Originally posted by holycowSVTpaul:
...My other contention with Christianity---From someone who for half his lifetime has immersed himself upon the subject, is bothered by the basic lack of historical collaboration in the Jesus story. The only source outside the Bible that mentions Jesus is Josephus, the great Jewish historian. However, it is strongly believed that some Christian author inserted the Jesus story within the Josephus's works...



I swear that Certain Roman historians make mention of Jesus or a Christian "Messiah"; not by specific name, though. It's been too long since I ran through this period of history; names are totally gone from my memory. Point taken, though, that there exist very few external references of Christ outside of the Gospels.

I personally never found much difficulty with this outside of Jewish or Christian writings; his crucifixion was a blip on the radar screen in terms or Roman events and the very nature of his death was reserved for criminals and traitors/usurpers of the empire; not something overly noteworthy in the Roman annuals.

Only in modern-day records can one find historical references to those treated to such a criminal event. As with most major religious figures in Western history, they are only brought forth and placed in the annuals of history after their deaths; few eyewitness accounts exist outside of religious orders (which I must admit could be held somewhat suspect) Remember, monks and the like were really the only ones that had any form of education and writing skills back then; written documents were a rarity due to the cost and time it took to produce them in any volume.

I'm with you that Christianity has brought up FAR more questions than answers in my life, though I've ultimately (and with no small amount of difficulty) managed to keep away from the "fine print" that various Judeo-Christian religions simply LOVE to squabble over and try to philosophically resolve in terms of who's going to Hell and who's been earmarked for Heaven. The sheer idiocy I see in this futile excercise and the half-assed "proof" of "Who's Going Where" that has been forcibly shoved down my throat by a number of denominations has more often than not shown me a profound lack of understanding of the basic message preached by the Gospel AND by the very people who claim to live and breathe by it; in other words, those who should know better...

In short, I've kept the faith by keeping the message simple, which it seems Christ was very much into. His disciples are another story altogether, as their views (especially Paul's) can be interpretated from one end of the spectrum to the other when drilled down into enough.

Cynically speaking, one man's religion is another man's hoax. Proof denies faith, so if one spends enough time seeking either, you're screwed in both cases.


JaTo e-Tough Guy Missouri City, TX 99 Contour SVT #143/2760 00 Corvette Coupe