Is Jesus a Narcissist?
Spoiler: No He's Not. In Which I Bang on about a clip from The View
I can’t really tell, because I’m still locked out of my main twitter account (it’s a long story), but it seems like a lot of people online are chattering about the falling birth rate, whether or not the war in Iran can be considered a just war, women’s work, and lots and lots of stuff about AI. But I have dutifully promised Matt to only bring up AI in only like every third or fifth post, and also, a dear person sent me something super fun from the View.
Apparently, the Ladies (I use the term loosely) were all talking about President Trump’s Meme of Blasphemy, rightly observing that it was full of pride and hubris, and that he isn’t Jesus or even a doctor. But then Joy Behar put her invincible ignorance on glorious display and, as everyone certainly would have guessed, hilarity ensued. Give it a watch:
In case you didn’t want to click play, Grok provided me with the following brief transcript:
BEHAR: Yeah, but Jesus himself did not run around saying, “I’m the messiah. I’m the messiah.”
FARAH GRIFFIN: Uh, Jesus did kind of say ‘I am the messiah.’
SARA HAINES: That’s exactly what Jesus said, ‘I am the messiah.’
BEHAR: No, he did not. Jesus was more modest than that. Listen, I knew Jesus.[Crosstalk; laughter from the panel when she says “I knew Jesus”]
BEHAR: Jesus was not narcissistic like this guy.
HAINES: But when you are the messiah, it’s not narcissism to say it!
BEHAR: Yes, it is!
HAINES: When you are the messiah?
BEHAR: Yes.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I’m going to move this along. Because this is like — it’s too much for me.
I feel a little bit sad—only barely a little—that I don’t watch The View as a regular and disciplined part of my life. I don’t know how I would, though. Is one required to own a TV? Like with Cable? I can’t even remember how that sort of thing works. And it would be so strange to sit through a whole program that hadn’t been neatly spliced into little digestible bits, like this.
Also, I can’t help but wonder, does one need much more context in an episode like this? Would I have been blessed to have watched a whole hour of supposed experts dribbling on about politics and religion? I think it is better to admit that we are all experts now. To be an expert is just to get online and say whatever you like on whatever subject without worrying about its veracity or helpfulness. Madam Behar seems full up to the brim of information. It is all wrong, but the confidence and vigor with which she knows it is so charming.
As a non-expert myself, being merely an undisciplined reader of the Scriptures in the sort of haphazard way that one does, I feel I must point out that Jesus did claim to be the Messiah and to be the Son of God. He made these claims not because he was full of himself, but because they are true.
