Did A Historical Jesus Really Exist

Did the Jesus who was supposed to be a God also really exist, or was he a mythical construct of people trying to get a religion off the ground?  The Christian religion arose in a time when people were inventing religions one after another.  There were hundreds of competing gods roaming around in the ancient times which Jesus was supposed to be born into.

The war of words and wildly different world-views between Christians and non-believers has been going on for nearly two millennia now, and may finally be coming to an end in our modern scientific age where the stories can be subjected to real investigation.

There is not the slightest bit of physical evidence to support a historical Jesus; no manuscripts written by him, no artifacts or works of carpentry, no surviving dwelling, nothing that is directly attributable to a man that was supposed to work magic and speak to hundreds or thousands of people, in a golden age of writing and recording the ancient world.

All the claims of a historical Jesus are derived from 2^nd. Hand writings—that is non-eyewitnesses to the events.  All writings about Jesus come well after he was supposedly crucified and the ones that made it into the Bible are purposely mis-identified in the Bible as Apostles, when in fact we don’t know who wrote them. There are no Roman records that detail Pontius Pilate executing a man called Jesus.  All source material about Jesus is derived from hearsay accounts and come well after his death.

Laying the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Like, and John side by side we can see there are tremendous differences in the story.  These are not just “eyewitness” differences one would expect from different people seeing the same scene at the same time, they are fundamental differences that are not compatible.  What did Jesus say at the end? Did the women tell the Apostles that he was arisen–or not?  Who was at the tomb when the women came? Did the earth tremble and the sun go dark for three hours and graves spit out dead zombies?

We know the Gospels were written by anonymous authors and they were written from 35 to 70 years after his death.  We know they were originally written in Koine Greek, instead of  Aramaic, and that we only have copies of copies of copies instead of originals and we don’t even know for sure if we have the real words of the man—if he really existed.  We don’t have any secular writing that mentions Jesus…supposedly God Himself…that is contemporary to his (mythical) life.

All we have is hearsay…courts of  law do not allow hearsay as evidence, neither does modern scholarship, and we should not recognize the biblical writings as real evidence.  I don’t think an honest scholar can take any of the books from the New Testament as absolute ‘God breathed’ truth.

Now on top of all the above mentioned evidence is strong scientific circumstantial data that bears on the myth of Jesus.  As mentioned below in my blog post “Adam and Eve Are Dead…Finally” There is conclusive proof that Adam and Eve is nothing more than Biblical myth, and with no Adam and Eve around to commit “Original Sin” there is no need for Jesus to save us from their/our sin.  With no Adam and Eve, and no Jesus, we can just call the Bible what it really is…a book of fiction.  You know I’m right.  🙂

Lying for Jesus:
“What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church … a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.”  Martin Luther
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Should Religions be Allowed to Kill?

Warning: one cussword

A few weeks ago I was surfing the web and came across a blog from India. The subject, the murder of a young _______ boy, caught my attention so I read the whole thing.

Seems a young man who’s family was _______, which is fairly uncommon in India, was flirting with a ******* girl. The town this happened in was predominately ****** and they watch their young women quite closely.  There were lots of murmurings and whispers from those who watched the young man and his demeanor with the girl. This went on for a few days and apparently his parents, and others, warned him to stay away from the girl.  One evening he met up with the girl on the road and started talking with her, unaware that a group of men were watching nearby.

They men rushed up to the couple and grabbed the boy and started beating him, as the girl ran away.  Later that evening the boy’s dead body was found lying beside the road…he had been beaten to death.

The police were called and they investigated for a few days, but ultimately said they had no evidence against anybody, and there was nothing they could do.  This was despite there being several eyewitnesses to the beating.  They said they couldn’t see who had done it. The blog writer managed to convey an impression that the police weren’t really doing their job.

The person writing this blog was related, and heartbroken by the death, and was pouring out her sorrow in the blog. I was stricken by the story and thought about the waste that happened here, not only for the loss of an apparently honorable and upright young man, but the loss of an opportunity for two cultures, in however small a way, to approach each other in peace and show humanity to each other. A small rapprochement if you will, that could lead to more friendships and peace between rivals.

