The Jesus Myth
Posted on: March 12, 2011 - 10:09pm
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The Jesus Myth
I just posted this link in another thread, and thought a lot of atheists would really appreciate the works of author, journalist, and former Anglican priest Tom Harpur, in regards to debunking the legend of the mythical Jesus character.
This series is called "The Pagan Christ".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W69neFjVBw&feature=related
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
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By the way the link is blocked by Canada for USA because of copyright laws.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whip cream."--Frank Zappa
http://atheisticgod.blogspot.com/ Books on atheism
Bummer!
It was a great series!
Let's try and look for another link to his stuff. It was really excellent.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whip cream."--Frank Zappa
http://atheisticgod.blogspot.com/ Books on atheism
I loved Bart's debate with William Lame Craig, over the historicity of the legend of Jesus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjOSNj97_gk
WLC's apologetics make me laugh...
"Since it is almost inexplicable that Christians would make up a story, that a Jewish Sanhedrist does what is right, by Jesus...." : William Lane Craig
What a great press agent this guy is. He can polish on a turd like no one else I've ever seen...
" Fact #1 After his crucifixion, Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a tomb
1- Jesus' burial is multiply attested in early, independant sources.
2- As a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to be a Christian invention
Fact #2 On the Sunday after the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers.
1- The empty tomb is also multiply attested by independent, early sources
2- The tomb was discovered empty by women.
Fact # 3 On different occasions, and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
1- Paul's list of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection guarantees that such appearances occurred.
2- The appearance narratives in the gospels provide multiple, independent attestation of the appearances. " : William Lane Craig
I love his 'not so subtle' obfuscation, rhetoric and hyperbole...
Here's another link to a Tom Harpur public lecture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-6qtQl0vU
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
Wait, I found this summary. It's FANTASTIC a major network is covering this! It would be great if can get on a major American network or the BBC.
There are 2.1 billion Christians on the planet – roughly one third of the entire human population. At the heart of their religion is the New Testament and the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. To Christianity, the written word is the glue that binds the faith of its followers.
So, what if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament – the cornerstone of Christianity – is based on myth and metaphor?
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/paganchrist.htmlhttp://www.cbc.ca/doczone/paganchrist.html
There is a video link for the CBC to watch the video but it doesn't work outside the U.S.! We gotta find a link that works in the great U.S. of A!!
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
I found a video link we can watch outside of Canada:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x84m5k_2007-doc-zone-pagan-christ-1-of-3_news
What do you guys think?
I'm sure it'll make more sense that the Arab mythology that IS the bible!!
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
This long lecture of Tom Harpur's, that I posted earlier, is great too.
Did you try it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-6qtQl0vU
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
You could try finding a Canadian proxy.
Optimism is reality, pessimism is the fantasy that you know enough to be cynical
I haven't watched it yet, but I just hope it's better than the Brian Flemming's quackery.
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
What did you find wrong with that?? I admit it wasn't perfect but he covered all the major points.
There are other gods BEFORE Jesus who had virgin birth, blood sacrifice, resurrection, son of god, etc. and the historical evidence of the writers in Asia Minor and Egypt at the time does NOT support a historical Jesus. It has a 7.1 rating on IMDB which isn't that bad at all especially considering all the religious nuts who gave it a 0 or 1 rating.
He cited authors on the subject such as the author of "Deconstructing Christ". All of the other authors who have written on the mythical Jesus cover the same points as those raised in that book.
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whip cream."--Frank Zappa
http://atheisticgod.blogspot.com/ Books on atheism
HOW was it poorly done?? It wasn't a 10 or anything but it got almost 4 out of 5 stars on IMDB. It's the best and only documentary we've had on the TRUTH of the Jesus myth.
Below are some other notable people who appear in the film.
Several notable personalities make appearances in the documentary:
The following only appear on the DVD's commentary track:
Among the Christians shown in the film were attendees at a Billy Graham Crusade event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on November 18, 2004.
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whip cream."--Frank Zappa
http://atheisticgod.blogspot.com/ Books on atheism
I wish Bill Maher would mention on his HBO show that Jesus is a myth. In Religilous he talked about how Horus has many of same features of Jesus like virgin birth, blood sacrifice, had 12 disciples, ALSO had his birthday on Dec.25th, etc.
On the last show he mentioned how the pope said he doesn't blame the Jews for Jesus' death. That was the PERFECT chance to go into the myth of Jesus but he just said CSI Jerusalem is looking into it. LOL
I'm sure he must think Jesus is mythical or at least very close to that. I suppose he could think he was a person but they just made up and exagerrated a bunch of stories about him that were copied from previous gods.
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whip cream."--Frank Zappa
http://atheisticgod.blogspot.com/ Books on atheism
Only about 25% of the content was relevant to the central thesis it seems...that is the second quarter of the film.
The last half sounded more like a general critique of "fundamental" Christianity that really had very little to do with the central thesis... a sort of red herring IMHO.
1.) The comparative mythologies don't imply that Jesus did not exist...only that the accounts of his existence were embellished.
2.) I think Flemming central premise was largely based on arguments from silence...
3.) I also think he may have misrepresented some of the facts too and used selective facts concerning the canonical gospels and the writing of St. Paul....
