Did Jesus Ask People What They Believed?

Billy Hallowell reports on Al Sharpton's understanding of the Gospel records of what Jesus said about people's beliefs. "Odd" and "strange" is putting it very mildly.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/al-sharpton-responds-to-franklin-graham-with-odd-description-of-real-christians/

In Matthew 4, the first outline of what Jesus said to people is summarized as "Repent," implying that these people had been doing something wrong:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-4/

In chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, which was addressed to a Jewish audience, he tells these people what they should believe about the Jewish Bible: "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" the teachings Jews had already received. Jesus did not say this to non-Jews. It would be interesting to know what Jesus would have said about the Koran, but the Koran did not exist during His lifetime. The Gospel does not record Jesus saying anything very favorable about the other religions that did exist in the time and place where He lived.

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-5/

In chapter 6 Jesus does, in fact, endorse keeping prayer and spiritual experience private, even secret. However, His reasoning is not to avoid suggesting that others may be in the wrong and may need to change their beliefs, but to avoid posturing and seeming "holier than thou" to others who believe more or less the same thing we do.

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-6/

In chapter 8 Jesus rejects a few potential followers. These conversations are not recorded in much detail, but we can infer that, before uttering the memorable punchline with which He turned each of these men away, Jesus had discussed their beliefs with them...unless we prefer to envision that He somehow mystically looked into their eyes and knew that they hadn't completely accepted His message.

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-8/

In chapter 9 various people challenge Jesus on matters of religious belief. His responses vary, but never suggest that whatever they believe is acceptable as long as they're quiet and tactful about it. In fact, He is neither quiet nor tactful in rebutting the errors in their beliefs:

http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-9/

Now a little sidelight on what I'm doing here at the computer center. Every hour, the computer shuts down and restarts everything. Lis.virginia.gov does not have any bookmarking system, so I have to reopen that site and click through several pages of previously considered bills before I get to the Senate Bills that have not already been discussed at this web site. While waiting for each of these pages to open so that I can scroll down to the "next" button, I open another page. So, while sharing these first few quickie refreshers about how Jesus confronted the errors in people's religious beliefs, I've reached the page at lis.virginia.gov where I left off before the last round of musical chairs. Since I'm here today to read bills rather than discuss the Bible, I think I'll get back to my job now.

If anybody wants to read more about this topic, we can discuss the teachings of Jesus further next week.