And I like the Cadbury eggs.
Posted on 03/15/2011 6:50:31 PM PDT by freedomguy38
This is the time of year for phase two of the Christian mythology. Phase one was Advent ending with Christmas. Now it’s Lent which ends with Easter. At least phase one is a happier time, even if the gift wasn’t quite what was expected. But then, neither was the “Messiah.”
That disappointment needed a lot of explanation by the Doctor of Law, Saul, who changed his name to Paul, probably due to his notorious reputation among earlier followers of Jesus. He supposedly had a reawakening that had something to do with forgiveness and mercy without punishment for his past inhumane treatment of these Jesus-followers.
The simplicity of such a concept, mercy without sacrifice, was more than his training could handle. After all, nothing was more important than keeping the Law. And the Law demanded a just punishment for not keeping it. Therefore, someone had to pay for wrongdoing.
Enter the idea of the “Messiah” as a substitute rather than a political leader, an innocent lamb of God, a savior to pay for the sins of the world, and a resurrection to prove that the payment was worthy and lawful – a fulfilling of the Law of Moses and the birth of a new religion, Christianity. But why believe Christianity’s teaching? Well, because there will be a final judgment to face if you don’t. That concept was borrowed from Judaism and Eastern religions.
Paul’s teaching and letters became the background for the Jesus narratives written a couple generations later. Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter details were all filled in there.
200 to 300 years later the Church Councils added their confessions to summarize the teachings of this new religion. But nothing is said there about what Jesus actually taught. He taught what Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David trusted. And that certainly was not Christianity.
His good news was that the Father’s justice is his forgiveness and his judgment is his acceptance. And trusting this good news leads to treating others with the same forgiveness and acceptance, no matter who they are or where they come from. It is called Love, and it is proof that the Father’s reality is already here and not some future event to wait for or to frighten us.
Our past is not an issue with the Father and there is no penalty for being human. There never was. The idea of punishment came from humans and the Father considers it to be unjust. He knows what we are made of and loves us in spite of it. Just as Jesus called himself a son of humanity, so can we call ourselves a daughter/son of humanity. The Father’s image is sacred to him, and we are it. This is what Jesus taught. It sets us free to explore and learn and invent and produce for the good of all. It sets us free to love all.
Knowing and trusting and living the above also hints at what happens to our sacred image, our real personhood, after death finally overcomes our mortal body. We do not have to make up something to explain it. Let it suffice to say that the Father, who promised that he would never leave us or forsake us, will not ever give up a part of his image. Never! As to the rest of such a life, just wait and see…
And I like the Cadbury eggs.
A myth is something thats not real. God is more real than you.
Saul did not change his name to Paul...
God did.
You clearly don’t know your bible.
Myth? You got any proof for that?
To reject the Messiah is to retain your sin debt... which can be paid by no other.
The only thing God “accepts” as our righteousness is the Blood of Christ.
Also... it is not an issue of punishment as much as it is a choice by individuals to be eternally separated from God by rejecting His Son.
What is hell if not complete absence from God’s presence?
Not really sure why you’re threatened enough by this “myth” to take the time to write this feeble attempt to refute it. But, if it makes you feel better, enjoy yourself. In the meantime, you have not really persuaded anyone one way or the other. God bless you regardless.
I this a vanity? You thought this up all by yourself?
If you eat food thats the food put there by God not "Chance the Father". No such thing. No chance has nothing to do with it dispite what you think you have figured. If it was true the pure fantasy of a Tornado going through a junk yard makes a house.
Once you really figure it out.
A simple THANK YOU TO GOD would be a step in the right direction.
I will pray for you. In the mean time all good decent Christians will keep the Lights on their Churches for you. SO if you would like to come in from the cold. We will be Glad to see you.
Seek and you will find.
Are all Pagan traditions promulgated after Nicea
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach
in 325 CE by the Roman Pontiff Constantine.
Yes, people go to where they are comforatble with. Pateince , strength and love equals heaven...anger, irritations and hate equals eventually...hell...lack of love and light.
And a Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to you sir.
I read the whole thing, and I haven’t a clue what the hell you’re talking about...
.....there is far, FAR more evidence pointing the other way...
Your abysmal lack of scholarship exposes your childish ego, by trying to insult The God of Creation and our Savior. If you really knew anything about the Bible and the interesting mythos which actually has become part of Christian traditions, you’d write about how Lucifer got into the Bible and Christian lexicon, feeding an extensive mythos regarding Luciferian gobblygoop. ... And you’re even so proud of your ignorance that you post it openly!
Very strange and pedantic post. Regurgitating old tired rewritings of history. As though Christianity were just a vapid myth dreamed up by fools. History shows that instead, it is the power of God and He is still displaying this same power in lives every day all over the world. The Messiah came to set us free from our sins and to allow us to live righteously.
Christmas was celebrated on 25 December from early in the second century; the balance of the evidence is that this date was chosen by the Christians of Antioch, but we do not know why.
Lent was introduced by St Irenaeus late in the second century, again as a specifically Christian observance. It has no connection to Paganism.
Easter - yes, that one is Pagan in origin, being derived ultimately from a Canaanite fertility festival.
Does this worry me? Not in the least. Humans have known of the existence of God through natural reason since the beginning of the world. The worship has evolved as our knowledge has evolved, through both reason and revelation. Our ancestors were no less devout than we are.
“Paul’s teaching and letters became the background for the Jesus narratives written a couple generations later.”
This is wrong on several levels.
First: Check Galatians 1 and 2 and 1 Corinthians 15. If you read them together, you can easily see that Paul went to Jerusalem about 5-6 years after the resurrection and met with Peter and James (Paul’s conversion was 2-3 years after the resurrection). Paul checked the Gospel he was preaching and it was the same as Peter and James. So the testimony of Peter and James, together with Paul’s revelation directly from Jesus were the basis for the Gospel recorded by Paul. It was not Paul making it all up and then others adopting Paul generations later.
FYI, almost all new testament scholars, including Christians, skeptics and athiests agree that Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 15 of the Gospel (which includes the resurrection and the fact that Christ died for our sins) dates to oral tradition among the Jerusalem Christians who believed they had seen the resurrected Christ no later than three years after the Resurrection.
Second: The four Gospels and Acts were written between 62 AD and 95 AD. During Nero’s reign, and between 63 A.D. and 68 A.D, Paul, Peter and James were killed. Paul’s epistles to Corinthians and Galatians were written in the mid-50 AD’s. So the notion that somehow the Gospels were written generations after Paul and just borrowed from Paul is just nonsense. For example, Mark’s gospel dates to about 65 A.D and he most likely got his Gospel directly from Peter in Rome. It may well have been written when Paul was still alive.
To all of the detractors of this guys post. Where is Christ in what you say?
Get a grip. Christ said: What you did to the least of these (this guy, me and everyone else) you did to him.
Forget the schematics and go with the message. Where there is love and kindness, how can there be hate and anger?
What association has light with darkness?
I am no in this guys corner, but there is no reason to condemn him because he is not in yours.
From the mangled negativity of your summation of Paul, I’m going to guess that you were raised Catholic.
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