According to HARDY...

"A man should be only partially before his time: to be completely to the vanward in aspirations is fatal to fame. Had Philip's [Alexander the Great's father] warlike son been intellectually so far ahead as to have attempted civilization without bloodshed, he would have been twice the godlike hero that he seemed, but nobody would have heard of an Alexander."

- Thomas Hardy, 'The Return of the Native'

According to Thomas Hardy, in his book 'The Return of the Native':

"A well-proportioned mind is... one of which we may safely say that it will never cause its owner to be confined as a madman, tortured as a heretic, or crucified as a blasphemer. Also, on the other hand, that it will never cause him to be applauded as a prophet, revered as a priest, or exalted as a king... [It enables] its possessors to find their way to wealth, to wind up well, to step with dignity off the stage, to die comfortably in their beds, and to get the decent monument which, in many cases, they deserve."

Well, then Jesus must be OUT OF HIS MIND!! Let's look at some analyses:

1. 'never cause its owner to be confined as a madman': When Jesus claimed to be God, some resorted to calling HIM a lunatic.
   

   "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." -C.S. Lewis, 'Mere Christianity'

2. 'never cause its owner to be... tortured as a heretic': Jesus was an 'unorthodox Jew'; HE healed on a Sabbath (Luke 6:6-11), HE allowed HIS disciples to get food on the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-5), HE let an adulteress go without punishing her (John 8:3-11), HE said HE will tear down the temple and build it within 3 days (Matthew 27:40), HE allowed HIMSELF to be touched by prostitute (Luke 7:36-50)... and the list goes on.


3. 'never cause its owner to be... crucified as a blasphemer': Jesus was accused of blasphemy when HE claimed to be GOD (Luke 5:17-26).


4. 'never cause him to be applauded as a prophet': This what Jesus was (and is) perceived to be. Even up till today, the Muslims and the Jews hailed HIM as a great prophet, and HE was a 'prophet without honour' (Mark 6:4).


5. 'never cause him to be... revered as a priest': This is also what Jesus was called-- the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15).


6. 'never cause him to be... exalted as a king': Jesus is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14) and at HIS crucifixion, HE was given the title 'King of the Jews' (Matthew 27:37).


7. 'enables it possessors to find their way to wealth': I don't think Jesus was a millionaire. He ate at the home of whoever who welcomed HIM (like Mary, Martha, and Zaccheus) (Luke 9:2-5).


8. 'enables its possessors... to wind up well': I don't think being crucified to death at last is considered as 'winding up well', do you?


9. 'enables its possessors... to step with dignity off the stage': Many times Jesus was driven out of the synagogues and towns for the message HE preached (Luke 4:28-30).


10. 'enables its possessors... to die comfortably in their beds': HE died a death that is most cruel throughout the entire Roman history and the history of mankind-- death on a rugged cross.


11. 'enables its possessors... to get the decent monument which, in many cases, they deserve': No one deserves a monument more than Jesus does; one innocent man who died in place of the sinners in the whole world certainly deserves more than a monument. But what HE got was a denial of HIS innocence and HIS resurrection (Luke 23: 22-24, Matthew 28:11-15).

Therefore, from the above analyses, it seems very clear that, according to Thomas Hardy's theory, Jesus must have had a mind that is, in Hardy's words, not 'well-proportioned'. In modern English, it means that Jesus was out of HIS mind to have done all that HE did. It simply means that Jesus must be crazy! Well, I think so too... Who on earth is stupid enough to die for people who don't even know him, and, knowing him, don't even feel, in the least, a single tinge of gratitude for all that he has done? I'd not met any such person, at least, not until I came to know Jesus. It seems to me that there are only two possible explanations for Jesus' absurd behaviour: (1) HE was, as was concluded from Hardy's words, a complete idiot who had lost HIS mind, or; (2) HE held (and still holds) in HIS heart so great a love that it surpasses all human understanding, and this great love of HIS had driven HIM to accept the death on the cross for you and I. What do you think? You gotta decide for yourself and draw your own conclusion...

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13