• "Jesus Is Probably Insane": Diagnostic Surveys
• Hallmarks of Ten Personality Disorders

"Jesus Is Probably Insane": Diagnostic Surveys

This page gives access to all the diagnostic criteria of ten main personality disorders. As you can see in the light of many of them, there is much biblical evidence to support the tentative diagnosis of Jesus as a histrionic, paranoid and antisocial psychopath.

What if "birds" of a feather flock together? What evidence do we have that Christian "angels" are OK, or exist? For one thing, simple goose wings fastened at their back will not carry them along.

Is there something in "Birds of a feather flock together" and "Like attracts like"? Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." [Mark 2:17; cf. Matthew 9:12-13]

And is there any good reason to maintain that a multipsychopath is greater and wiser than other people? It might depend on how such a psychopath is and acts, but it is usually very good counsel to stay away from fools a lot - and psychopaths altogether - unless you are armed and alert, or something. The healthy do not need psychopaths around; nor do they demand it.

Bible evidence may not be reliable, so take that option into account. This source makes claims to be the word of God, that is reliable and true. But it is clearly not. Scholars have found out, and many reasons for it are divulged too. [Link]

But such evidence is mainly what we are to look into in the following; and according to gospels and the like, Jesus was either a liar or insane, or both. It should not be too difficult to find non-Christian experts on mental disorders and diseases to make a discursive diagnosis resulting in "Jesus Was a Lot Insane or Something" from carefully documented criteria applied to the gospel evidence. Modesty is not all there is to life, remember.

Jesus is the originator of one of the tensest sects in history. And Christianity generates wild sects year by year and tear by tear, so to speak. Look to the fruits to determine the tree, is the teaching. The cult of Christianity took off from Judaism with ruins in its wake. Millions of its cultish members were made martyrs.

A wild and tense one

If you click on the blue disorder headings further down, on the second half of the page, you get to the definitions of ten main personality disorders to judge him and others by, but tentatively at first. The World Health Organisation's criteria are offered, and those used by the American Psychiatrist Association (APA). And if you compare the criteria of each mental disorder with weighty things the gospels say about Jesus, you might get astonished. I have served many disorder-linked points here on this page, so you have something to chew on first. It helps to be informed, and also to be carefully guarded.

Train yourself a little as a diagnostician before you publicly claim something like "Jesus is a horrible Multiple Psychopath as judged by the gospel evidence". It is well to conclude from the data given, without stretching the evidence or findings beyond the legitimate borders. Blind belief and blind disbelief are not fit solutions. Eventually you may not be served by talking too big and as a result get a bizarre reputation; instead be well guarded. The proper procedure is: Make up your own mind and guard the privacy of your own thoughts for safety. But if at least three symptoms of any personality disorder seem to fit him nicely, do not be afraid to note it down and weigh him as well as you can.

The four requirements the Gentile Church is founded on, are they merely asides?

Demands to abandon. The influence of Jesus with strange and self-molesting demands coupled with those of hard-headed fools around could mar the fare of lives of today. Think about how he really promotes the spread of great badness by decreeing that as his follower you should cut off your offending limbs, even eyes, give in to robbers and not press charges, and yield insistent beggars who want your housing even, choose poverty, cast mountains into the sea, and so on.

However: See what well-off, so-called followers of Jesus actually do, and note how divergent his demands are. What is wrong in such a picture? Is is hypocricy and arrogance, or is there a good enough reason at the bottom of these things? Or a marring blend of not knowing and ignoring what is Christianity for non-Jewish followers [Acts 21:25], and disregarding the stiff demands of Jesus anyway?

The danger of hypocrites. There can be many dangerously misled Christians - Many cliché-ridden followers seem to be fake followers or rude hypocrites in that they do not obey him and do not show the gospel's key signs of true, poor followers - Mark their signs in passing here: [Things followers can do].

Moreover, the authoritarian, commanding Jesus is reported to have condemned hypocrites to hell. That might have included flaunting followers who disregard his key sayings too, if it were not for Acts 15. The decisions there may have saved non-Jewish Christians from obeying Jesus: Merely to call him "Lord, Lord" in a strange "faith" that does not make mountains cast themselves into the sea won't do the trick, nor would the faith that does cast mountains into the sea and prophesies correctly (for once). Jesus condems such people too - "Condemned if you do, condemned if you don't" - if he finds you are a hypocrite, that is. [Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:22-23]

For Jews Only, He Said

As luck would have it, Jesus - "son of David" through Joseph, and "son of God by an angel, and God? - or . . ." - said he came for Jews only, and would not deal with others.

