I think there are two flaws with your question:
1) You're referring to Jesus as a person and not God when you call him a "compassionate being." Of course, since I was raised to believe in the holy trinity, I am basing my remarks solely off of that belief. Jesus, in the flesh, was mortal but his own being was something beyond human pain and suffering. Jesus spoke to people not as a human, but as God. And, of course, God wants everyone to "take up the cross."
2) Did Jesus believe his path was one of suffering or of enlightenment and redemption? If you look at His life from a sufferage point of view you are only seeing things from a humanistic perspective. Sure, things and people can hurt down here on Earth, but looking past our blink-of-an-eye mortal existence we see that our actions during our time on this planet have an enourmous effect on how we will life after our mortal existence. Again, all of this is based upon the belief in the holy trinity, etc etc... so if you don't believe in the Trinity or in heaven then my arguements are pointless. By taking up the cross God was asking, through Jesus, for man to lead a life of divine inspiration.
YEAHHHHHHHHH baby - yeah?
Moat goat Noate Goat Note Goat Float goat?
OH NOOOOOOOyeah?
Scott, who also mentions goats, writes in:
Hi Kevin,
Re: "Would Jesus, a compassionate being, truly have wished other people to "take up [their] cross and follow" him?"
It's a question of being a goat-fucker. At the time he asked the question, your choice in life (slightly exaggerated) was to live a comfortable, but non-10-Commandments-following life (like Pontius Pilate, a goat-fucker, etc) or live a virtuous, and diffcult life. So you had a choice: live an easy life with a crummy afterlife, or 'take up your cross' and have it good/better in the afterlife.
Given a choice, and assuming the afterlife is as long & nice as advertised, Jesus' admonition is very much in line with his perceived character.
Having said that, I would have been tempted to cast stones at the goat-fuckers who were throwing things at my cross.
_Scott
_
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