Christianity Clarifications (just looking at the facts)
After the 9/11 attacks on America in
2001, I wanted to learn more about Muslim religion and culture, so I read three books about
Islam. I was surprised to learn that many Muslims believe things that are not found anywhere in the
Quran (also spelt
Koran or
Qu'ran). I already knew the same was true of Christians (I am
not a scholar but did attend three years of religious study prior to Evangelical Lutheran confirmation in 1965) so I then read
three books on
Christianity coming away evermore
confused. Religion scholars inform that there are 400 Christian sects in the world today, each believing their interpretation is
the correct one. This page is an attempt to shine some light upon the issue. Citizens, if you choose to "believe in something"
then you had better be aware of the facts.
caveat: This is a work in progress (updated weekly - time permitting)
edit: 2023-08-20
It all starts with Abraham (10,000 ft view)
- Scholars inform that Abraham lived between 2150 B.C.E. and
1975 B.C.E. but this information comes from an extrapolation of religious texts. We have no information about Abraham
from secular sources.
- Abraham had two sons:
- Abraham's first son is Ishmael who is born of Abraham's
union with Sarah's handmaid, Hagar.
- Abraham's second son is Isaac who is born of
Abraham's union with Abraham's half-sister, Sarah,
fourteen years later.
- Scripture informs that Sarah later hears Ishmael teasing Isaac so asks Abraham to send away both Ishmael and Hagar.
BTW, under Hebrew law the birth right goes to the eldest son which means that Isaac and Sarah should have been sent away.
- Ismael's descendants form the Islamic faith which
is reformed by Muhammed in the seventh century AD.
- Isaac's descendants form the Jewish faith.
- Jesus, an observant Jew with liberal views (he wanted Jewish people to obey the spirit of Jewish law but did
not want to start a new religion) is crucified.
- The writings of Paul of Tarsus (an apostle
who never met Jesus) help to create a new religion named Christianity.
- Paul's spin on Christianity is taken to higher heights in 325 A.D. by the Roman emperor Constantine.
- Margret Atwood writes The Handmaid's Tale in 1985 which
has nothing to do with Hagar or Ishmael but shows how some modern Christians (a philosophy of the New Testament) are
selectively picking items from Old Testament doctrine.
- Atwood insisted that every act of violence in her 1985 fictional book was being practiced somewhere on Earth in 1985.
- European book publishers in 1985 delayed publishing The Handmaid's Tale because they thought it too improbable
that something like this could happen in the USA.
- The rise of the Christian Right (which masquerades as the Religious Right) proves to many Americans that
a shift from "secularism" to "Christian sectarianism" now makes the story evermore believable so they release The
Handmaid' Tale TV series in 2017.
Christian Chronology
Date |
Event |
44 B.C.E. |
The Julian Calendar (based upon the
Alexandrian Solar Calendar used in Egypt) replaces the Roman Agricultural Calendar.
comment: "B.C." usually means "Before Christ" while "B.C.E." always means "Before the Christian
Era". This was created because no one really knows when Jesus was born. |
4 BCE |
Jesus, son of Joseph of Galilee is born of "a young
woman" named Mary
comment: "A young woman" is often mistranslated as "virgin"
|
1 A.D.
|
- The abbreviated year modifier AD (Anno
Domini - 'year of our lord' in Latin) was created by Dionysius Exiguus around the year 500 AD
- Since nobody was using zero in Europe at that time of Dionysius, there is no "year 0" in this calendar, or the
revised Gregorian Calendar of 1582
- Religion scholars claim this date was chosen because Dionysius made an error in determining the death of Kind
Herod. This ignores the fact that none of the Abrahamic
religions approved of celebrating birthdays.
- Modern astronomers claim this date was chosen because ancient astronomers noticed that the Metonic Cycle (proposed 432 BCE) and the Callippic Cycle (proposed in 330 BCE) both reset nicely in year zero when doing the Golden number calculation to determine the annual date of the Easter celebration. There is
some evidence that Dionysius was aware of the work of ancient astronomers so might have said: hey
look at this coincidence that happens near the birth of Jesus.
