways of the Lord. How do people feel Jesus' state of mind was during his childhood and up until he died?

Edit - sorry, title should read "What if......"

Well.... you are simply not allowing for the possibility of a "god/man". If it was true then I would think that he would be clever enough to play out his role like a consumate actor. If he was in fact "god in the flesh" it would seem reasonable to consider that the reactions of little children would have no lasting affect on him as their behavior could hardly be deemed unexpected. The issue with Ol Joe is not even that perplexing. If he were "god in the flesh" he would anticipate the early demise of his father and understand why that was happening. It stands to reason that he could easily play (real or feinged) the good son and attend a funeral. (Aside: Then again, the idea does lend an interesting twist to "my father who art in heaven"... I wonder if he was saying that Ol' Joe, was in fact, God? LOL!)

Now, of course, if there is no credibility to the idea of a "god/man", then your theory would be somewhat telling, although I think an analysis of "Prophet" Muhammed [pbuh] would be far more entertaining. They way I read his ramblings and accounts of his roamings sounds like he suffered from a variety of mental afflictions.

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Francine

CS Lewis proposed the trilemma, saying that we are forced to conclude that Jesus was either 1) a liar, or 2) crazy, or 3) who he said he was (God). I suppose if a person rejects 3, and can't really support 1, then they must advance under hypothesis 2.

CS Lewis was in error.

[Seyorni]

Originally Posted by kadzbiz

Possibly. I've heard that writings of Joseph stopped when Jesus was 12, leading to the idea that Joseph died then.

Joseph was literate? What did he write?

Trying to diagnose a historical, possibly mythological figure, who never wrote anything and whose history is known only second-hand, through writings of non-acquaintances with agendas, is clearly futile.

That said. Religiosity and religious delusions are extremely common in certain psychopathologies. Anyone who's ever worked with adults in a psychiatric hospital has met people who firmly believe they're agents of or have received personal dispensation from God.
Which of these eventually go on to organise a cult or major religion, which are burned at the stake; are locked up permanently, and which fade into obscurity is largely a matter of chance. Jesus' and Muhammad's seeds fell on fertile ground, David Karesh's took root but was cut short, Charles Manson's died aborning.
In different circumstances, who knows?

[kadzbiz]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

....Having said all that, it seems to me the question in the OP is unanswerable by the above means if only because the records we have of Jesus are not from Jesus himself.

Well put. I would have to concur there.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

......you are simply not allowing for the possibility of a "god/man".........I think an analysis of "Prophet" Muhammed [pbuh] would be far more entertaining. They way I read his ramblings and accounts of his roamings sounds like he suffered from a variety of mental afflictions.

I guess I am not. And I don't know anything about pbuh sorry.

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Joseph was literate? What did he write?.....

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean things Joseph wrote, I meant things written about Joseph.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by kadzbiz

I didn't know either that it was "generally thought" homeless people are on drugs or mentally ill. I thought they were homeless because they didn't have anywhere they could live.

Conservatives want to put them under house arrest.

[kai]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Had there been a lunatic asylum in the suburbs of Jerusalem, Jesus Christ would infallibly have been shut up in it at the outset of his public career. The interview with Satan on a pinnacle of the temple would alone have damned him, and everything that happened after could but have confirmed the diagnosis. The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.

-- Havelock Ellis [British physician and psychologist].
Italics mine.

i dont think it was that uncommon for people to behave like jesus or john the baptist in those days , they didnt reach an old age though. i mean if you leave the miracles out

[Somkid]

They would lock him in a room with Napoleon and give him plenty of medication.

[Seyorni]

Originally Posted by kai

i dont think it was that uncommon for people to behave like jesus or john the baptist in those days , they didnt reach an old age though. i mean if you leave the miracles out

No doubt true kai. (I've seen Life of Brian too).

But It's not that uncommon today, either. It's just that we have therapists and effective psychotherapeutic medications and, for extreme cases, hospitals.