The mistake that Christendom makes is assuming that the writers of the NT books knew any more about God than preachers do today. Toss a story and a rumor around about a dead leader for about 40 years before anyone writes the story down and there's no telling what the original story and rumor was.
Assuming that the words of the rumor spreaders are God-breathed is another mistake.
The more likely story is that Jesus was a Jewish itinerant preacher going around preaching that God would restore the kingdom to Israel - soon. He ran afoul of the authorities and got himself crucified.
To add insult to injury, his grieving followers discovered his body missing from his temporary tomb. What was his followers to do, since the authorities were hunting for them for sedition too?
They scatter, that's what they do. Then lo and behold, one of them claims to have seen the leader alive and that gets the ball rolling on a resurrection story because, not to be outdone, others start claiming to have seen him alive again also.
Then all kinds of things get invented about the leader; miracles, virgin birth, ascension to heaven, holy spirit possession etc. Eventually, the leader becomes God himself and part of a Trinity.
And, here we are today, with people seriously discussing the nonsensical rumor of a god-man as if it were all true.
The problem is, brainwashed is brainwashed. It's very hard to deprogram somebody who doesn't even know they need it. Imagine if we never told our children there was no Santa Claus. Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder how many adults are walking around right now that think there IS a toy factory at the North Pole.
ReplyDeleteI had a discussion once with an X-COG:Current Catholic about how, for all we know, "The Lord of the Rings" could be a holy book for some future civilization, instead of the bible. His only response was, "Yes, but the bible is real and everything is true!"
I didn't even bother to say, "Prove It" because, as you know, they have already "proved all things" to their own satisfaction.
It's the Emperor's New Clothes and every time somebody says he's naked, they all clamp their eyes even more tightly shut.
"The more likely story is that Jesus was a Jewish itinerant preacher going around preaching that God would restore the kingdom to Israel - soon. He ran afoul of the authorities and got himself crucified."
ReplyDeleteUm, no, the more likely story is Jesus Never Existed, and what started out as a Hellenized, Kabbalistic Judaism, became more and more literalized.
Especially after Constantine and Eusebius saw what kind of mass crowd control it could give them, during the last days of their dying empire.