What does Passover have to do with Easter?
|
9 A.D. |
At age 12, Jesus disappears from the New Testament books until age 30
scholarly speculation: some have mentioned (without evidence) middle eastern people, including
Jesus, visiting India. Middle eastern visitors might have mistakenly misinterpreted meditation as prayer (sending a
telepathic message to your deity). Scholars also inform that the name "Satan" most likely came to Jewish culture when
the ten tribes were living under Babylonian captivity (recall that two tribes escaped that fate). BTW, Devils and demons
probably originate with the Hindu culture. |
10 |
Paul of Tarsus is born (Paul was his Roman name. His Jewish name was Saul). You know him as Saint Paul |
14 |
Roman Emperor Augustus (also known as Octavian) dies. He is succeeded by Tiberius. |
27 |
At age 30, Jesus begins his Jewish ministry. There is no indication that Jesus was attempting to start a new religion.
comment: Jesus was a liberal Jew who wanted all people to "obey the spirit of Jewish law".
The Sadducees were conservative Jews who wanted people to
"obey the letter of Jewish law". Many modern texts say that the Sanhedrin was never involved in the crucifixion narrative which indicates that the synoptic
gospels in error. |
30
|
At age 33, Jesus is crucified under the Roman Governor Pontius
Pilate (who served between 26 and 36)
|
49 to 58
|
The Letters of The Apostle Paul (a man who never met Jesus) are written.
- the first piece of Christian literature is "1 Thessalonians" which was written in 49 A.D.
- there are no writings by Jesus, or his disciples, who were all illiterate except Mathew the tax collector (who is not the author of the New Testament book of Mathew)
- Paul apparently saw a beam of light (and heard a voice) on the road to Damascus. Everything about Paul's
description (along with some speculation about Paul's affliction which he writes about, and prays to be released
from, but never details) is now thought to be associated with epilepsy.
In Roman culture, epilepsy was known as the morbus comitialis ('disease of the assembly hall') and was seen as a
curse from the gods. It was also seen as communication with the gods. In Jewish culture it was associated with
demonic possession.
|
64 |
Paul of Tarsus dies at age 54 |
66 |
Jewish freedom fighters murder 6,000 Roman soldiers. Rome's response ends with the destruction of
the Jerusalem temple. |
66 to 70
|
The Gospel of Mark is first written (all
four Gospels were written in Greek; none were written by the original apostles who were all illiterate except Mathew the
tax collector)
comment: an historian might consider this Gospel to be a little more accurate than the others
only because it is the earliest account
|
80 to 90
|
The Gospel of Matthew is written; it
appears to be targeted at a Hebrew audience because:
- The author begins with an incomplete genealogy (does not match that of Chronicles) to nudge the reader into
thinking something magical happens every 14 generations (numerology?)
- Having the birth take place in Bethlehem (not mentioned in the other gospels) in the line of David fulfills Old
Testament prophecy (this is important because people in that time believed that Joseph was the father of Jesus; "the
trinity" is introduced 300 years later)
comment: in this book, the women who attend the tomb of Jesus are told to tell the Apostles that
Jesus will meet them in Galilee; the ascension happens 40 days later.
|
80 to 90 |
The Gospel of Luke is written; it
appears to be targeted at Greek and Latin audiences.
- Scholars tell us that Luke and Acts are volumes one and two of a two volume set.
- Scholars think that Mathew and Luke-Acts were written at the same time for two different audiences from two
similar sources (one source is Mark while the other source is a lost book referred to as "Q" (which is short for
"Quelle", the German word for source)
comment: here the women are told to tell the apostles to stay in Jerusalem; the ascension happens
on the third day |
90 to 95
|
The Gospel of John is written (while
there are many similarities between the first
three gospels, John is quite different)
|
325
|
First Council of Nicaea is hosted by the Roman Emperor Constantine who was trying to adopt Christianity as the official state religion.
The Nicene Creed is first published.
comment: This version of Christianity is quite different from the teachings of Jesus (perhaps it
should have been renamed the Pauline religion)
|
379 |
The emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity
the official state religion of Rome. All other religions were made illegal. |
381
|
The Nicene Creed is amended at the First Council of Constantinople
comment: some sources say the Filioque
controversy begins here while other sources say later. But the Filioque transforms Jesus from man to God. |
1054 |
At the church in Constantinople, The Church of Rome formally excommunicates the other Churches (Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem). See schism just below. |
1517
|
Martin Luther nails his Ninety-five
Theses to the church door in kicking off the Protestant
Reformation
|
1582 |
Problems with the Julian Calendar mean
that Easter is being celebrated too late (too close to Summer)
The Vatican publishes the Gregorian Calendar
which removes 10 days (Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15 October 1582). Many peasants revolted thinking
that 10 days had been removed from their entries in the book of life. |
1677 |
Dutch writer, Baruch Spinoza, kicks off
the age of Enlightenment in Europe.
