Was Jesus of Nazareth an aspie?

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Was Jesus of Nazareth (I'm not sure how it's spelled) an aspie?

jesus of nazareth? probably not. in fact most likely not. but is was so long ago that there is no way of knowing.

Sounds more like a schizophrenic with delusions of grandiour.

Jesus left us nothing to work with. No objective clues about his personality. We have nothing but a bunch of contradictory impressions from questionable witnesses. He never wrote anything himself.

Moses, on the other hand, got my attention long ago. I've always liked him, for lots of reasons. My newest reason is that I think he was an Aspie.

I Love Moses.

The part about Aaron is what really gets me. Consider the part that says he was “slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (Genius is easy. The hard part is explaining yourself to the rest of the world.) For that, along with other subtle elements of the story, I believe he had Asperger’s.

[As a third generation agnostic, I can easily shrug off the rest of the Bible as a fairy tale. (My grandmother wouldn’t flinch, let alone turn over.) But Moses stands out to me. Even in the absence of independent, historical evidence, I know that he existed because his story rings true.]

What might seem on the surface to be a simple folk tale includes elements that no one at that time could have invented. The story of his upbringing was not borrowed from any ancient tradition (son of Zeus, death and resurrection… all re-runs) and his solution was new and unique. He stood alone, and was not “a dwarf on giant’s shoulders.” If he was not inspired by some deity or directly instructed by an almighty god, then he must have been the greatest genius the world has ever known.

Normally, the people who are in a position to make a difference in the world are not motivated to do so. “Let them eat cake” is the most compassionate response you are likely to get. The exceptions, the true revolutions, stand out because they are so rare.

But first let me tell you of a lesser miracle. In the 1700’s, the “new world” had a collection of rag-tag colonies populated mostly by ignorant, illiterate barbarians (picture them with parasites and rotten teeth). Also in this mix was a handful of the children of the elite: well educated members of the leisure class, who were accustomed to being respected and well treated. This handful of “gentlemen” suddenly found themselves oppressed, and they did not like it a bit. Suddenly, geniuses were coming out of the woodwork and putting their heads together to work on this problem. Politics makes strange bedfellows, and an alliance between these “gentlemen” and the commoners was among the rarest of spectacles. In hindsight, their scroungey little military victory was nothing compared to the revolution of the mind and the political system those geniuses developed.

As for Moses, he was connected to the oppressed group, and for that reason he was motivated. At the same time, he was adopted by a princess. He had the best of whatever the world at that time had to offer in nutrition, medical care, education, respect and, most important of all, leisure. He had an eagle’s view of the situation, a developed mind, the luxury of a situation that allowed him to think about it all. The miracle was that he had the inner motivation to do so.

It took him forty years to figure it out. Still, he took a group of people – the lowest of the low in a time of unimaginable barbary and, in a single generation, lifted them up to a level of civilization that the world had never seen. And he did it completely alone.

maybe if he existed.

(tread carefully now)

ah screw it, ill rephrase

maybe if they existed

With Jesus (Yeshua) there doesn't seem to be any significant impairment, which you need for an ASD. You can make a case for poor judgement, though, if you want, although I'm not sure about delusions of grandeur. James Frazer (The Golden Bough) makes a pretty good case he was chosen to be a human sacrifice (still a regular occurrence in those days) and part of the deal was getting to be King of the Jews for a week.

As for Moses, are you sure he didn't just stutter? I always took it to mean he stuttered. There's a good chance Moses was really Egyptian royalty, and the baby in the basket story was created to give him the proper pedigree. (Normally it would be the other way around - shepherd boy who becomes king is really royalty hidden away in country.)

Good question. I asked myself the same question a couple years ago, and decided to try and find out. Since then, I've been going to Jerusalem almost every weekend and try to absorb as much as I can about him and his life (not from books, but from reality). One thing that makes me conclude he wasn't an Aspie is that he had followers. But I haven't made a final decision yet. I mean to go to see the Dead Sea scrolls (where the Essenes wrote about him) and try to read there if I can (it's very old Hebrew). But one thing is for sure, he was as hated and persecuted here as I am, and dealt with the same ignorance and mockery I deal with. Times haven't changed human nature...

One thing that is (little) known about Yehoshua (aka Jesus in the Western world) is that he had meltdowns.

But he is good examble about celibate love I think.

Uh.. why the heck would you ever even think that? He had loads of charisma and everyone always 'marveled' and his excellent way of speaking and explaning things.

[sarcasm]Sounds like classic AS behavior to me[/sarcasm]

the times of Jesus were full of men around here proclaiming themselves as the Messiah (those were times of profound lack of hope in the people). Jesus wasn't one of the more important ones. Josephus Flavius didn't even mention him more than in 2 lines in his books.