Posted on 10/12/2004 2:54:10 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
The difference is that if identical films were made "debunking" Islam and Christianity, the one debunking Islam would result in a few murders and many dead careers, the one "debunking" Christianity would result in several Academy awards. Go figure.
Ho Hum... I've read the end of the book guys.... WE WIN.
"...I wonder why the single most mind-blowing event of all time went unnoticed by historians who were in Rome at the time ..."
Maybe because they were in Rome. The Crucifixion occurred just outside of Jerusalem.
People may have forgotten the Father, but the Father has not forgotten us! It is best if we all keep that in mind.
Let us all put on the Armor of God, and be Soldiers ready at hand, mind and spirit!
Strange how Jesus has staying power, isn't it? The most recent example is the Soviet Union and the icons of communism, who destroyed the churches and attempted to wipe out Christianity by murder, theft and destruction. Now, they're on the trashheap of history and Jesus has moved to the center stage of many Russians' lives. It happens time and again with godless icons who attempt to crush Christianity: Hitler, Napoleon, Mao, the list goes on.
I would laugh - but he can face the Truth now, or face Him later...
SHHH!! Rome didn't exist!
Probably not, considering the Commentaries were written more than 50 years before Christ and references to its contents are made by numerous classical authors. This would imply numerous copies long before the monks came along (this was a fairly common practice).
Hell, classical scholars have been able to recreate whole sections of "lost works" because they were referred to by contemporary authors. In the case of the Commentaries, however, dozens of copies exist going back to around the time the originals were written.
"The authors of the Gospels, writing 40 to 90 years after the supposed life of Christ, never intended for their works to be read as biographies. There are no credible non-Christian references to Christ during the period in which he is said to have lived," states the film's site.
True, the writers of the Gospels were not writing history or biography but religious philosophy.
There are no credible references, but why would there be? If today we had to use a quill pen and ink that we made ourselves (and often the paper), how many of us would be in the historical record? At the time The Christ lived he was seen as nothing more than another rabble rousing itinerate preacher – hardly worthy of the effort by the ruling elite required to document him.
Let me first say that I am not a CHRISTIAN!!!, as the term is often used today.
I have no doubt that there was a man named Yeshua Ben Joseph born to Mary and Joseph, a carpenter in the area of Nazareth in Judea.
I have no doubt that he became an itinerate preacher. It would appear that he preached that simply obeying the letter of the Law was not enough, but that religion was in your heart, and not your actions alone. This was contrary to the line espoused by the ruling Jewish elite and would have aroused their ire. The Romans were having enough trouble with the people because of their numerous rebellions, and would not have looked on him with any favor – particularly if he refused to acknowledge the divinity of Caesar.
Due to political concerns it is quite reasonable to believe that the Roman governor would have appeased the Temple Priests and crucified him.
Without the intervention of Paul the Christ movement would have remained a minor Jewish sect. Paul was educated in the Greeko-Roman manner, was a Roman citizen, a bureaucrat and knew how to get things moving. Paul is not one of my favorite Christian writers, and I personally dislike much of what he interjected into Christianity – but without him the message of The Christ would not have survived.
As I look over this, and think of the origin and spread of Christianity I can find nothing that does not fit into historical perspective. I see no reason to doubt His existence. I see no reason to believe a group of power hungry people gathered together to formulate a new religion - an action that would not have generated any wealth or power for decades if not centuries.
Even if the movie perports Jesus never existed, ergo there is no God, then how do they explain the Old Testament?
Hmmmm, sounds like islam to me.
Real courage - Christians might do something drastic like... complain!
Real courage would be making a similar movie exposing Islam and its founder Mohammed!
I know I'm dreaming but what I'd like to see is Christians to totally ignore this movie as irrelevent (which it is).
Funny you should mention it -- I heard CBS has just been given exactly this and is planning an expose ....
There are other references. I believe the gnostic "Gospel of Thomas" has been found in a couple of different sites, virtually identical, owned by different if not competing ministries of the time, and all dated not much later than the very first part of the second century AD.
It would profit no one to go to some sect at the time and promote Christ's teachings, death and resurrection, unless that person was a first hand witness, or had very close intimate contact with first hand witnesses or the apostles themselves.
The widespread acknowledgement that there was a man named Christ who had been put to death by the Romans by almost all of the religious communities of the day is very compelling evidence indeed.
The Gospels were not intended to be an accurate history, but religious philosophy.
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