This spreads to Scotland then England (as well as the English colonies), then France and Germany
Note: The Illuminati was a real organization
that ran for 15 years in Bavaria promoting the European Enlightenment. The German government killed it in its cradle
which transformed it into a conspiracy theory. |
Two Great Schisms
- Ask modern Christians about "the great schism" and most are only aware of the split between Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism ~ 500 years ago.
- But between 325 A.D. and 381 A.D., words (now known as Filioque)
were added to the Nicene Creed which divided the
main five churches (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria,
Antioch, Jerusalem)
- Quite simply, here is the Filioque controversy boiled down to two lines:
original text |
the holy spirit proceeds from the father |
new text |
the holy spirit proceeds from the father and the son |
- The Western church (Rome) excommunicated the other four churches in 1054 which is now known as The Great Schism (was this action religious or political? It is hard to say since many cultures were
theocracies at that time)
- From that time on humanity has only used two labels: Eastern
Orthodox (sometimes: Greek Orthodox) and Catholic.
- Now words have meaning and Orthodox comes from geometry (Orthogonal)
and means "Straight Thinking". In the world of religion, the opposite of orthodoxy is usually termed heresy so doesn't this
mean that Roman Catholicism, as well as everything derived from it including all the Protestant splinters (Lutherans,
Calvinists, Baptists, Anglicans, Anabaptists (Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, etc.)), represent "Heretical Thinking"?
comment: churches did not like being referred to as heretical so some employed new verbiage like
"Catholic Orthodoxy" or "Lutheran Orthodoxy" although modern Bible scholars prefer the word "heterodoxy".
- Historical Facts: Jesus was an unordained teacher (so not a rabbi) who never claimed he was the literal "son of god"
although he did speak metaphorically when saying we were all "children of god" and praying to "our father in heaven". Sometime
between the death of Jesus and the writing of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus becomes divine. Then other early Christians
manufacture concepts like "triune god" trinity and in order to
avoid polytheism.
Bible Oddities
- Most people in common culture today throw around the word "Bible"
as if there is only one, but there are many.
- Most Hebrew bibles are comprised of 17 books.
- Most Catholic bibles are comprised of 73 books.
- There have been many sanctioned bibles over the past millennia but this bible-thing starts in the fourth century with
the work of Saint Jerome and his book known as the Catholic
Vulgate
caveat: there were many Vulgates by many authors after Saint Jerome
- Most Protestant bibles are comprised of 66-books because Martin
Luther's cannon removed 7 Old Testament books (Deuterocanonical)
and questioned 7 New Testament books (Antilegomena)
- Luther also contemplating the removal of The
Book of Revelation since it appeared to be a collection of gibberish authored by someone thought to be suffering
from food poisoning
(to all my American friends obsessed with this stuff: It is "Revelation" not "Revelations". There is no trailing "s". I
remember our religion teacher always correcting us with the line "there was only one revelation")
- the two books of the Maccabees describe the activities of Jewish freedom fighters (read below)
- comments: I remember receiving a bible "book mark" at age 10 that contained a picture of a
library bookcase with 66-books; I was told, by age-13 you will be able to recite those books from memory, and I could.
New Testament Oddities
Book Order
- These books are not presented in the order of their publishing dates. If they were, then the books written by Paul of Tarsus (a man who never met Jesus) would occupy the first third.
- The next two books would be Peter 1 and Peter 2 which were not written by Simon Peter but were definitely written by two
different authors.
- All of the original twelve apostles (perhaps with the exception of Mathew) were illiterate. They could not read or write so
did not, and could not, write any of the books attributed to their names. Almost 40 years elapsed since the death of Jesus and
the writing of the first Gospel (so there are, perhaps, 40 years of oral storytelling until someone decided to write them
down)
- John Spong wrote the following: if the books
of the New Testament were reordered by their publication dates, then the first books would contain few-to-no miracles;
miracles slowly creep with each book until the final book (Revelation) where you've got all kinds of wacky things going on. comment: could it be that many of these oral traditions are an ancient example of the modern telephone
game?
