Apologetics against Jesus portrayal as mean spirited megalomaniac.

 Originally Posted by The Wyrd of Gawd 

Re thread (PF): Reading The Bible Properly Can Improve One's Reasoning Skills.
Sorry but your knowledge of the Bible is in the 1% range. Any atheist on this site will steamroll you without a burp.
Luke 4:23-29 (CEV) = "23 Jesus answered:You will certainly want to tell me this saying, “Doctor, first make yourself well.” You will tell me to do the same things here in my own hometown that you heard I did in Capernaum. 24 But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown.
25 Once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. There were many widows in Israel, 26 but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. 27 During the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy. But no one was healed, except Naaman who lived in Syria.
28 When the people in the meeting place heard Jesus say this, they became so angry 29 that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there."
Jesus didn't help anyone there because he didn't have any ringers in the crowd. And if he had faked it like he had done elsewhere then the really sick locals would have been pissed because he didn't help them. As it was they came within seconds of tossing him off of the cliffs.

Tks for the question, I have just done a bible study on Luke 4 and I can now inform U that it was FIRSTLY the Nazareth
people's fault for rejecting Jesus teachings in the first place (U ?deliberately? omitted Luke 4:22 to obfuscate this point???!). For the avoidance of doubt, miracles are just the vehicle that Jesus used, the REAL purpose of Jesus appearance (dah dah dah) was to teach (preach) good news (i.e. the forgiveness of sin) etc: as seen in Luke 4:43: " But he said, 'I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.'" (NIV)
Luke 4:22 as follows: "And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, 'Is not this Joseph’s son?'"(ESV) .
I do not dispute that Luke4:22 warrants elaboration: " Surprise and admiration soon gave place to a spirit of unbelief. Is not this who speaks to us such words... ... the young Carpenter we have known so long in our village? " [ http://biblehub.com/luke/4-22.htm ]: basicilly, Jesus was able to descern the futility (at that moment) in his efforts at "proclaim the good news ..."(Luke 4:43) and the people of Nazareth violent reaction to His his quotation of old testament text (Elijah feeding Widow @Zarephath ,Elisha healing Naaman OT history) simply confirmed their deep seated bigotry. As you rightly included Luke 4:29: "They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there." Jesus was prevented from operating in Nazareth by the natives (Jesus hometown folk) themselves who looked down on Jesus Christ because they identified Him as just an illiterate carpenter and violently rebelled against His honest and scholarly interpretation of OT scripture.

Jesus spoke in parables to keep the outsiders from knowing what he was really talking about. He wanted people to end up in the lake of fire. so if the people who heard him speak couldn't figure out what he was really saying what makes you think that you know when you don't have any of the cultural references that they had?
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the...k04_33-34.html
Mark 4:11-12 (ERV) = "11 Jesus said, “Only you can know the secret truth about God’s kingdom. But to those other people I tell everything by using stories.12 I do this so that‘They will look and look but never really see;
they will listen and listen but never understand.
If they saw and understood,
they might change and be forgiven.’”"
When Jesus had the opportunity to give to the poor he gave them the finger.

Mark 14:3-7 (CEV) = "3 Jesus was eating in Bethany at the home of Simon, who once had leprosy, when a woman came in with a very expensive bottle of sweet-smelling perfume. After breaking it open, she poured the perfume on Jesus' head. 4 This made some of the guests angry, and they complained, “Why such a waste? 5 We could have sold this perfume for more than three hundred silver coins and given the money to the poor!” So they started saying cruel things to the woman.6 But Jesus said:
Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. 7 You will always have the poor with you. And whenever you want to, you can give to them. But you won’t always have me here with you."

If he knew that he was going to die why was he concerned about smelling sweet? The people could have used the money for food instead of smelling a guy who smelled like a hooker. Remember, this was the same guy who had told people to sell their possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. He wasn't willing to follow his own advice.

I am no expert about the exact reason why Jesus spoke in parables incidents although I do appreciate that the verses U have quoted do somewhat reflect on Jesus in a less than flattering manner by modern day public relations (PR) standards. In any case, I think teaching in parables is BETTER compared to just giving curt orders for the simple reason that they will be better understood (and remembered) once the moral of the story is discovered- which isn't difficult as long as one pays a modicum of attention (most are to the point anyway IIRC).

WRT the perfume incident, as mentioned, Jesus (being God incarnate whose purpose was to preach 'good news' (or as I call it: after sales service: so people reading OT can understand it even as technology had now progressed: stone age to bronze to iron age etc...))one must appreciate (respect) Jesus as firstly a leader/teacher. Poverty is contextual and much is also due to ignorance (waste $ on wants whilst neglecting needs etc: smoking, alcoholism etc): so the solution is intellectual: the miracles were just the advertisements/freebies really... Perhaps Jesus really needed a spa/bath treatment at that time (due to his hectic schedule) and by past records: Jesus had healed physical infirmities in an instant: it could be argued that $$$ had limited value to the immediate problem at that time: the principle cause being the Pharisees selfish interpretation of old testament text which was doing society more harm than good (misleading people): (E.g. the President of USA has his OWN aeroplane (AirForceOne although it could be argued that selling the plane (and shutting down secret service) could provide for welfare handouts to many people): still I believe many Americans support providing the USA president with his own private plane.
Jesus Christ came to correct these mistaken interpretations and given the growth of Christianity ever since, I believe that Jesus Christ has made His presence very well felt (and I am eternally grateful that He indeed did).