Imagine if Christianity had emerged from the Arian-Athansian dispute of the 4th century with a different winner. Imagine, that is, Jesus was a man and a prophet to Christians and the world -- but no more a God incarnate than any of the rest of us.
One of the big advantages would be the ability to see the avatars among us more clearly. As it is, Western civilization has accustomed itself either to regarding Jesus as part of a Trinity that includes another mysterious sub-division, the Holy Ghost, or it has moved into apathy and atheism. In both cases, we fail to notice those around us, and perhaps even ourselves, when we exhibit the same kind of flashes of insight as Jesus about matters that are today too easily brushed aside. They intrude into the realm of settled theology, or they seem spiritual in a world that would only scoff. Everyone's offended, and no one hears a word.
This article in The Onion nails it: every day, there must be thousands of Jesuses dying all over the world who never knew what they had to offer, or felt constrained to hide and downplay it. One day we'll push past both religion and atheism and find a way to listen to what they have to offer.
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