Connie Woodcock (Toronto Sun)
IT’S TOUGH being a Christian. You have to believe impossible things – virgin birth, walking on water, and resurrection from the dead – and then you have to put up with your faith being under attack all around you.
Now you’re being asked to forget all that fairy tale stuff about loaves and fishes, water turned to wine and believe that Jesus Christ – the center of faith – never existed, but was in fact an ancient Egyptian myth. And while you’re at it, forget Lazarus, the Sermon on the Mount, John the Baptist, the Eucharist, the 12 disciples and all those miracles. They did not exist. They never happened, according to one of Canada’s most respected religious writer, Tom Harpur, of The Toronto Star, an Anglican priest and noted author of many inspirational books. So get over it. Even the concept of being born again, he says, comes from ancient religions.
(Jews aren’t left with much either. Scratch Abraham, the 40 years in the wilderness, and all those terrible battles. No Daniel in the lion’s den, no fiery furnace, no Samson, no David.)
Up until now, Harpur has been an inspiration and a comfort to thousands. But there is no comfort and precious little inspiration in his latest book, The Pagan Christ: Recovering The Lost Light, which cuts the heart out of the faith and doesn’t leave much behind
He’s just on a “sincere search” for spiritual truth, he says. It was a struggle, but it was worth it and now he believes in “Cosmic Christianity” If only he’d seen the light earlier in his carrier. Imagine the sermons he could have preached. Just keep an open mind and you’ll be Cosmic Christian, too.
So what made him do a U – turn late in a career devoted to Christianity? He discovered the works of three scholars: Godfrey Higgins (1771 – 1834); British Egyptologist Gerald Massey (1828 – 1908) and Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1881 – 1963), with odds and ends fished out of Gibbon and Northrop Frye, among others. Mostly it came from Kuhn, an American specialist in ancient sacred literature.
According to Harpur, Christianity today is the result of a huge conspiracy theory. Sometimes in the first to fourth centuries, the early Church’s leaders decided to dumb down the faith so it could be understood by the uneducated masses. They suppressed all evidence of Christianity’s mythical origins by destroying vast ancient libraries and by cooking up the Jesus – the – man story. Once there were 20 gospels, but now only four. Case closed, says Harpur.
Now, he says his reading has shown him “ the old literalist approach is dead in the water.” This will come as a surprise to Mel Gibson, among others.
Millions of fundamentalists accept the Bible unconditionally, but most thinking Christians have at least some trouble. Creation, the Christmas story, the miracles, the resurrection, the concept of the trinity are hard for well -educated people to swallow (although apparently not hard for George Bush which makes you wonder).
But Jesus as Horus, the mythical Egyptian god? Harpur finds startling similarities. Horus’ birth was signaled by a star, he was baptized in the river Jordan, walked on water, cast out demons and healed the sick. Hours was supposedly crucified between two thieves, buried in a tomb and resurrected on the third day. Both were referred to as the good shepherd and both called themselves the light of the world.
The Bible’s stories, he says, were “never intended to impart history in the first place. They are almost purely allegorical and their true meaning is to be sought beneath the surface.” It goes on and on and there’s much, much more if you can bring yourself to read it.
But you have to wonder. Over the last 2000 years, thousands of Christians have devoted their lives to Jesus Christ and thousands more have gone to their deaths rather than repudiate their faith. Were they all wrong? Or did they die for nothing? Not surprisingly, Harpur has nothing to say about that.
Frankly, I Connie think we can consign The Pagan Christ and its author to the Jesus was an alien from outer space school of thought and forget about them.
Did Jesus exist?
By Richard N. Ostling (Associate Press)
Did Jesus Christ even exist? The question may seem absurd, but years ago some radicals treated him as an imaginary figure. The issue is revived in Skeptical Inquirer magazine, published by the secularist Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.
Reviewing Mel Gibson’s Passion film, committee senior researcher Joe Nickell asserts: “Historically, apart from later Christian sources, there is virtually no evidence for Jesus’ Crucifixion – or even his very existence.”
Consider: Could a non-person whose crucifixion was a non – event be seen as real, not in “later” sources but within 20 years (see Paul’s early letters)? The four Gospels appeared in succeeding decades, the equivalent of 2004 books looking back at the Depression, World War II, school desegregation or the Kennedy assignation.
But Nickell indicates we must reject all New Testament evidence. But even if these records are thrown out, nonbelievers also provide early evidence of Jesus’ existence.