Who was he the son of, except Mary? Why have Christians been keen on telling she was a virgin who conceived? Opposed to that odd tale, for centuries Jews have been fond of telling that his father was a Roman soldier, an archer called Pantera. Origen quotes Celsus from the 100s CE in order to refute him:

Jesus had come from a village in Judea, and was the son of a poor Jewess who gained her living by the work of her own hands. His mother had been turned out of doors by her husband, who was a carpenter by trade, on being convicted of adultery [with a soldier named Panthéra (i.32)]. Being thus driven away by her husband, and wandering about in disgrace, she gave birth to Jesus, a bastard. Jesus, on account of his poverty, was hired out to go to Egypt. While there he acquired certain (magical) powers which Egyptians pride themselves on possessing. He returned home highly elated at possessing these powers, and on the strength of them gave himself out to be a god. [1]

The story is about as old as gospels or gospel parts, and is at least from the second century, yet there is no reliable evidence to confirm it. Jesus was at any rate accused by the Pharisees of being "born of fornication" [John 8:41]. Further, Jews had strict rules for name-giving. A son was named after his mother only when the father was unknown. In Mark 6:3, Jesus is referred to as "the carpenter, the son of Mary (etc.)."

Questions about his father put aside for now, rest reasonably assured that the later-added missionary command at the end of Matthew was made up and inserted long after - a few centuries, perhaps. But as tough luck would have it, his commands are for Jewish followers and not for non-Jews.

Still, non-Jewish believers - there were very few other believers in the early Church - were made martyrs in the millions. Why were they not reminded of words to surpass Jesus in the right Spirit [John 14:12,14], and pray off as they should? [Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23; Matthew 17:21] They should have easily avoided the calamity and got splendid lives too. But somehow they did not. They became victims of less than first-class teachings.

And all those who call Jesus "Lord" without doing what he appears to command, may not be that bad, after all. The vast throngs who think they fail miserably in following Jesus, have they been duly informed about those relaxed "rules of the game" for non-Jewish followers? There are four requirements for non-Jewish followers, just four, Acts state, and commands of Jesus are not mentioned a bit. So there may be hope for those who have ignored Jesus and not delighted in black pudding, odd as it may sound to the uninitiated.

Acts 15 (and Acts 21:25) in the New Testament contains those pivoting passages, the very foundation for non-Jewish followers. There are only four requirements, it says. One of them is no to blood food, which is scoffed at nowadays, even though there is no Bible evidence that it is OK to discard or circumvene it. There are many bluffers around. Make sure you are not among them, and study well. Consider there could be worse things yet to come for all who have eaten black pudding, according to a Scripture. The kernel of the thing is that all the apostles and the Holy Spirit agreed on these four requirements:

The apostles and elders, with the whole church . . . sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings . . . we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. [Acts 15:22-29]

The four requirements are repeated in Acts 21:25. "As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality."

Blood Food Is Relished by Christians in Many Countries -

One of the marked rascality sides to current Christianity, at least where I come from, is to delight in blood food and looking down on adulterers, without even for a second consider that these things are rather equal, according to the Deal for non-Jewish followers - that is, almost all who call themselves Christians, without doing what Jesus tells followers are to do and are able to do anyway. And if you are honest, you may disregard and shoo Christianity altogether, for the sake of health, thriving, and sound development, for example. There are other good reasons too. "Stay as classy as you can" should be a great one.

And now, back to diagnostic surveys:

Diagnostic surveys on

Apply the key points of various mental disorders to the Jesus you find described in the gospels, and deal warily with the findings, since the gospels are not all that reliable witness accounts, for one thing. You may go on and grade the suspected symptoms you detect, into "(they are) there" and "more severe (ones)", for that is how mental disorders are diagnosed in outline: Pick your choice, try to excel in the art of matching the assembled, official characteristics and striking features of a person.

