Audie
Veteran Member
The early Christians were persecuted and killed. Any original written records or public worship of Jesus was taboo, and all the original Apostles, except John, were killed, very early on. What was left was word of mouth, passed forward, in an underground fashion, for nearly two centuries, while censorship tried to cloud the issue and story.
To give this perspective, consider the censoring by FaceBook and Twitter, the fake news by the media and all the lying by Democrats leadership during the collusion delusion. Take this to the next level with torture, prison and killing as part of an effort to suppress truth and manipulate public opinion and behavior.
The New Testament was written two centuries later, as this calmed down, by compiling oral traditions from many sources. This was not as reliable as any original written documents, but these documents had long been destroyed by the suppression mob. That mob is still alive in spirit in many universities. Free speech poses a problem to manipulative propaganda.
The question becomes why purge and censor, if Jesus was just a nobody? Rome was very good at keeping records and very tolerant of religion, since the various religions helped them control the empire. Censor had to do with the manipulation of public opinion, since Rome felt threatened from within by the religion of slaves. They were dependent on slaves.
In the end, the Christians, with their New Testament written and studied, out lasted many generation of persecutors, to become the official religion of Rome in the 4th century AD. Christianity started at the bottom and worked its way to the top. Christianity would become a key part of an international empire that would last centuries; Holy Roman Empire. It would render onto God what was God and render onto Caesar what was Caesar's. It became a paradox of humility and might.
We've all heard this history a thousand times
in various versions.
So freaking what?