I felt a very positive impression of who Jesus was after finishing the Book of Matthew. I had a new image of someone who was a down-to-earth, caring individual. I did not find quotes of Jesus that claimed being superior to the common man, of whom sinners could not look upon (a view that most people had of their Gods for centuries before). Matthew 12:49-50, Jesus announces to multitudes that they are his mother and …showed first 75 words of 1374 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1374 total…assumed by certain influential apostles' seem very foreign to Jesus. It seems that many of the new beliefs in the New Testament can only be backed-up if you belive that Angels really did come to men on earth as often as the N.T. says, rather than looking to the Hebrew Scripture for validation. The rest of this class should be interesting. I expect some big changes in my religious beliefs to come from it.