Posted on 10/03/2011 8:52:51 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
In reference to your fist sentence or so, boy, I get that. My lds uncle (former bishop) has a PhD in geology will tell you straight out that there is no anthropological, geological or archaeology evidence to support anything in the BofM or other lds docs, and that is why it is call faith.
First, look in your heart. Do the stories and inconsistencies in the KJB make sense? Do they make sense for the time?
Quick example - Jesus was sent to live among us and was always described as poor and wearing rags. If he wore rags, why were the Roman guards at his crucifixtion bidding for his clothes?
Then, "seek and ye shall find!"
Firstly your statement on his apparel is supposition that he was with the poor did not mean he was destitute.
Second.. He was FAMOUS the possessions of FAMOUS people tend to be valued thus no mater what the garments were the Romans would have had a reason to wan them.
Logic is not a blunt tool it takes some skill to us it.
You might want to re-think your logic comment - yours is flawed. Jesus was not famous, as you contend. He was considered a rabble-rouser and criminal. His biggest detractors were not the Romans, but the Sanhedrin who believed that he was trying to usurp their power and authority over religion.
Socrates was, essentially, sentenced to death for defying the authority of the powers that be who also controlled religion. Jesus was, essentially, placed in the same category and crucified as a result.
THX 1138
Thank you so much for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
His clothes?
Really?
I think I just heard the sound of 2000 years of Christian theological study tumble to dust...
Nope, it was my cat...
Out of curiosity, what religion do you follow, and no “Christian” is a little vague...
Will assume, though that is meaningless around here, that you are not LDS though I never discount our local corp of Stunt Mormons. So JW? Unitarian?
Just gotta know...
Christian, actually. I was raised in the Episcopalian (low) Church, but abandoned that as a teenager because I didn’t like the meddling by the priests.
I went through a whole change, going through agnosticism and coming bck to Christianity when I hit what, for me, was a low point in my life. Jesus pointed me in some directions that have made my life better.
Since then, I have been on a journey to discover more about Jesus Christ because too much of the KJB doesn’t add up. What I am finding is actually new emerging facts that are supported by theologians and biblical scholars that run counter to today’s Christianity but, when placed in the perspective of the time and what we know of the history of the period, makes more sense to me.
I’m not out to challenge the exitnce of Jesus Christ or promote a particular religious philosophy. I just want to know the truth and I believe that I am finding these truths. Others can and will vehemently disagree with me and flame me, but these truths bring me peace and present, for me, a more clear and complete life of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, I think it strengthens the relationship beween me, Jesus and God.
And, after all, isn’t that what religion is supposed to be about?
No, his clothes are simply one tiny example. There are a multitude of others. Let’s start with a fundamental Christian belief about the origins of mankind, the story of Adam and Eve. Does that story make sense?
IF we buy into the whole Adam and Eve story (which, BTW, was co-opted from several older religious theories long before Christianity), whom did Cain and Able impregnate to continue the species - their sisters? According to biologists and doctors, inbreeding produces idiots. On an aside, looking at society today, there’s an argument to be made for that, but no medical/biological proof. This is a troubling issue of truth and fact. And, if we all descended from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, how do we explain the evolution of man from as much as 5 million years ago, through the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon man, etc.?
Then, we get to the Crucifixtion. Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate and accused of heresy and his accusers demanded that Pontius Pilate do something. Pilate, teh ROMAN appointed governor of Jerusalem, didn’t see a violation of ROMAN law and wanted the whole thing to go away. Jesus was accused of claiming to be the Son of God, a claim that irritated the Jewish priests and officials of the day. Since He was accused of violating Jewish law and not Roman law, Pilate could have cared less. But, the Jewish priests wanted Jesus crucified. This was when Pilate “washed his hands” of the whole affair and turned Jesus’ fate over to the Jewish priests who demanded His crucifixtion. This link adds a little more to the story:
http://www.gospel-mysteries.net/pontius-pilate.html.
There are also the discrepancies between the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Why does John, typically, while describing many of the same events as Matthew, Mark and Luke, arrive at a different end? Why? Was John stupid? Or blind? Did he not witness these events and make them up? Or, did he know something that the other three didn’t?
Again, these are troubling issues that evolve from a book that is supposed to explain and teach us about Jesus’ life.
There are many, many other things, but I don’t want to hijack this thread and I don’t want to burn up all of JimRob’s bandwidth on a topic that fascinates me.
Thanks for asking and giving me the oppoortunity to expound a little on my beliefs. I don’t expect you or anyone else to agree with me, but these things are the among the reasons that I doubt the veracity of the KJB.
Jesus is just like Gumby, He can bend to be anything we want as long as we are “searching” place marker
Again, these are troubling issues that evolve from a book that is supposed to explain and teach us about Jesus’ life.
Why is it that 4 eyewitnesses of an event can give slightly differing accounts of that same event?
Perspective.
The Gospel of John was written a considerable period after the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
From a historical perspective, we don’t know that any of the Apostles witnessed any of these events, at least according to the history of the Gospels (NOT the history of the Apostles), because they were not written down in a contemporaneous form until approximately 300 years after Christ’s death.
And, in several cases, John’s variations are substantially different from those of Matthew, Mark and Luke. These aren’t slight differences as you suggest.
Um, in your vast knowledge you no doubt have Bible passages which will verify your claim that Jesus wore rags? Care to share those with us? In the Greek, I cannot find any such passage. I can find where it says The Son of Man has one raiment and no place to lay His head ... perhaps you would help an old man find this so clarifying verse you claim for authority.
And are the “differences” so vastly different to you that it prevents you from comprehending the messages contained in the gospels? What are you hoping to “find” in this quest of yours?
I find nothing nefarious in the variations. I find God’s Word. It sure seems to have worked out for the vast majority of Christians.
Good luck on your quest.
I'm not going to dignify your insulting request and at no time have I ever claimed to be an authority.
You missed the point. Thanks for your good wishes. So far, I am finding the answers that satisfy me.
No, I don’t believe I did.
I just may have asked the question in a manner that wasn’t clear.
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