Feeling as I do about religious arrogance and the stupidity they show in many matters, I was moved to write a reply to the woman, where I kind of got carried away and called the people involved in the killing some pretty bad names.  Now I did sink my teeth into the *******’s, because its known that ******’s think it’s OK to kill ________ if they cross a very fine line…try to convert a ******* to _______ and its open season on your hide…literally.  ****** in this case really condones murder.  Pretty much the same outlook applies to a _______ man trying to get too friendly with a young ******* woman.

I don’t care what kind of logic or reason you try to apply in making this OK in the light of your religion…it is totally wrong.  There is no real God anywhere who would allow this to be the norm.

Anyway, it took about three days for the woman who wrote the blog to answer back.  I forget the actual words (I deleted her reply), but the gist of it was, I was talking ‘hate speech’ and she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put my reply on her blog. For a split second I was mad, but then I got to thinking that the rules for public speech and writing were not the same in India, and my bad reply could/would put her in harms way if she published it.  So I tried to dismiss the matter from my mind.  But it wouldn’t go away.  I didn’t dwell on it, but my subconscious chewed on it for days and days.

Finally a few days ago the thoughts burst forth, fully formed in my mind.

Yes, I had written some bad things about a religious group and called it and the men who hid murder behind it some bad things, and yes by today’s standard of PC’ness, I was wrong…totally wrong.

I ask you though, who was more hateful and did more to upset the public order and well being of the citizenry?  Was it me, who called the men and their religion out for what they are…a murderous bunch of half-wits and imbeciles, and the religious mandate they think they were working under barbaric and hideous in its teachings?

Or, were the men who ganged up on, and murdered a young innocent boy in cold blood… the more hateful.  If I see or hear someone doing a totally wrong thing to a fellow human being, I will not say nice things about them. And I will not stand silently by knowing a particular religion seems to give some men the moral authority to kill the innocent. This is not right no matter what you say.  If the men and religion they practice that empowers them is not lashed out against, they will keep doing it…over and over.

In a “civilized” 🙂 world, one does not allow the citizenry, or a religious representative, to go around and kill people by their whim for religious reasons. Any Religion that allows this should be banned.  There is no room in today’s world for such a thing.

Do you think we should stand idly by and let such things happen without speaking out against them?  We know that the ******* religion allows murder of innocents.  Should we not speak against this?  Should we speak nicely about matters such as this…or should we rip them a new asshole?

Continuously give in and be nice to that kind of behavior and we all know who wins the game of life.

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The Trinity is Dead

Below we find a scholars attempt to explain the concept of the Trinity. I have run across many other comparably obscure explanations in researching this subject….Not one of them I have found makes any rational sense.

“The historic formulation of the Trinity (derived from the Latin word trinitas, meaning “threeness”) seeks to circumscribe and safeguard this mystery (not explain it; that is beyond us), and it confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle. It is not easy; but it is true.”

“The basic assertion of this doctrine is that the unity of the one God is complex. The three personal “subsistence’s” (as they are called) are coequal and coeternal centers of self-awareness, each being “I” in relation to two who are “you” and each partaking of the full divine essence (the “stuff” of deity, if we may dare to call it that) along with the other two.”
Packer, J. I. (1993) Concise theology: A guide to historic Christian beliefs. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

I stand in open-mouthed awe at the ability of some to push this man-made twaddle concept down so many throats in the last 1700 or so years.
Protestant church leaders and members really need to research this matter further. Most people who believe in a trinity have to retreat into an explanation of “it’s a mystery” or “it’s unexplainable.” There is NO clear-cut theological foundation for Trinity—you see it’s so obviously made up by men…when you read of the beginnings of this hoax.

The bible describes a God who is almighty and eternal (Isaiah 44:24), who begets a Son (Hebrew 1:5, Luke 1:30-35, Matthew 3:17), anoints him with his Spirit (Acts 10:38, Matthew 3:16, Luke4:18), teaches him what to say (Luke 2:40,52, John 7:16, 12:49), raises him from the dead (Acts 3:15, 5:30) , exalts him to his right hand (Acts 2:33, Philippians 2: 9-11).

