To me the paradox of Jesus is that noone recognizes that the prophecies were available for forgers to create a pretend Jesus, long after his putative life, and then pretend that their ability to reference various prophecies was somehow evidence of the reality of their scam.
That's as ignorant a statement as I've seen on FR.
Congratulations, you've shown yourself worthy of DU or KOS.
Wherein does Karl Rove jump out of his time machine in your tale?
Actually, some of that was semi-legitimate. At about 200AD Christianity really took off, and there was ridiculous demand for all sorts of details about everyone involved, many of whom left little behind. So while there was an honest effort to get information, there was also publication of just about anything anyone could find or fabricate.
So a lot of the early Christian conclaves were intended to separate the wheat from the chaff, and develop reliable sources for internally consistent doctrine.
And so these 12 Scammers and also a Pharisee who HATED Christians then were willing to die/be killed for a scam? Really?
Peter was crucified in Rome and wanted that to happen with the cross upside down because he did not feel worthy to die as his Lord and Savior did. Yep definitely evidence of a scam there.
Saul, on the way to Damascus meets Jesus on the road. From there he is Paul, arguably one of the choicest of Christians. He died in Rome too, beheaded. That’s got scam written all over it.
Your critical thinking skills may need some brushing up. Just sayin.
To me the paradox of Jesus is that, on the one hand we are told that God so loved the world...,etc., etc., whose love is embodied in Jesus. And on the other hand, Jesus is going to judge some day and consign the vast majority of humanity to a never ending torture, the likes of which would horrify Torquemada.