Such references are scarce, but don’t surprise E.P. Sanders of Duke University, author of The Historical Figure of Jesus. He says “it is sometimes hard to believe how unimportant Jesus was during his lifetime, especially outside Palestine.”
The most important non – Christian source is Jewish Antiquities, completed in AD 93 by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. One passage cites the execution in AD 62 of “the brother of Jesus the so- called Christ, James by name.
A long reference to Jesus poses a famous problem. Christian and non-Christian scholars agree it was retouched by later believers, who added pious phrases. But scholars say the additions are obvious. If they are deleted, Josephus provided at lest these bare facts: Jesus was thought to be a “wise man” and “doer of wonderful works,” attracted followers, was crucified by Pilate and started a movement that remained in existence decades later.
There is no logic in Christianity. They claim that Jesus was living, but where on earth in History can one find Jesus? There was an Invader named Alexander. There was Buddha, There was Ashoka, There was Nebucadanazar, There was Genghis Khan There was Hitler, There was Guru Nanak, There was Mohammad
In what History books is Jesus?
Only Christians keep saying there is one god, father =1 Son = 1 Holy Spirit = 1;
There are many books in the western world market, which raises doubts about the existence of Jesus ever. Hindu organizations should get hold of some books. Hindu activist should translate some portions in all Bharatiya languages and should distribute in Christian majority areas of Bharat.
Target Hindus: Effective Evangelization
http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/beliefs/hinduism.html http://www.petitiononline.com/art18udh/petition.html India's 900 Years modern history is already written, re-written, deformed, lied, mixed, amalgamated, and destroyed by the interested parties that ruled INDIA in the name of Islam & Christianity. Now our destiny is in our hands.
Bible Absurdities
Compiled by Donald Morgan
NOTE: These lists are meant to identify possible problems in the Bible, especially problems that are inherent in a literalist or fundamentalist interpretation. Some of the selections may be resolvable on certain interpretations--after all, almost any problem can be eliminated with suitable rationalizations--but it is the reader's obligation to test this possibility and to decide whether it really makes appropriate sense to do this. To help readers in this task, these lists are aimed at presenting examples where problems may exist given certain allowable (but not always obligatory) assumptions. It should be kept in mind that a perfect and omnipotent God could, should, and likely would see to it that such problems did not exist in a book, which s/he had inspired. It should also be kept in mind that what is and is not an absurdity is to some extent a matter of opinion. You are entitled to disagree with the author that these are, in fact, absurdities.
GE 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven(s) and the earth." (But where did God dwell before he had created heaven and earth?) (Note: Biblicists have determined that biblical chronology fixes the date of creation at 4004 B.C. thereby making the earth about six thousand years old. Creationists stubbornly adhere to this timetable in spite of overwhelming evidence that the earth is actually billions of years old. Archaeologists tell us that the biblical city of Jericho has, itself, been continuously occupied for more than ten thousand years.)
GE 1:3-5, 14-19 There was light ("night and day") before there was a sun. (Note: If there were no sun, there would be no night or day. Also, light from the newly created heavenly bodies seems to have reached the earth instantaneously though it now takes thousands or millions of years.)
GE 1:12, 16 Plants began to grow before there was sunlight.
GE 1:29 Every plant and tree which yield seed are given to us by God as good to eat. (Note: This would include poisonous plants such as hemlock, buckeye pod, nightshade, and oleander.)
GE 2:15-23, 3:1-5, 1TI 2:14 Eve was created after Adam had already been given the prohibition about eating the forbidden fruit. Eve believed the serpent (the craftiest of all of God's wild creatures) when he assured her that she would become wise and would not die if she ate the fruit. Eve has been blamed for causing Adam to fall, and ultimately for the fall of mankind. (Note: Prior to eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve would have had no knowledge of right and wrong; they would not have known that it was a sin to disobey God or to obey the serpent. After they ate the forbidden fruit, God placed a guard around the "Tree of Eternal Life" to keep them from eating its fruit. He could have done the same for the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" before Adam and Eve disobeyed. In addition, even though the prohibition regarding the forbidden fruit was made to Adam before Eve came on the scene, Eve has been blamed for the Fall; 1TI 2:14 says: "... Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.")
GE 3:1-5 The serpent speaks human language (presumably Hebrew).
GE 3:14-16 God curses the serpent, Eve, and Adam for what they have done. (Note: This is inconsistent with God's omniscience; God should have known full well, ahead of time, what the outcome would be. Since God created the three as well as the Tree of Knowledge, he is ultimately responsible for the Fall.)
GE 3:14 The serpent eats dust for the rest of his life (by command of God).
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