Inter-book inaccuracies
- The first three gospels are often referred to as the synoptic
gospels because they tell the same stories, and yet, they contain more differences than similarities. Here is just one
major difference of many:
- The Gospel of Mark ends with an empty tomb
caveat: an additional 12-verses was added after Mark-16 verse-8 (article: Mark-16) between 360-400 AD because they are not found in the original scrolls.
- In the Gospel of Mathew, the disciples are told to meet Jesus in Galilee. Jesus ascends into heaven 40 days
later.
- In the Gospel of Luke, the disciples are told to meet Jesus in Jerusalem where he ascends into heaven
immediately.
- read more:
Greek Myths become Christian Myths?
- Church tradition claims that Jesus was born of a virgin but we today we know that "virgin" often appears as a mistranslation
of "young woman". scholarly speculation: some have mentioned (with little evidence) that people back
then exaggerated the facts in order to have Christianity accepted. For example, most people were aware of the Greek story
about Heracles (born from the union of a god named Zeus
and a woman named Alcmene) or the Roman equivalent story of Hercules
(born of the union of a god named Jupiter and the same woman named Alcmene). The reasoning here needs Jesus to be born of the
union of a male God and human woman in order for the Jesus narrative to replace the Heracles/Hercules myth.
- Many people do not know that Hercules had an identical twin brother named Iphicles which makes one wonder what ancient people thought about identical twins (one child came
from a male god while the other came from a human man). Something similar happens with Jesus as is described in the Gospel of Thomas which is not part of any cannon because it was only discovered in 1945. The author
of this book claims to be Didymos Judas Thomas (literal translation: Twin Jude Twin) who is the identical twin
brother of Jesus and it sometimes mistaken for Jesus. You do not need to read too far before you realize why this gospel
was not included in any original canon. But the similarity between the Jesus story and the Hercules story now seems
evermore obvious.
The Star of Bethlehem
- church tradition claims that a star was positioned over Jesus's
place of Birth and that this event attracted the attention of three wise men. Even though the city name of Bethlehem is
only mentioned in one of the four gospels (Mathew), the star event is commonly referred to as the Star
of Bethlehem. Now for some reason I will never understand, it appears that the common people from then to now (who were
almost always illiterate) had no concept of analogies or metaphors so took everything literally rather than figuratively. So
here are some facts that the church never mentions:
- The phrase "wise men" really means "educated men".
- "Educated people" in those times (and possibly up to 400 years ago) believed in "astrology as a science" so these wise
men (if they ever existed) are most certainly referring to an "astrological sign" rather than an "astronomical sign".
- The name "planet" comes from the Greek word for "wanderer" because these objects appear to wander through the imaginary
constellations compared with stars which maintain their relative positions to each other while they appear to rotate
around Earth. This wandering is now known as retrograde
motion and is only (properly) explainable if you also accept the fact that the Earth goes around the Sun (Copernican
Revolution) which is something the Vatican only admitted in 1992 with their apology to Galileo (who was found guilty of heresy then
sentenced to spend the remainder of his life under house arrest).
- Now when two planets appear to loop together in the same part of the sky then this event may appear to be a sign from
god; When those two planets are Jupiter and Saturn, and they come together in the constellation of Pisces (two fish which astrologers associate with Israel and Judea, some people are
going to interpret this as A KING (Jupiter) is coming to Israel/Judea (Pisces).
Zombies
- In Matthew 27:52-53 we read about what can only
be described as zombies or the living dead. It states, "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept
arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Based on this
tall tale, when Jesus died the "saints" arose from the dead but stayed put at their graves until about 45 hours later when
Jesus came back to life and came out of his tomb. At that time, they strolled into Jerusalem "and appeared unto many." No
adult in thier right mind would ever believe this Biblical lie.
Old Testament Oddities
- The first 5-books of the bible are known as the Pentateuch
(or Torah or "The Law") and Bible scholars talk about two sources: A + B. The first four books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and
Numbers) are from source "A" whilst Deuteronomy is from source "B".