From none of the Scriptures mentioned above do I get even the slightest sense of “threeness”, and I wonder how the early church came up with the concept. Is part of Christianity “hidden” from the understanding of mere men?

Laws are being broken…SRSLY

Hopefully our next president will re-instate the parts of the constitution that president Bush decided to remove. There seems to be some real doubt that it will happen. I am probably naïve, but I have always thought that our constitution was the backbone of our system of laws, the main ones that were never to be changed, could NOT be changed without proper ratification of most of the states

Our presidents and Senators and Congress people take an oath of office that says in part: “to uphold and defend the constitution of The United States of America” key words here being ‘uphold the constitution.’ Other laws that are passed are measured against this document, and if they are found to be contrary to said document, they are repealed. Am I right in this belief? Isn’t the oath that elected government officials take before they can hold office a legal contract that is upheld by law?

Do we as a nation, really think it’s right that the government can at it’s own will, change laws that our nation was founded on, change laws that are meant to uphold ‘human rights’? What of the will of the people? Are there any governments left that believe in ‘human rights’? Can it be possible that this power can be abused…You bet…is there any way to stop it…it doesn’t seem so at this point. Human rights are being redefined in our lifetime, in our country, and it’s not for the better.

There needs to be some way to address this problem, and you better believe it’s a problem. Let them keep stomping on us, and they will find it easier as time goes by. This is the way that all dictatorships begin, a slow chipping away at freedoms until it’s suddenly to late for the citizens to correct. They are enslaved and they don’t even see it coming.

Did you ever noticed that there are now laws that prevent you from speaking out to any government bureaucrat. Try talking to an IRS agent, or airport security guard, or policeman, or elected official. They will Taser you or throw you to the floor. I don’t mean smart mouthing, I mean honest questioning of their motive or means. It’s getting to the point that citizens have no recourse except to lower their head and continue walking.

Write a letter to your Senator or Congressperson…maybe if you’re trying to get some special consideration in zoning or something trivial you may get results. Try asking the hard questions and express serious concerns about the direction our laws are taking us. Good luck with that. These people are only slightly moved by tens of thousands of emails or letters. If the question is about something the Prez. wants or is a porkbarrel project of your elected person…not a chance in hell. Notice how sneaky they get at times; midnight sessions or unexpected or secret meetings, presidential signings. They’ll do what they want and then whine that it’s all for the greater good.

Nobody seems to care that untold trillions, yes I said Trillions, of dollars are disappearing, with no accounting for. Now the Prez. &VP just do it with out a worry or ‘by your leave.’ No one will question them. There is NO accountability in our government, and that needs to change.

Supreme court of course, is in Bush’s pocket.

What would you–out there– do? Would or should anyone do anything? Or, do you just want to keep your head down and keep on walking? millennia

Answer to Life

Hi Mathew Paul,

I’m going to answer your reply in a column instead of in the leave-a-reply section because I need to blow off steam. Nothing personal, have just heard all of these platitudes before, and never really answered fully. I hope you don’t mind.

You wrote: I submit that the earth as created by God was an ideal place to live in with every blessing in it.

I submit to you…that when the earth came into being that it was (and still is, mostly) a beautiful place…but also deadly. The earth harbors deadly diseases, deadly animals, and is a cruel environment for puny humans. Man/woman have fought, for a million years (out of over 4 billion) or more, to establish their control of the environment they live in. In all those years we endured unbelievable suffering. For hundreds of thousands of years, 50% or more of our children died before they were 2 years old. People that made it to adulthood probably only lived into their 30’s, or 40’s. Near starvation was probably the norm for humans up to, probably the 1600 to 1700’s.

The earth has in its lifetime supported well over 40 billion souls, and it’s only recently that there has been some security in people’s life. This, of course, does not count Africa, which is probably a lost continent.

