Good stuff, yo.

As to the scriptures and the story of Jesus, your views sound remarkably similar to mine. Please see the posts on "Obstacles to Belief."

As to the WHY, I confess to having a problem with that personally myself, as will be set forth in subsequent posts on this thread. I especially like your mentioning the karmic angle.

HOWEVER, IMHO "Diaper Change" (here above) makes a pretty good case for the incarnation ... One of my goals on this board is to discover a way Jews can accomplish the same ends without this particular means. It's my conviction as a universalist that there's got to be a way ...

As to the intolerance question, if you haven't done so already, please be sure to read the first post on this thread. Also CK's most recent post.

I'm glad you came!