- Many Christians have never read any part of the bible so do not know that there are two creation stories (Genesis +
Deuteronomy) and the two do no match.
- For example, the Ten Commandment story in Exodus is different in Deuteronomy.
- In Exodus, Moses ascends Mount Sinai
to receive the Decalogue (The Ten Commandments)
which sometimes number 10, 11 or 12 depending upon the translation; he sees his people worshiping a golden calf, loses his
temper, then smashes the tablets; five verses later he reascends Sinai the comes down with ~ 40 commandments.
- These two events have different details in Deuteronomy.
- Members of the Abrahamic religions would have you believe that this was written down after it happened (if it ever
happened) between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries BCE but there is some evidence that most of the Old Testament was
written down when the 10-tribes were living in captivity
in Babylon five centuries before Jesus.
- Many Christians think the Old Testament is either identical, or similar, to the Talmud. Since the Talmud claims that Adam
had a wife before Eve by the name of Lilith then I think
we can agree that some editing has taken place over the past 2,000 years (BTW, you will only find Lilith mentioned in Isaiah
34:14 of the Christian Old Testament)
- Consider the ecclesiastical value of this quote from Ezekiel 23:20 then ask if it would be something any father
would want his wife or daughters to hear on a Sunday morning?
"There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled."
Good vs Evil?
When I was first taught bible stories, my church always seemed careful to portray the Christians and Jews (er, Hebrews) as
law-abiding citizens who were always being bullied by the Romans. The truth of the matter is this: the Christians and Jews were
never as good "as we were told" (
King
David was no saint) while the Romans were not as bad "as we were told". So what follows is a very high-level overview of
what happened to the people living in Judea, slightly before and after the time of Jesus. Apologies for using point form.
comment: the historical view from religious texts (for example: the Old
Testament books of Maccabees-1 and Maccabees-2)
will be different from the scholarly view from other sources. |
167 BCE
to
160 BCE |
The Maccabees were a group of Jewish-Hebrew
freedom fighters who revolted against Hellenistic Rule
comments:
- Churches and Sunday Schools will tell you that Hellenistic Rule meant "Greek" rather than "Macedonian". This
oversimplification to historians is worse than saying Catholic and Protestant mean the same thing.
- In the 1960s this was taught as the
first Maccabean revolt (of three) but has since been revised with the discovery of more detailed, and
accurate, historical accounts.
|
63 A.D. |
The Roman general, Pompey,
captured Jerusalem. Almost no one died because Pompey learned, though his spies, that Hebrew people would offer no
resistance if the military action occurred on the Jewish Sabbath. |
66 A.D.
|
- What used to be taught in the 1960s as the Second Maccabean revolt is now referred to as First Jewish-Roman War
- Jewish-Hebrew freedom fighters attacked and killed 6,000 Roman soldiers (one would assume that this is "a legion"
because their traveling support staff of butchers, tailors, blacksmiths usually brought the total up to 10,000)
- One of Nero's Generals, Vespasian is pulled out
of retirement (well, he had been exiled to the country-side by Nero for falling asleep during one of Nero's 4-hour
performances).
- Vespasian retakes Jerusalem with much bloodshed.
|
69 A.D.
|
As a reward, Vespasian is made Emperor of Rome (ending the Twelve Caesars with the Six
Flavians) |
70 A.D.
|
The Roman general Titus Flavius (Vespasian's son) is dispatched to tear down King Herod's Temple (The stolen loot is
used to build the Colosseum)
|
115 to 117 |
While the Roman armies are off fighting Trajan's
Parthian War, Jewish-Hebrew freedom fighters take advantage of the situation by slaughtering the Roman troops
guarding Jerusalem.
The Romans regain control (with much bloodshed) during the Kitos War |
132 to 136
|
- the Bar Kokhba revolt is labelled
the Second Jewish-Roman revolt (as if the Kitos War did not happen) by some and the Third Jewish-Roman revolt by
others.
- knowing that another revolt could happen again at any time:
- the Roman Emperor Hadrian sells Hebrew captives into bondage.
- then he changes the name of the Roman Province of Judea to Syria
Palaestina to prevent them from finding their original homeland. This is where the modern names Syria and
Palestine originate.
|
Continuing the violence...
While on the topic of evil, Christian authored books and Hollywood movies would have you believe that peace-loving Christians
were continually persecuted by Rome and/or the followers of pagan regions.