Where was God when the Neanderthals were fighting to live on a European continent that was largely covered with ice, 75,000 years ago? Where was God when our ancestors were barely surviving by hunting and scavenging in the African veldt, over 100,000 years ago? All of the DNA evidence, both mitochondrial, and Ychromosomal, points to Africa as humanities original home.

The fact that humans and Neanderthals have inhabited this earth for hundreds of thousands of years is not even remotely questioned in the scientific community. It is accepted fact. All, and I repeat, All, of the available physical, natural evidence on this earth supports this fact. The fundamentalist and evangelical religions, mostly in the US, are the most numerous doubters of these facts, but it doesn’t really matter…they are true facts nonetheless.

I will repeat something I think I spoke of elsewhere on this blog. As our society and science advances on this earth, religion is more and more being disproved. God is only left in the gaps, and those gaps are quickly being filled with natural facts.

You wrote: I submit that man chose to obey the enemy (rather?) than God and the present world is the result of the same.
Also: I submit that the world is under the power of the Evil One and all the sickness and mysery that we see all around are his making.

I submit to you…the world we live in has…always…had both good and bad people. There are millions or billions of people alive today, that are every bit as good and loving as are a lot of Christians, and they believe in no God, or Buddha, or any of the Brahmin Gods, or a thousand and one others. Believing in a “God” does not guarantee goodness. Witness the Catholic priest scandal of recent times…and I’ll bet you it’s gone on for 2000 years, and all over the Christian world. I have some limited personal experience with people high in the Protestant community, that is not good, and not Christian. As to the “enemy” all I know is that I do not obey any “Devil or Satan.” Any misdeeds I do are strictly my own responsibility, and I KNOW that. The “devil does not make me do it.”

I’m reminded of (are you in the US?) the recently defrocked preacher in Colorado who preached on and on about the evil of homosexuality, all the while having a homosexual relationship with a male prostitute. “The devil took hold of me.” He says. “No, lust took hold of you.” I said. We are a society that tries to shift any responsibility for our wrong actions to others. The Devil or Satan is one of those “others.”

You wrote: I submit that God in Christ came as a man and redeemed the world and the process of redemption is going on now as people choose to believe God in Christ over against the devil.

I also submit that the myseries of sin will soon come to an end and a king will rule in righteousness and peace on this earth soon.

I submit to you that Paul invented that myth of original sin, and the early Catholic priesthood invented the “trinity.” Why does God say in one breath: the son inherits the sins of the father.” 2SA: 1,19 and IS 14: 21-22, and EX 20:5 and in another; the son does not inherent the sins of the father. DE 24:16, and EZ 18:20. Why does Jesus reference his Father in Heaven, and say that only the Father knows the time of the end. MT 10:32,33 and MT 7:21 and MT 24:36.

You said: Now I wish you would give me an explanation of the existence of the earth and mankind and their present predicament. Is it going to continue endlessly without a hope or what is to be expected for the future? Please give me in black and white as to what you believe about the given issues and your reasons for doing so. I will truly appreciate your reply and jokes apart, if you give me a better expanation than what I hold which can show practical results as I produced in my life, I will whole=heartedly accept your position. Waiting earnestly for your immediate reply. Thanks in advance!

I…don’t know the explanation of the existence of us…and I wish I had the answer to the predicament of man/woman kind. But, I also do not give up reasonable, logical thought processes and submit my brain to a magical creature of myth.

My own prediction for the future is: Who knows? I suspect that man will continue to strive on. There will probably be a revolution or two in the western world, millions more will die and be born. The wealthy and the politicians of the world will continue to F__k over the rest of us. Life will go on, as it has for over a million years. Whether the world/earth will continue to be healthy for life, is up in the air, but will probably continue to deteriorate; as it always has.

What you are doing in your life is obviously working for you. Why would I want to change that for you? I have a hard enough time being responsible and caring for my own wonderful family.

No, you continue to do what gives you joy, and occasionally we will chat and gently berate each other’s lifestyle or beliefs. Peace out to you.