There is biblical evidence that Jesus was a histrionic, paranoid and antisocial psychopath, for example - not just outrageously garrulous. But do not be scapegoated for "canonising" your findings by making the verdicts official as your stand in public in some dangerous, overly explosed place like a cliff [cf. Luke 4:28-29] or whatever: Consider the consequences . . . for example that some that are set on being hailed as God, or banding with such a one, can be of sick minds, quite insane, even dangerous criminals under the surfaces. Such criminals and sickly sheep are not just marked by rude unconcern. And what is more, Jesus did not come for healthy persons, he says, and also told that being healthy is better than being ill - not to speak of better than being a slave and sheep (conform at it too). [Matthew 9:12-13]

Opposed to criminals and sick sheep, going for health of mind and spirit and survive thus is no error. Since the gospel's message is that healthy ones do not need Jesus and therefore should not be called by him - nor should non-Jews - some sheep that escape him, might have potential for something better and lead all right lives too.

"What is the use of worrying? / It never was worthwhile," writes George Asaf (1880-1951) in a song [Oq 423]. Many times it is, though. Do what is apt with mockingbirds and untruths, but furnish and keep some mental space or "room" for openings too.

Hallmarks of Ten Personality Disorders

Points pertaining to Jesus of the New Testament by diagnostic criteria

Note: The diagnostic criteria used by WHO and APA are shown on a separate page. Click on the headlines for getting to them. And see how he scores!

Antisocial Personality Disorder (Psychopaths and sociopaths):

• He wanted to create a new world order.
  
• Disparity between behaviour and the prevailing social norms.
  
• Relative unconcern for the feelings of most Pharisees and priests or scribes of Israel.
  
• Persistent disregard for social norms, rules and obligations, but speaking with two mouths in so doing.
  
• Having difficulty in establishing social relations. - For what it is worth, take into account such as: the authorities had Jesus killed, his relatives wanted to drive him out of a cliff, and almost all of his disciples ("the seventy") left him because of his hard words, and the remaining twelve disciples just let him be arrested.
  
• Low tolerance to frustration, as witnessed by his cursing a fig tree.
  
• A low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence, in the same episode.
  
• Incapacity to profit from his punishment, insisting to be God throughout.
  
• Marked proneness to blame others for what brought him into conflict with society.
  
• Quite irritable as an associated feature.

There could be ample reason to diagnose Jeshua ben Miriam as a psychopath (sociopath), then, by the most updated, current standards. However, just as the good poet Kahlil Gibran was into, a thread in a web (Jesus among his people) may break if the web is wrongly made. The Scottish psychologists Ronald Laing takes that point into account too, when someone deviates markedly from society and is not welcomed for that reason, or turns bad or mad from it. Simply put: It might be the fault of the society, or might have been so at first! There is still much to consider.

Also, not a few multinational corporations may be diagnosed thus too, as psychopathic. They are marked by striking unconcern with long-range profits. One may see a psychiatrist's diagnosis of the multinational corporation in the Canadian documentary The Multinational Corporation. The Norwegian TV channel NRK sent the eye-opener on 21 April 2007. Dr. Robert Hare, a consultant to the FBI on psychopaths, draws parallels between a psychopath and the modern corporation. His findings confirm the following behaviour:

1. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others;
2. Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships;
3. Reckless disregard for the safety of others;
4. Deceitfulness: Repeated lying to and deceiving of others for profit;
5. Incapacity to experience guilt;
6. Failure to conform to the social norms with respect to lawful behaviors.

Source: The Corporation, a 2003 Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and co-directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott.

Anxious (Avoidant) Personality Disorder :

• Feelings of inadequacy from early childhood, where innocent babies were ruthlessly killed and his family fled to Egypt.
  
• Feelings of inadequacy versus Jews; they refused him.
  
• His original mission failed.
  
• Pervasive feelings of apprehension.
  
• Excessive preoccupation with being criticized and rejected by scribes and priests and Pharisees in social situations, not to speak of being rejected by the people while hanging on a cross.
  
• Abnormal restrictions [and demands for it] in lifestyle.
  
• Avoiding occupational activities due to blunt rejection.
  
• He spoke many times as if hypersensitive to rejection.

Borderline Personality Disorder:

• Outbursts of threatening behaviour in response to criticism by others; he used the concept of hell that way, for example.
  