All secular historians agree that: While some accounts of Christians being put to death in the Roman arena are true, these
events pale in comparison with the violence that Christians perpetrated on everyone including pagans, adherents of other
religions, Jews (a real joke since Jesus was an observant Jew), and Christian heretics (any Christian professing belief in an
alternative interpretation). This violence reaches new heights with the Crusades (some scholars claim there were as many as seven), the Roman Catholic Inquisition (none in Venice but at least five in Spain), the burning of heretics, the burning of witches
by Catholics and Protestants alike. And last but not least, the Salem
witch trials (on 1692) by Protestant Pilgrims.
The violence unleashed upon the new world by Spain and Portugal all came with the blessings of the Vatican.
Festivals to Holidays
- Major Days (often celebrated by the general population)
- Christmas.
- Word is not found anywhere in the Bible.
- Jesus was mostly likely born in September (using some references to the feast of the tabernacles); BTW, shepherds
never watch their flocks at night in December which is the rainy season.
- Meant as a replacement holiday to stamp out these observances:
- The Roman festival of Saturnalia
- Heathen (people of the heath or bush) and pagan festivals of Europe (mostly Germanic and Nordic)
note: in the religious context "pagan" means polytheistic but definitely not atheist
- Easter.
- Word is not found anywhere in the Bible.
- Meant as a replacement holiday to stamp out these observances:
- The fertility festival held on the first day of spring (usually March 21) at the Eastern gate of Babylon named
the Ishtar Gate (so Easter is a
derivation of Ishtar)
comment: this fertility festival involved symbols of reproduction including chicken eggs, rabbits, and
prostitutes; modern people still celebrate Easter with chocolate eggs and rabbits but most do not know why.
- Minor Days (only celebrated by the church).
- Ascension Day.
- Celebrated 40 days after Easter even though one of the gospels tells us that Christ ascended shortly after the
crucifixion.
- Pentecost.
- Celebrated 50 days after Easter.
- Church tradition claims that the flame of the holy spirit (holy ghost) jumped from apostle to apostle causing them
to speak some sort of angelic gibberish referred to as speaking
in tongues. The truth is this: most common people living in Judea 2,000 years ago where illiterate and only
heard others speaking Hebrew or Aramaic. Most literate people (especially those lucky enough to receive a liberal
education in Athens) would also be familiar with speaking in Greek. What you and I refer to as multilingualism was
interpreted by the uneducated as "speaking in tongues" (magic).
- Minor Days (only noted by the general public).
Jesus and Christianity from non-Bible sources
I think we can all agree that writings in one place (The Bible) need to be corroborated with other text from other sources. For
example, we learn in Christian churches the following general points:
- the body of Jesus disappeared from a guarded tomb.
- In some of the writings, Jesus walked around Galilee for the next 40 days performing miracles before his ascension
directly into heaven.
In other writings (same Bible) he meets the women in Jerusalem, is transformed, then immediately ascends
If these events were literal occurrences then I am certain that some historian in Judea, or Rome, would have written about them.
But the first historical writings about Jesus come from the Jewish historian,
Josephus,
around 93 AD (so after of the gospels which were written after the letters of Paul). The second historical writing comes the year
110 when the Roman governor of
Bithynia and Pontus,
Pliny (the
Younger), wrote a letter to the emperor
Trajan requesting advice
about a problem he was having with Christians who ignored an order to all citizens to stop congregating.
Year |
Author |
Notes |
93 AD |
Josephus |
visit: Josephus on Jesus where we will
also see the names: Pontius Pilate, James, John the Baptist
comment: Josephus was one of the freedom fighters I mentioned above mentioned in the first
Jewish-Roman War in 66 AD. He was captured (by Vespasian?) and about to be put to death when he talked his way out of
that dilemma by mentioning "that he was literate" then suggested he spend the rest of his days writing an historical
account of Judea under Roman rule
|
110 |
Pliny (the
Younger) |
visit: Pliny the Younger on
Christians (this is about Christians; not anything specific about Jesus)
|
116 |
Tacitus |
visit: Tacitus on Jesus (mentions the
persecution of the Christians under Nero) |
~ 400 Christian Sects?
