Posted on 12/19/2014 4:50:26 AM PST by Kaslin
With metronomic precision each year, the national press corps begins running columns by "religion scholars" who wish you to know that Jesus Christ is a fictional character. Mind you, no newspaper of note in the world is brave enough to run a similar story about the Prophet Muhammed...
The latest comes from a "lecturer in religious studies" from Australia named Raphael Lataster. The Washington Post felt compelled to run this so the godless heathens in Washington, D.C., can continue on with no consequence.
According to Mr. Lataster, "There are no existing eyewitness or contemporary accounts of Jesus. All we have are later descriptions of Jesus' life events by non-eyewitnesses, most of whom are obviously biased." These biased, non-eyewitness accounts include the writings of the Apostles Matthew, Peter and John, all three of whom were standing near the cross on which the magical mythological Jesus was nailed. They were just, one might suppose, looking in a different direction.
Then, of course, there are the books of James and Jude in the Bible, written by the brothers of Jesus. There are also the several letters written by Paul, who claims Jesus appeared in physical form to him after Jesus's death. Lastly, there is Luke, a doctor who interviewed many eyewitnesses including the imaginary Mary, mother of the imaginary Jesus.
Mr. Lataster must write out of history many people we know existed in order to write Jesus out of history. His dismissal of all scholars who disagree with him is pretty staggering. One must wonder if he is also prepared to write out of history Socrates, who, like Jesus, never wrote anything himself. Others wrote about him after he died.
That the Washington Post and other news outlets feel compelled, each year, to point out that Jesus is a myth is telling in and of itself. They lack the bravery to do it about Islam's top prophet because Christians will turn the other cheek, whereas Muslims would kill them. For any who disagree, just review the book stores bombed for carrying Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" or the riots against cartoonists who drew Muhammed.
The only really remarkable thing about the media effort to cast doubt on Jesus' existence is that the press usually finds an Episcopalian priest or Jesuit scholar to do it. They first attack the virgin birth as an interpretation, and then end up at Jesus dying and his resurrection being only metaphor. Rarely do they go straight to the atheist religious scholar.
The common thread of all these columns, articles and expositions are unbelievers writing to reassure other unbelievers at a time of year billions of people are celebrating either the miraculous burning of oil for eight days or a virgin giving birth to a child. The secular left can abide no miracles.
For the rest of us, it is worth reflecting on what did happen 2,000 years ago. A virgin gave birth to a child fulfilling a prophesy made at the beginning of time in the 15th verse of the third chapter of the first book of the Bible. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
The prophet Isaiah, nearly 750 years before the birth of Jesus, said God told him, "the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The Apostle Matthew, a friend of Jesus, wrote that Mary was a virgin and Jesus's birth fulfilled Isaiah's prophesy.
Non-Christian scholars and poseurs within the faith argue over Isaiah's word choice, but the Christian's scripture gives no choice. It is a fundamental belief of the faith that Christ was born of a virgin and rose again from the death. Take away either and we are left with just a man, not a God.
Several billion people around the world believe Jesus is real. We can also hold with equal certainty that a century from now several billion will still believe that, and no one will remember the name of Raphael Lataster.
No eye witnesses? None? Do we have to also say that Matthew and John were lying? One can “refute” anything at all just by saying that everyone is lying.
Great article by Erickson. Thanks for posting.
For something they profess to be fictional. It sure gets their panties bunched.
Extra-biblical, Non-Christian Witnesses to Jesus before 200 a.d. :
http://christianthinktank.com/jesusref.html
http://christianthinktank.com/jesusref.html
Introduction
“Jesus lived His public life in the land of Palestine under the Roman rule of Tiberius (ad 14-37). There are four possible Roman historical sources for his reign: Tacitus (55-117), Suetonius (70-160), Velleius Paterculus (a contemporary), and Dio Cassius (3rd century).
” There are two Jewish historical resources that describe events of this period: Josephus (37-100?), writing in Greek, and the Rabbinical Writings (written in Hebrew after 200, but much of which would have been in oral form prior to that time).
“There are also sources (non-historians) writing about the Christians, in which possible mentions are made (e.g., Lucian, Galen).
Of these writings, we would NOT expect Velleius to have a reference to Jesus (i.e. the events were just happening OUTSIDE of Velleius’ home area), and Dio Cassius is OUTSIDE of our time window of pre-3rd century.
“Of the remaining Roman writers—Tacitus and Suetonius—we have apparent references to Jesus (discussed below), even though the main section in Tacitus covering the period 29-32ad is missing from the manuscript tradition. If these are genuine and trustworthy ‘mentions’ of Jesus, then we have an amazing fact—ALL the relevant non-Jewish historical sources mention Jesus! (Notice that this is the OPPOSITE situation than is commonly assumed—”If Jesus was so important, why didn’t more historians write about Him?” In this case, THEY ALL DID!).
“Of the Jewish resources—Josephus and the Rabbinical writings (e.g. Talmud, Midrash)—BOTH make clear references to the existence of Jesus (even though the details reported may be odd). So ALL the Jewish sources refer to Him.
“In addition, there are three OTHER candidates for historical ‘mentions’ of Jesus that fall in the 2nd century: one Roman (Pliny the Younger) , one possibly Syrian (Mara Bar Serapion), and one Samaritian (Thallus). [We can also include here the writings of Celsus, Galen, Lucian]
Would like to see him explain the latest findings on the Shroud....
Liberals are fictional characters to me, in fact Obama is a known cypher, with a wife fighting for her icecream more than for books.
The dictatorial want Him to be fiction because He proved the Powers that be would lie and fabricate in court spurious charges. Christ is the single rallying point on unjustice, whether you believe in God or not initialy.
Not only did people see Jesus in his first coming, but everyone on Earth will see Him at his second coming.
“Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced Him, and all the nations of the earth will mourn because of Him.” Revelation 1:7.
tell it to the 2 billion christians.......
climate change is the religion of the non believers...
Fair rabbi.
Liberalism is a serious mental disorder.
BTW, there is no "Mr. Lataster". There are no eyewitnesses or contemporary accounts of "Mr. Lataster".
BTTT
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