From Whence Cometh This Nonsense?

[stvdv]

Right. And there are few civil cancers so great as a citizenry that eagerly feeds on baloney.

Roughly 5.5 billion people feed on "baloney" (incl. you), another group of 1.1 billion people, not believing in God/Religion might think, say or post on RF

 

[stvdv]

People who believe in all this stuff aren't any more interested in history than people who read tabloids are interested in the news.

They don't want to be informed, they want to be entertained.

Is there a difference between those and the ones criticizing those?
"This world-appearance is a confusion: even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it....The mind caught up in its own trap of logic, questions 'why', invents a 'why' and a 'wherefore' to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind".

 

[Quagmire]

Is there a difference between those and the ones criticizing those?

Yes

"This world-appearance is a confusion: even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it....The mind caught up in its own trap of logic, questions 'why', invents a 'why' and a 'wherefore' to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind".

I don't think "did Jesus visit India" or "is he buried in England" count as questions that haunt an intelligent mind.

 

[stvdv]

Yes

Correct answer is No (does not count as questions haunting an intelligent mind), same as your below reply

I don't think "did Jesus visit India" or "is he buried in England" count as questions that haunt an intelligent mind.

Agreed.

 

[BilliardsBall]

I keep hearing certain folks going on about how Jesus was a king. Josephus wrote the Gospels. Jesus is buried in England. Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. All this.

Where oes this, frankly, rubbish come from? Any New Testament scholar will tell you that we know next to nothing about the historical Jesus so who came up with these ramblings and from where?

The NT as genealogies of both Joseph and Mary, showing they are both descended directly from King David (through his sons Solomon and Nathan, respectively).

Jesus could have had the scrolls opened and taken an earthly throne as king, a more valid king than the Idumean Herod dynasty.

 

[Rival]

The NT as genealogies of both Joseph and Mary, showing they are both descended directly from King David (through his sons Solomon and Nathan, respectively).

Jesus could have had the scrolls opened and taken an earthly throne as king, a more valid king than the Idumean Herod dynasty.

But he wasn't a king. So why are these conspiracy theorists saying he was?

 

[oldbadger]

But if you don't believe you can fully trust the Christian Testament, how can you be sure of these things?

Fully trust.....!!
You've answered your own question I think.
I don't fully trust the gospels but they are surely full of very valuable details. Study and research can be a fairly effective sieve.

 

[oldbadger]

But he wasn't a king. So why are these conspiracy theorists saying he was?

I think that much of Christianity was a conspiracy.
I don't think Jesus was about Christianity, I think he was about anti-corruption in Judaism.

 

[Rival]

Fully trust.....!!
You've answered your own question I think.
I don't fully trust the gospels but they are surely full of very valuable details. Study and research can be a fairly effective sieve.

So how do you know what you can trust and what you can't? This is where I take the views of people like Bart Ehrman seriously, but these theories are nothing like Ehrman's and make no sense.

 

[Terry Sampson]

So how do you know what you can trust and what you can't? This is where I take the views of people like Bart Ehrman seriously, but these theories are nothing like Ehrman's and make no sense.

You realize you're talking to a deist, don't you?

 

[Rival]

You realize you're talking to a deist, don't you?

Yeah, but that doesn't have any impact upon my argument. It still has no bearing on whether Jesus was buried in England. I just find these views strange and without provenance. All I want to know is where they come from other than 'someone's imagination'.

 

[Terry Sampson]

Yeah, but that doesn't have any impact upon my argument.

True, but it impacts on the usefulness of any response you get from one, IMO.

 

[Rival]

True, but it impacts on the usefulness of any response you get from one, IMO.

Right, but I'm not asking this question to Christians particularly; just anyone who might know where this stuff comes from. I mean, Paul was really Josephus? Where is there any indication of this? Jesus was an actual king with crown and sceptre? Why is he mentioned in no historical record? Back up your damn claims, fam.

 

[oldbadger]

So how do you know what you can trust and what you can't? This is where I take the views of people like Bart Ehrman seriously, but these theories are nothing like Ehrman's and make no sense.

I don't follow Bart Ehrman too much.
I've come to my own opinions about what happened, and I have not followed the hj scholars, I just researched my own way.

The hj professors and scholars do not agree with each other very closely, and in studies like this it's best to research for oneself.

 

[Rival]

I don't follow Bart Ehrman too much.
I've come to my own opinions about what happened, and I have not followed the hj scholars, I just researched my own way.

The hj professors and scholars do not agree with each other very closely, and in studies like this it's best to research for oneself.

Yes, but you can't insert a narrative that isn't evidenced.

 

[Quagmire]

Correct answer is No. . .

No, the correct answer is yes.
( your turn)]

 

[stvdv]

No, the correct answer is yes.
( your turn)]

I created this question, so I know the answer to this question
You are free to create your own question/answer though

Like beliefs, all can choose which they like best

 

[Quagmire]

I created this question, so I know the answer to this question
You are free to create your own question/answer though

Like beliefs, all can choose which they like best

Okay which is bigger the moon or a marble?

Answer: a marble.

I created the question, therefore . . .

 

[Harel13]

Okay which is bigger the moon or a marble?

Answer: a marble.

I created the question, therefore . . .

Brings to mind @Jayhawker Soule's Humpty Dumpty quote from a different recent thread. Which, ironically, was just referenced in an essay I read last week.

 

[Terry Sampson]

Josephus wrote the Gospels

https://www.amazon.com/Titus-Flavius-Josephus-Author-Gospels/dp/1071485881