• Significantly unstable interpersonal relationships.
  
• First he was for Jews only, later, when they discarded him almost totally, he seemed to focus on other peoples.
  
• You should ask whether or how far he showed suicidal or self-mutilating behaviour when steered right into torture and death and foretold that his followers would be cruelly treated too.
  
• Unstable self-image may be sniffed at by insistence that he was the son of David (of that line) by his stepfather, and not son of God by an angel - or both.
  
• Self-mutilating threats against those in charge of the temple and the religious life of Jews at the time.
  
• Irritability with a lot of people.
  
• Difficulty in controlling anger, display of anger in such as whipping temple people.
  
• At times what may be taken to be stress-related paranoid ideations of wickedness, as when he charged against Peter that wanted to build a hut on a mountain. "Get thee away from me, Satan."

Dependent Personality Disorder:

• Unable to make any decisions or take an independent stand on his or her own - must leave it to his so-called Father that almost no one sees.
  
• Considerable personal distress may become apparent late in his life.
  
• Significant problems in social performance: he was crucified.
  
• Subordination of one's own needs to a top-dog, so to speak.
  
• Undue compliance with top-dog wishes.
  
• Feeling quite helpless before taking up his cross, praying in a garden.
  
• Left to care for himself, his village wanted to hurl him over a cliff, even.
  Limited capacity to make everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others.
  
• His reported victory for all over all is a self-defeat, which one has to consider as a disorder, maybe a long standing one, since his calls to followers included many demands on self-molestations and self-denials.

Histrionic Personality Disorder:

• Inappropriate displays of emotional reactions, cursing fig trees, even.
  
• Approaching theatricality in everyday behaviour.
  
• Sudden emotion expressions.
  
• Steadily seeking approval as the Messiah, or attention; over-seductive attractiveness (he has followers despite the long list), and martyrised a lot of them.

Narcissistic:

• Utter, fancied grandiosity, a call to be admired, an inability to see the viewpoints of others, etc.
  
• An excessive sense of how important they are.
  
• They demand and expect to be admired and praised by others and are limited in their capacity to appreciate others' perspectives.
  
• Need for admiration ("You are the Messiah (Christ)") - a grandiose sense of self-importance, expecting to be recognized as superior (God, even).
  
• Often occupied with quarrels on account of it.
  
• His (or her) fantasies that serve to illustrate a drive for extreme admiration can hardly understood by close ones at first, only on sound inspection.
  
• Takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends - for example by "shanghaiing" disciples.
  
• Peter was taken away from his wife, in fact. Haughty dealings in telling off others that he came from above, they from below.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder:

• Hinged on perfectionism with inflexibility, etc.
  
• See further down for details.

Paranoid Personality Disorder:

• Garrulous.
  
• Extreme distrust of scribes and Pharisees, others.
  
• Lack of trust in Herod the King too.
  
• Suspicious of their motives, never trusting himself to the leaders of his people, who diagnosed him as devil-possessed, insane, and at any rate a blasphemer.
  
• A pervasive suspiciousness of the doctors and clergy is seen in the gospels; their motives for upholding the Law given by his so-called Father when Jesus wanted differently, are interpreted as malevolent.
  
• He suspects them of harming intent, is reluctant to confide in all of them, reads threatening meanings into being rejected by them, even.
  
• Holds grudges against Jews by saving "all others" instead of them, even after given all power, allegedly.

Schizoid Personality Disorder:

• Hardly enjoys being part of a family.
  
• Seems to have little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder:

• Odd beliefs, and eccentricities of style and thought (e.g., belief in having magical powers).
  
• Very eccentric behaviours, perceptions, and thinking.
  
• Note his ideas of reference; odd beliefs or magical thinking; belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; and bizarre-looking preoccupations of casting demons out of people.
  
• There is very over-elaborate speech in John.
  
• Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation - "You must all be victims, for I was" - which is constricted affect and peculiar behaviour from someone who died for all, to the end of putting them right with God, not having them killed in millions in the first place.
  
• Excessive fears may be halfway suspected behind many commands of self-mutitation, and denigrations of most others (competitors).

It adds up. A power-hungry psychopath shares many traits with the Jesus of the four gospels.