One doesn't have to do much or be spectacularly great to amass followers, how people perceive others, and ideas and what resonates with them, as an individual or collective can play a role, in which case the right person at the right time can become the figurehead for a large number of people without having done much substantial aside from being at the right place at the right time. That and group conformity is sort of funny. If you take one ordinary person and have three or four people on a crowded sidewalk start taking their photo with a camera as they walk or have a camera on them as well, normal ordinary people will and have started to take photos and ask for autographs of that person with a small crowd gather around them. This is today, with cynical, jaded people who have news stations and books about psychology. Think about people 2000 years ago. That being said as a side note to address the other half of the question, as far as Jesus character, well some fairly wise quotes have been attributed to him, if accurate he would seem to be a proponent of the golden rule, thats noble, especially in the frame of the time he lived, but that in particular like some of his other best teachings predate him and are also much more refined today. Still the markings of a nice person though and wise for his time.
Witnesses and spectators don't have to exaggerate spectacles or events to be very inaccurate or misleading or mislead. In the past, peoples understanding of senses and perceptions, were that they were a lot more robust and reliable to what we know they are now. Oh and when I say what we know they are now, I mean people who spend their whole lives studying and researching human perceptions, senses, psychology, physical abilities, brains, all that cool stuff and realizing that we aren't perfect record keepers of events and we tend to overestimate and underestimate but rarely estimate accurately even in the best of times and best of conditions. All we do is do well enough to survive. Add in group psychology and conformity and reassurance and propaganda and bias and faith and the need for closure and informational social influence, we have a huge pot to draw from as far as what people understand versus what people believe. Thats just about natural events, the addition of miracles or events that shouldn't or can't happen except by the will of a supernatural god creator and we have an additional na na na na na you can't prove me wrong. The only problem there is that Barry the Red Headed White Orca with Reality Altering Powers and the Power of 10 Trillion Supergods lives in the Largest Star in the White Zone, a place beyond even the Supernatural. Barry loves to perform miracles on Earth and he sends me telepathic messages and you can't prove he doesn't. I can't even prove Barry isn't real and I'm the guy who made him up, so miracles are problematic as far as being rationalized if you grant them any credibility to begin with, but its also okay to take the default position and question whether miracles are actually real.
Cool thread!
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