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'How Jesus Became God': Skeptic scholar asks why it matters
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | 1/04/15 | Rebecca I. Denova

Posted on 01/06/2015 2:57:33 AM PST by Faith Presses On

For believing Christians, the identity of Jesus was announced at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451): Jesus was always divine and human simultaneously. How did this work? Very simply, “it’s a mystery.”

But a fuller explanation of how a peasant became God is the subject of Bart Ehrman’s latest book, “How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher From Galilee,” and the subject of contentious debate among scholars. Several colleagues published a response titled “How God Became Jesus.”

Mr. Ehrman, a professor at the University of North Carolina, is a popular speaker on the evolution of Christian theology (“Misquoting Jesus,” “Lost Scriptures: Books That Didn’t Make It Into the Bible”).

Dismissing his earlier training in Evangelical Christianity, he also dismisses most of the stories in the Gospels. He explains the rules of modern historical criticism, focusing on what we cannot know about Jesus because of the absence of evidence.

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; General Discusssion; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: antichristspirit; atheism; considerthesource; prayer; propaganda; secularism
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More propaganda, including the idea that Judaism was a lot like paganism with a "crowded Heaven" of divine beings, leading to confusion over Jesus' identity.
1 posted on 01/06/2015 2:57:33 AM PST by Faith Presses On
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To: Faith Presses On

I await the follow-up study — “How Mohammad pulled off the world’s greatest scam and invented Islam”.


2 posted on 01/06/2015 3:13:20 AM PST by ClearCase_guy ("Hey, I don't appreciate your lack of sarcasm.")
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To: Faith Presses On

Sometime in the next 50 or so years, Ehrman is in for a very rude awakening.

He appears to be diligently working to convince himself that his rejection of Jesus was the right think to do. Whether he is succeeding is for him alone to decide. He fails miserably with the rest of us.


3 posted on 01/06/2015 3:14:46 AM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: BwanaNdege

“right think” = right thing.


4 posted on 01/06/2015 3:16:00 AM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: Faith Presses On

>>For Mr. Ehrman, Jesus never thought himself divine in the sense that was later confirmed at Nicea, as the same essence as God.<<

How convenient that this pi$$ant knows the thoughts of Christ so that he can write a book that no one but pinheads like himself will read. Of course, he has no way of proving this. So he starts with a false premise to reach what he says is a true result. Ha!

Heretics used to be burned at the stake. Too bad that practice was discontinued.


5 posted on 01/06/2015 3:18:12 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: Faith Presses On
For believing Christians, the identity of Jesus was announced at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451)

It was the council of Nicea in 325 Anno Domini that much of the 'other gospels' were lost and/or discredited. That is when the politics of the the Roman emperor Constantine forced the different groups that called themselves ‘Christian’ to consolidate.
I fear much was lost at this time and modern religious scholars become archaeologists and must pick through the trash heaps of the holy lands to try to glean anything.

6 posted on 01/06/2015 3:23:26 AM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Faith Presses On; aMorePerfectUnion; imardmd1; CynicalBear; metmom; boatbums; WVKayaker; ...
'How Jesus Became God': Skeptic scholar asks why it matters

I have a feeling, that sometime in the future, it will matter a whole lot to this guy. He can bow the knees to Jesus today, willingly, or a mighty angel will force him to his knees later, unwillingly, but he WILL bow the knee. That is an iron clad guarantee that he can take to the bank.

7 posted on 01/06/2015 3:23:58 AM PST by Mark17 (All thru dark hours dreary, knocking again is He. Jesus are thou not weary, waiting so long for me?)
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To: Faith Presses On

Yahusha is not Yahuah. The latter is the father. The former is the son.

Yahuah clearly states that he is the only diety. (See the First Commandment)

The father begat the son. The father has delegated powers to his son. This is the hierarchy that the father has decreed.


8 posted on 01/06/2015 3:28:24 AM PST by TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed (Yahuah Yahusha)
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To: TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed; metmom; boatbums; caww; presently no screen name; redleghunter; ...
Yahusha is not Yahuah. The latter is the father. The former is the son. Yahuah clearly states that he is the only diety. (See the First Commandment) The father begat the son. The father has delegated powers to his son. This is the hierarchy that the father has decreed.

The Son was from everlasting just as the Father was, (Mic. 5:2; Ps. 90:2) but came forth from the Father as the "express image of his person," and as such was the LORD of hosts whom Isaiah saw in His glory when he was given the prophecy of Is. 6 (cf. Jn. 12:34b-44).

To the Son is ascribed uniquely Divine titles, glory and powers that testify to His deity , being God by nature, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.

9 posted on 01/06/2015 3:40:51 AM PST by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: NTHockey

Well I think it’s better to laugh off and publicly scold the heretics than to burn them—gives us the “bad name”.

If the moron would read and accept the Bible (Inerrant Word of God) then he’d know that Jesus = God.

John 8:58
Exodus 3:14
John 1:1-5
Psalm 110:1 (David calls Jesus Lord repeated again in Matthew 22:44)


10 posted on 01/06/2015 3:45:30 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Faith Presses On

If we are going to apply historical criticism equally then we must reject 100% of history prior to the birth of Christ. I am always amazed how people treat the Bible as one book and one source and not the 66 documents that it is.


11 posted on 01/06/2015 3:51:49 AM PST by LukeL
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To: Faith Presses On

I believe this man needs divine intervention. How about a prayer post for him. What a testimony that would be when he meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. It is very easy for him to deny the deity of Jesus when he dismisses the Gospels so I think it would be good for all, especially his students, if he were to face the Son of God. Unless, of course, God doesn’t want him.


12 posted on 01/06/2015 4:04:54 AM PST by huldah1776
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To: daniel1212

Always sad to watch someone sauntering to Hell.


13 posted on 01/06/2015 4:06:44 AM PST by Gamecock (Joel Osteen is a preacher of the Gospel like Colonel Sanders is an Army officer.)
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To: Faith Presses On

Oh, these people. They have nothing to say that didn’t come up in the first three centuries, and yet they fall over praising themselves for their courage and originality.

*yawn*


14 posted on 01/06/2015 4:22:15 AM PST by Tax-chick (Start the new year right: donate to Free Republic and adopt a kitten!)
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To: Faith Presses On

(John 1:1-4) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.


15 posted on 01/06/2015 4:35:09 AM PST by swampfox101
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To: Vaquero
It was the council of Nicea in 325 Anno Domini that much of the 'other gospels' were lost and/or discredited.

New Age nonsense. Nicaea didn't say anything about any "other gospels". Some of the spurious writings you're describing hadn't even been written yet.

16 posted on 01/06/2015 4:47:29 AM PST by Campion
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To: Faith Presses On
For believing Christians, the identity of Jesus was announced at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451): Jesus was always divine and human simultaneously.

Notice how the article begins -- right off the bat! -- with a misrepresentation of the orthodox position? Jesus was not "always human"; he became human in the Incarnation at a specific point in time.

17 posted on 01/06/2015 4:50:49 AM PST by Campion
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To: Campion

Constantine was not a Christian. He supposedly converted on his death bed. He used Christianity for political expediency. His mother, Helena, was the real Christian in the family.
New age nonsense? Where is your documentation?


18 posted on 01/06/2015 4:54:59 AM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Faith Presses On

Jesus did NOT become God. He was always God.


19 posted on 01/06/2015 5:07:50 AM PST by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
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To: Vaquero
How do you suggest I document a negative? You made the claim first; where's your documentation?? The decrees of Nicaea are available in full on the net. Read them.

Who or what Constantine was is irrelevant.

20 posted on 01/06/2015 5:11:49 AM PST by Campion
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