Some years ago I visited friends where another of their guests told me he had been reading a remarkable book. It was he said, about Atlantis and demonstrated beyond any doubt that the ancient city had really existed and had sunk beneath the ocean where it still waited to be found. I asked him how he knew this (a polite way of asking what his evidence was.) He looked at me incredulously. ‘Because the book says so,’ he explained.
It’s the same with all the claims made about Jesus: that he was the Saviour, the Messiah and the Son of God. All such claims are found only in one book written by people who already believed such things about him.
Outside of this book there’s nothing: no Roman records of his death and subsequent resurrection; no reports of post-resurrection visits by witnesses who weren’t already invested; no contemporary, independent accounts of his remarkable miracles; nothing from historians of the day about his return from the dead and subsequent ascent into the sky; no mention of him at all in any documentation for the first 80+ years of Christianity outside of this one book. The Son of God appears on Earth and nobody but a handful of superstitious zealots notice.
Not very convincing, is it?
rejectingjesus, 
You put it so clearly! And yet the impressionable mind prefers myths and fables and legends.
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Atlantis, big foot, Loch Ness monster, UFOs, QAnon, Jesus, the 2nd coming. Some people will buy anything.
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This new book came out in January, but I just heard of it. It’s a perfect example that people will read existing scripture (in this case, the New Testament) and twist it to mean whatever they want it to mean. People haven’t changed much in 2,000 years. Or 10,000 for that matter.
President Donald J. Trump, The Son of Man – The Christ by Helgard Müller (Author)
During the presidency of President Donald Trump, it became evident to me that the prophecies about the Son of Man, as predicted by Jesus in the Bible were, to a significant extent, fulfilled at the hands of Mr Trump. The Bible speaks about two different Christs-or Messiahs. Jesus, the Son of God is the one Christ, whereas the Son of Man is the other. Jesus always referred to the Son of Man in the third person. The greatest distinction or significance between the Son of Man and the Son of God (the Lamb) is their respective positions at the throne of God. There are numerous differences between the Son of God and the Son of Man, but overall, people read these scriptures and they do not realize that the Son of God (the Lamb) stands in front of the throne of God, whereas the Son of Man, is positioned on the right hand of God. Jesus spoke about two different killings in the four gospels of the New Testament. People read these scriptures and are unaware that Jesus (the Son of God) predicted his own killing in the first person, as opposed to the several prophecies that He made in respects to the Son of Man who will be crucified. The New Testament speaks about “two Kings;” Jesus, the Son of God, is the “King of the Jews,” whereas the Son of Man is the “King of Kings” who will be a world-ruler, and He will rule all the nations (the tribes) of the earth with a rod of iron. This book will explain in depth how “Donald John Trump’s” full name literally means: “The Ruler of the World, graced by Yahweh (the LORD) and a descendant of a Drummer.” Upon reading this book, the reader will be captivated when they realize how President Donald John Trump fulfilled most of the prophecies as the Son of Man. It speaks about End Time Prophecies and Biblical revelations regarding “President Donald J. Trump, the Son of Man. The Christ.”
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Wow. It’s currently ranked 11th in Amazon’s Christian Commentaries (Books) category.
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It’s enough to make you despair.
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I hope this goes viral. There is nothing like a new conspiracy theory to entertain us.
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You talk as though there was one book. You should know better.
There has only been one book since the church declared the canon complete, and even then, there were sizable numbers of Christians who did not agree and do not agree still on what should constitute that ‘one book.’ In the early centuries there were many gospels circulating. There were many different letters written. Many different theologies developed. That has been the case through the centuries. But back to my point.
From the earliest days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. People wrote about him. Many of those writings remain and you can access them on earlychristianwrtings.com They did not all agree. They represented a variety of viewpoints. They were written by many different authors. The remarkable thing, however, is that they did agree on one thing, Jesus. They agreed on his miracles. They agreed on his crucifixion. Thery agreed on his resurrection. So, one book? There was never one book. There was diversity. There were multiple witnesses.
If Rome took no notice – until later – it hardly matters. It was hardly to be expected. But many different people did take notice – skeptics and even enemies among them. Some of them remained skeptics and enemies. You can read about those in the early literature as well. Consider the Jews. Consider Celsus. No one, however, made the absurd claim that nothing happened. Even the enemies. Take the word of those hostile witnesses if nothing else.
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Again, you purposely miss the point.
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Miss it, Neil? Or purposely avoid it? I tend to think the latter. (I’m sure you’ve noticed that politicians and religionists are very much alike.)
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No. I think you do. You seem to think that Christianity is monolithic. You seem to think there has only been one book. Neither is true. The has been great diversity. There is today great diversity. There is not one book today. But there is unity on the only issue that is important, Jesus.
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Right, so Christians read all those other ancient texts you mentioned and regard them as inspired, do they? Of course not. You yourself have dissed writings that fail to represent Jesus as you see him.
You really are deluded if you think there is anything even approaching unity about Jesus. There wouldn’t be 45,000 different Christian denominatons and sects if there were.
At least you made me laugh.
I don’t think you’ve anything more to offer here, Don.
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Nan:
I’m sure you’ve noticed that politicians and religionists are very much alike.
Religion is politics. The original politics.
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