Prelude: I was raised in an Evangelical Lutheran culture so was always surprised when some members our culture made offhanded
remarks about the Pentecostal church down the street (holy rollers, etc). While no one in our church ever spoke in tongues, we
still believed in the day of Pentecost and all the stuff that went along with it. This just seemed too weird for me. So here's
some items to chew on:
- Reorder all the books of the new testament by their publishing dates
- there are no miracles in the first books (the letters of Saint Paul make up at least one third of the new testament)
- miracles creep in over time
- the Book of Revelation is so bizarre as to be unintelligible (so adherents claim it was written in code -OR- only being
readable after an education in eschatology)
- Saint Paul writes 1 Corinthians
in 53-54 AD.
- In 1 Corinthians 13:11
Paul wrote "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a
man, I put the ways of childhood behind me".
- Who was this message directed toward? Contemporaries or us? I now think it likely that Paul was already hearing stories
about magic and miracles during the life of Jesus, and was able to suppress them while he was alive.
- Paul is put to death around 55-56 after which we see the Gospel
of Mark which is dated between 66 and 70 AD
- Next comes the Gospel of Mathew after 70
CE, and the Gospel of Luke around 85 CE ±10
years
- I now think that Enlightenment writer David Hume was
correct in stating that much of this newer stuff was made up.
- Did god create a universe full of physical laws? Obviously.
- Could god violate those laws to impress us? Yes.
- Does god ever violate those laws? No.
To learn more about Christianity "from the scholars"
Many modern Christian preachers and teachers (includes everyone from priests to ministers as well as anyone teaching religion
in "Sunday School") are either unaware of these historical facts, or chose to ignore them as unimportant. A lot of new books
have been published in the past three decades but I have found the books authored by Bart D Ehrman, Ph.D., M.Div. to be a little more approachable by non-academics.
- books
- video lectures
- "From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity" (24 lectures by Bart Ehrman)
- "Books That Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (24 lectures by Leo Damrosch)
My worries about the next Dark Age
- I have many friends and family who think that humanity's problems today are due to the fact that there is not enough
Christianity in the world. This wish seems to ignore the historical fact that Christianity was made the official state
religion of Rome in 379 by the emperor Theodosius I
and that Rome was the most powerful empire of its day. Christianity had its shot at societal domination so what became of
this? Answer: Rome collapsed causing the world to enter a new dark age which lasted 1,000
years. Many historians and enlightenment writers (Edward Gibbon is
one) place the responsibility squarely at the feet of organized religion.
- Now I do not think you can only blame Christianity.
- The knowledge loving, while literate, Athenian Greeks where well on the way to replacing "religion with reason" until
the war loving, while illiterate, Spartan Greeks defeated them in war (the labels, conservative and liberal were used back
then as well). But then the Spartans no longer had any Greek allies so were (eventually) conquered by the Macedonians.
Eventually the Hellenistic peninsula becomes a province of Rome.
- Romans, being a superstitious people, renamed the Greek gods with Roman names then added them to their own polytheistic
pantheon. This is probably how Rome acquired Christianity
- Putting Roman Aqueducts and Roman Roads aside for a moment, not very much in the way of European science or mathematics after "the
initial contribution by the Greeks" up to "the Renaissance".
The years between are still known as the Middle Ages by some and the
Dark Age by others. While
there is no official date for the start of the middle/dark ages, I think we can all agree that 1,000 years passed.
Before-After the Dark Age
Philosophy, as a serious endeavor, is still somewhat strange to me because philosophers continually rehash old-ancient
arguments but never seem to move on. You might hear modern philosophical types talking about their big three which are usually
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle but this limited
preference, in my opinion, short-changes human intellect. How many non-scholars today are aware of these Greeks?
- Aristarchus of Samos was born in 310 BC.
- He proposed that the Sun was the center of our world, not the Earth
- Eratosthenes was born in 276 BC.
- He proved that the Earth was round then used trigonometry to determine Earth's size to within 10% of the actual value.
He also used trigonometry to determine the distance to the sun within 10% of the actual value.
On the other hand, Aristotle (born 383 BC) published that heavier objects fell faster than lighter objects. People believed
that for more than 1,800 years until Galileo did an
experiment (supposedly at Pisa) to prove that Aristotle was wrong. On this issue, as well as others, Galileo was now up against
the Catholic Church who had been dogmatically promoting incorrect Greek ideas like those of Ptolemy which stated that the Sun went around the Earth and that orbits were perfectly circular because
god would have designed things that way. Was the church being stupid here -OR- where they angry become someone was challenging
their world view. During the years associated with the inquisition of Galileo (it was NOT a trial), Galileo said in his defense:
"The bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go" which, proves to me, that he had a better understanding of
life on Earth than the Vatican. But let's not let the Protestants off the hook on this one. Martin Luther (b: 1483 d:1546) is very clear in his writings that he stood on the side of religion when he first heard about the new book published by Copernicus (b: 1473 d: 1543)
What might have been
I sometimes wonder WHAT WOULD THE WORLD BE LIKE, TODAY...
- if the Peloponnesian War (where conservative
Sparta conquered liberal Athens) had not happened. After this, Sparta was no longer able to protect itself. It was a short
term gain for the Sparta but a backward step for humanity. Today, Sparta only lives on in comic books and big-budget action
movies.
- if the Corinthians had not conquered their southern Greek neighbors in the Corinthian
War (how many non-historians have heard of this one?)
- if the Macedonians had not conquered their Greek neighbors to the south.
- if the Romans had not conquered all of the Hellenistic peninsula after the death of Alexander. Would Rome have renamed all
the Greek gods as there own?
- if Constantine and Theodosius had kept church separated from state
Could a dark age have been averted? No one knows for sure but I do know this: It is an absolutely absurd statement to say that
Christopher Columbus proved the world was round. The flat Earth model was the one adhered to by people with no education, or the
people whose education was more religious than philosophical (comment: science was still referred to as natural philosophy in
those days)
What now?
According to Edward
Gibbon, the 300-year rise of Christianity (after Paul of Tarsus put his spin on it) resulted in a 1,000 year dark age
which Europe did not recover from until the Renaissance.
Certainly we can all agree that the Vatican trial of
Galileo in 1632 is one example of how religion delayed progress. Gibbon and others have made the case that the dark ages
really did not end until the beginning of the Enlightenment.
Coincidentally, two founding fathers of the Enlightenment, John
Locke and Baruch Spinoza, were both born
in in 1632 (the same year that Galileo was found guilty "of promoting a competing world view" by the Catholic Church). I think
we can all agree that the current spurt of human progress begins with the Enlightenment. IMHO, humanity needs to teach current
and future generations LESS about religion (or teach religion the same way we teach Greek mythology) and MORE about
enlightenment along with logic and empirical-based decision making. David
Hume is another one of the founding fathers of the Enlightenment with accolades coming from no other than Benjamin
Franklin wrote positively about his meetings with intellectuals like Locke, Hume and Adam Smith when Franklin was living in
London.
Links
local
remote
books
video lectures
- https://www.thegreatcourses.com (purchase DVDs)
- https://www.wondrium.com (online video: $20 per month or $45 per
quarter)
- "From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity" (24 lectures by Bart Ehrman)
- "The New testament" (24 lectures by Bart Ehrman)
- "The Historical Jesus" (24 lectures by Bart Ehrman)
- "Books That Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (24 lectures
by Leo Damrosch)
- I find it amusing that Gibbon could see the decay in both empires while ignoring the decay that was creeping into
the British Empire which he was part of before he relocated to the European continent.
- books 1-3 deal with the decline and fall of the western empire (Rome then Ravenna)
- books 4-6 deal with the decline and fall of the eastern empire (Constantinople)
comments: just as Rome split into east and west, so did Islam. The Shiite capital was in Damascus
(modern day Syria) while the Sunni capital was in Baghdad (modern day Iraq). American military activities have
destroyed both places.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcm-X7g-8p4 (Early
Christians in Roman Eyes with Bart Ehrman)
radio
video/TV
- https://gem.cbc.ca/the-search-manufacturing-belief
- Filmmaker Patrick Payne reflects on spirituality and awe, first as a teenager at a Catholic retreat weekend in 1975, and
then again more than 40 years later.
- suggested alternate title: how the catholic cult of Cursillo
morphs into Christian youth retreat now practiced by Catholics and Protestants.
- from the final frames:
- more than 10 million people worldwide have participated in the Cursillo movement
- more than 1000 religious weekend retreats are held annually in North America