“He then attempts to correct *that* gross misinterpretation, to no avail. Their hyper-literal bad eye sees a man claiming to be God, so stone him already.”
Your entire argument hinges on this, that you claim Jesus did NOT believe himself to be God, yet it is easy to demonstrate that he did. Now, Jesus was a Jew, a holy and righteous Jew, I think we can both agree on that. The 10 commandments of the Jewish faith, their highest law, forbids worship of anyone but God. Yet, we see in the New Testament men worshiping Jesus, and he never says a word or lifts a finger to stop them from doing what, if he were not God, would be the gravest sin according to Jewish law.
For example:
‘And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”’ Matthew 14:32-33
‘And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him’ Matthew 28:8-9
Now, if Jesus was just a holy man and not God, he would have reprimanded these people as Peter or angels did when people tried to worship them, however Jesus never did that, he allowed the worship. This leaves us only with two possibilities: either Jesus believed himself to be God, or Jesus was NOT a holy man at all, but a scoundrel who knew himself not to be God, but allowed people to gravely sin by worshiping him anyway. There is no third option where Jesus is holy but not God.
Sure there is - the correct option, the one which doesn't start out with an apologist narrowly defining a word for the benefit of that apologist's argument. The one which discerns the difference between giving homage due to a king and worshiping God. The contrived premise schtick is right out of the handbook of psychological manipulation. That's not directed at you; I am merely pointing out how this stuff is passed on to the sheep by wolves dressed as shepherds, and then the sheep tell the other sheep, and then all the sheep get swallowed up and don't know what ate them. Nothing jumped into the sheepfold, and the shepherd stayed on watch, yet...
It's not uncommon to see in Christian writings these sorts of phrases sprinkled about:
"Every serious student of the Bible knows..."
or
"Those who deny [the trinity]..."
As if the eager reader isn't a serious student if he doesn't already "know" such-and-such, or that whosoever denies a certain doctrine is denying the truth. That's the crafty set-up: state the defacto established "truths", then follow with more "truths". These teachers will have their reward for their serpent-like tactics.
People are so accustomed to that kind of subtle manipulation, that they don't see it. They not only don't see it, they unwittingly replicate it. It's how they are taught (infected). It's the life cycle of a virus.
John 9:29-41
29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
For judgment I am come into this world...
Bad eyes that "see" with perfect vision are already at home in the darkness. If the light therein be darkness, how great that darkness.
Burns me up that because of the ubiquity of deceit, when the truth appears, it can be perceived as yet another lie. In any case, the right answer is always worth the wait. The truth is always worth the dogged pursuit of it. The Messiah, the embodiment of truth, is worth the wait. He rectifies all things, so he's worth every effort to push past the noise and confusion in order to see him clearly.