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
But St.Paul never met or even SAW any earthly Jesus. Even the wiki page on him says that. All he did is repeat the MYTHICAL story of Jesus. It's ridiculous for Christians to think that ALL the other gods around there like Osiris, Isis, Horus, Tammuz, Mithras, Zeus, Apollo, Jupiter, etc. are ALL fake yet somehow Jesus was real eventhough it was people from the SAME area who wrote these stories and CLAIM events happened decades before.
It's not like Martians came down and told us about Jesus. It's the SAME people who made up all the other gods. There's also a problem with the fact that in Jerusalem (where Jesus supposedly was) they only spoke Aramaic at that time yet the bible was written in mostly Greek and Hebrew?? Jesus never WROTE a single thing?? He never signed his name?? They claim he was a carpenter but not a single piece of his handiwork exists. There's LOTS of architecture and artifacts from that era but NOTHING from Jesus.
We've got LOTS of historical records from no name Palestinian historians from that time but not a WORD from Jesus. No inscriptions or any writings in stone from Jesus either.
Click here to find out why Christianity is the biggest fairy tale ever created!! www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm www.JesusNEVERexisted.com
Haha.
That would be too funny...
"This is the house that Jesus built!"
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
I am hopeing you two guys realize Nazareth never existed [neather did J.C.] in the right time frame, but when it did the local tradesmen were stone cutters. That house would have to be signed off as 'done by yuoshua son of the big guy, christos' . Now watch the fundies go digging for that the way they keep digging for Noah's Yacht. Bon chance mon ami's .
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
I've learned all about the Jesus myth, just recently.
As an atheist from birth, I knew exponentially more about Santa, than I did about Jesus, or the bible stories, for that matter.
Jesus was always a myth, in my mind, I could never, ever take those fables as fact. And it would not have mattered to me, one bit, if some dude named Jesus had actually existed in history.
But, from listening to Bart Ehrman, and Tom Harpur, it's really educated me, on just how dishonest the church really is, and how millions of people are deceived.
Even 'smart' people.
Just taking a look around this forum, and seeing just how bright, intelligent, formally educated, or 'street smart' the former theists, on this forum are, really points to how religion abuses peoples' trust for authority figures, and why 'science' is the ONLY method of distilling the TRUTH.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
But this is all an argument from silence though...that does not prove that he didn't exist... This is no different than the theist asking the atheist to prove that god doesn't exist....
And to suggest that they made it all up based off of other mythologies is no better. That's a conspiracy theory...
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
It is not conspiracy. Far too often theist claim " you can't prove jesus/god does not exist". This is Bullsh**.
Rational people do not have to prove ZERO; Rational people do NOT have to prove an empty container. If true believers want to prove something is there; they will have to PROVE IT!!!
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Sorry I've been out of pocket. I have pulled a Hitchens and am in the hospital for acute leukemia. I may or may not be getting out in 4 weeks. I tried to login since I was in the hosptial and I get an email but it tells me access denied. The idea of a Jesus being completely myth is not considered serious by most historians. With Paul who in Galatians seems to really fight with the authorities he calls James, John and Peter about the Jewish nature verses Paul's universalizing the messiah seen as Jesus to that of Greek mystery myth. The Jerusalem group seems to have developed into the Ebionites who rejected any divinity, virgin birth or demi-god aspect of Jesus. They saw him completely as a human who died and would soon be coming back with the others resurrected and would be their messiah on earth. This was a very earthy but wrong view that Paul stole and remade with contemporary and popular myth.
Here's an interesting comparison of 'other' characters that resembled the Jesus myth.
There seems to be a whole bunch of them.
I had no idea there were this many...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRKhZ81aqY&feature=related
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
Zetigeist is kinda full of bullshit, btw. Check out Matt D from TAE, he gives his thoughts about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-y86El_Dwk
And here's an analysis of the movie:
http://www.conspiracyscience.com/articles/zeitgeist
ciarin.com
The conspiracy theory is to suggest that the NT writers made it all up based on other religions. There's no direct evidence for that....
Right. No one can prove that Jesus did not exist...only that he did. One can doubt that he existed for whatever reason though.
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
Sorry to hear it. Hope you get better. BobSpence1 should have sent you an email to your registered email account with a new password.
But there are some who do, and they are rather more credible to me than those who dismiss mythicism out of hand. Take Robert M. Price, for instance, and Richard Carrier. Check out this excellent interview of Carrier on the topic. Very up-to-date and sensible.
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Your rebuttal is total bullshit.
More total bullshit.
More total bullshit.
Was that supposed to be compelling?
TG, I'm sorry I missed this, Bro.
It saddens me to hear of your health issues, my friend.
I hope you get well soon. You are missed, by your friends, Bro.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
Did you actually read or watch this links I posted?
How old are you?
Are you unaware that you're talking about Zeiteist in this thread? It's the same movie.
ciarin.com
What about them?
Was that supposed to be some kind of 'White Paper'?
Are you wearing underwear?
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
These guys seem to have done their homework as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUj8hg5CoSw&feature=related
The website:
Godisimaginary.com
Understanding the excuses. 50 simple proofs.
http://godisimaginary.com/excuses.htm
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris