I thought long and hard about whether this AI might offend the feelings of believers. However, I don’t think it’s likely, since there’s no blasphemy here. And there are no more fantasies about Christ here than there are in *The Master and Margarita*. So I present to you this very rare example of, so to speak, biblical alternatives. As far as I can recall, this is the first AI of this nature on the site.
Jesus chooses a completely different path, both literally and figuratively. He accepts the offer to rule over all the kingdoms of the world. Endowed with free will, he chooses the earthly path and launches a revolutionary movement that is not focused on restoring the Maccabees’ power or elevating the role of the Sadducees. He proclaims a Kingdom in which the Last will be First—understood by people as something that will serve their needs.
With a growing popular movement behind him, he enters Jerusalem at Passover, and when the Temple guards are about to arrest him, news of this spreads among his supporters throughout the city, and a mass uprising begins against the Temple priests and the secular Roman occupying authorities. The next morning, at an emergency session of the Sanhedrin (some claim it was convened at swordpoint), the Council proclaims him King and Messiah and promises to allocate all funds from the treasury to support the uprising.
The Nazarene’s army, as it came to be known, successfully drove the Roman troops out of the city and, in a series of bold strikes across the Levant, captured major cities in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Jesus instructs his apostles to make disciples of all nations, especially those under Roman rule. His apostles set out to proclaim the message that in the Kingdom of God, citizenship will be granted to all—there will no longer be Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. All will have dignity in this holy kingdom.
Uprisings outside Judea break out in Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. The Romans suddenly find themselves fighting a war on all fronts, as all the subjugated peoples of the Empire rise up en masse and engage in a brutal war, skillfully employing guerrilla tactics. Roman commanders were unprepared for this turn of events and for the charismatic and strangely likable leader of this newly emerged kingdom.
By the time the Romans realize just how badly things have turned out for them, it is already too late. They have no choice but to ask for peace. Jesus makes one unyielding demand. While acknowledging the role Rome played in liberating Israel from Greek oppression, he demands that Rome return to the state in which Israel first encountered it—a republic governed by the Senate and consuls and confined to the Italian peninsula, as recorded in 1 Maccabees 8. Rome has no choice but to agree, and the Praetorian Guard deposes the emperor and restores rule to the Senate and a consul elected by the plebs.
The Empire’s provinces of Gaul, Iberia, and Illyria are liberated and become independent states. The other provinces become states under protectorate status. Jesus appoints a Phoenician aristocrat as “King of Carthage” in the newly reestablished Kingdom of New Carthage. In addition, the “Macedonian Protectorate” is established as a buffer state. The lands of historic Macedonia lie within the borders of the Israeli Empire, and many see the name of this state as a not-so-subtle attempt to disparage Alexander’s legacy.
The issue of succession to the throne has not yet been definitively resolved, but there are rumors that a “council” of ministers, priests, Pharisees, scribes, and political leaders will convene to elect a new emperor when the time comes.
Source — https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1h8lgjs/jesus_takes_a_very_different_path/
