NO SMOKE, NO FIRE, JUST
ANOTHER CON
(Investigator 129, 2009
November)
Brian
de Kretser
Dawkins,
Hitchens, Stenger
and many other authors too numerous to name, present historical
evidence backed up by plenty of scholars and researches that J.C. did
not exist.
This is
always disputed by
card carrying me members of the god squad and their many agents
(believers) who suggest that there cannot be smoke without a fire.
Something miraculous did happen in the 1st century AD - Certainly lots
of things took place, but no J.C. miracles, not a word.
Let us
put aside modern
authors and their sources for a moment and go straight back act to the
1st. century, the time in which J.C. was said to have lived and
performed his wondrous works. Listed below are a number of writers and
historians, many highly reputed for their works. They all lived and
wrote during the time or within a century after the time that J.C. is
said to have lived, performed miracles, raised the dead, cured the sick
and blind, walked on water, etc. followed everywhere he went by great
multitudes of people.
Let us
start with
Philo-Judaeus (20 BC - 50 AD) Philo wrote an account of the Jews
covering the entire time that J.C. is said to have existed on earth.
Philo was living in or near Jerusalem when J.C.'s miraculous birth and
Herod's massacre occurred. He was there when J.C. made his triumphal
entry into Jerusalem. He was there for the crucifixion and all the
world shattering events that followed — earthquakes, the sun becoming
dark at noon, the graves opening and the dead and long dead saints
roaming about the place., supposedly seen by many, also when J.C.
himself rose from the dead and in the presence of many witnesses
ascended into heaven, but Philo saw nothing, heard nothing, wrote
nothing.
Flavius
Josephus, the
renowned Jewish historian, born 37 AD was a contemporary of the
apostles. He was for a time the governor of Galilee, where J.C. lived
and taught. Josephus wrote of every important event during the first 70
years AD but J.C. did not get a mention. Later the Josephus writings
were interpolated and forgeries which mention J.C. added on. This short
forgery was labeled by Bishop Warburton as "a rank forgery and a very
stupid one too…" It is mentioned in the Church History, that this was
the word of the very dishonest bishop Eusebius. The Catholic
Encyclopedia admits that the forged passages were not known to Origen
and earlier church writers.
Justus
Tiberius was a
native of Galilee, he wrote a history covering the period of J.C.'s
reputed existence. This work was destroyed, but Photius a Christian
scholar and critic of the 9th century who was acquainted with it says
that Justus made not a mention of J.C. or his wondrous works.
There
were also
interpolations and forgeries in the works of Pliny the younger and
historian Tacitus (who was born about 20 years after the purported
death of J.C.
Due to
modern science these
are now recognized as forgeries by all scholars both Christian and
secular. A total of about 40 to 50 interpolated lines are the only
supporting evidence of the existence of J.C. a man-god who supposedly
shook up the whole world of that period.
The
other historians of
that time, Arrian, Lucius Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD) Dion Pruseus, Pliny the
Elder, Pater Calus, Suetonius, Juvenal, Theon of Smyran, Martial,
Phlegon, Persius, Pompon Mela, Plutarch, Quintus Curtius, Lucian,
Apollonius, Pausanias, Valerius Flaccus, Quintilian, Forus Lucius,
Lucanus, Phaedrus, Epictetus, Damis, Silius Italicus, Alulus Geuius,
Statius, Ptolemy, Columella, Diochry Sostom, Hermogones, Lysias,
Valerius Maxiimus, Cornelius, Titus Livius, Cluvius Rufus, Publius
Petronius (the Roman consul) who lived in Jerusalem. All these heard
nothing, not a word was written about J.C.
These
historians wrote
about early religions but never mentioned J.C. or the spectacular
events that the church said accompanied J.C.'s life. It is easy to come
to the conclusion that the J.C. story is pure fiction. The deafening
silence by all the historians and writers of that era is the most
damning proof that J.C. never existed, and all the stories that the
church promoted to try and back up a non-existing character are all
made up of myths and legends of past gods.
The
church and believers
have no answer to this although they trot out various excuses from time
to time. This evidence is set in concrete. The god of the Hebrews did
not exist before the 6th century BC. All deities who preexisted were
named — Brahma, Horus, Osiris, Isis, Marduk, Ahuramazda.
After
these there were many
others — Allah had to wait till the 5th century AD to be invented by
Muhammad.
It is
all summed up very
nicely by Pope Leo X (Giovanni De Medice) who was Pope 1513-1521. At a
Vatican feast he toasted with a glass of wine held high, "How well we
know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for
us and our predecessors…" The Church tried to hide this
unsuccessfully, because it was recorded by two who were present,
Cardinals Bembo and Jovius.
Subsequently
the Vatican
had to admit that the Pope had spoken the truth.
J.C.
still remains a
mythical figure, a story made up of recycled myths and legends. It
incorporated many elements from tales of other deities listed below:
| 1.
Krishna of Hindustan. |
17.
Adad of Assyria. |
| 2.
Buddha of India. |
18.
Alcides of Thebes. |
| 3.
Slivahana of Bermuda |
19.
Devatat and Sammonocadam of Siam. |
| 4.
Crite of Chaldea. |
20.
Micado of Sintoos. |
| 5.
Zulis, Osiris, Jorus of Egypt. |
21.
Beddru of Japan. |
| 6.
Atys of Phrygia. |
22.
Eros and Bremrillah of the Druids. |
| 7.
Odin of Scandinavia. |
23.
Thor of Gaul. |
| 8.
Indra of Tibet. |
24.
Cadmus of Greece. |
| 9.
Zoroaster and Mithra of Persia |
25.
Fohi and Tien of China. |
| 10.
Jao of Nepal. |
26. Hil and Feta
of the Mandaites. |
| 11.
Baal and Taut of Phoenicia. |
27.
Ischy of Formosa. |
| 12.
Bail of Afghanistan. |
28.
Gentaut and Quexalcote of Mexico. |
| 13.
Wittoba of Balingonese. |
29.
Adonis of Greece. |
| 14.
Thammuz of Syria. |
30.
Prometheus of Caucasus. |
| 15.
Xamolxis of Thrace. |
31.
Ixion and Quirinus of Rome. |
| 16.
Zoar of Bonzes. |
32.
Allah of Arabia |
There are many,
many more.
All were word saviors and creators, many crucified and rose from the
dead and into heaven same as J.C., born of a virgin, sexually molested
by a god etc, (sounds familiar?) Mostly all the above predate the
Christian myth.
REFERENCES
The Christ - John E.
Remsburg.
Life of Jesus - Ernest
Renan.
The world's16 crucified
saviors – Kersey Graves.
The crucifixion of truth –
Tony Bushby.
The bible fraud – Tony
Bushby.
The origins of Christianity
and the quest for the historical Jesus Christ – Acharya S.
The fable of Christ - Luigi
Cascioli.
HISTORIANS and JESUS
Anonymous
(Investigator 130, 2010
January)
If someone sees
"no smoke,
no fire" (#129) it may be that his eyes are closed.
The
existence of Jesus was
debated by scholars in the 19th century. The conclusion was that the
Jesus on whom the Gospels are based did live in the 1st century.
The
debate moved on to the
"historical Jesus". Critics in this part of the dispute assumed the New
Testament is wrong in MANY details, especially the miraculous aspects.
The aim, therefore, was/is to uncover the "real" or "historical" Jesus.
The
extreme view that there
was no Jesus on whom the New Testament is based is not a mainstream
academic position but is promoted by writers on the
theological/historical fringe.
Such
fringe-writers often
argue that:
1.
Historians of the 1st and 2nd centuries don't mention Jesus.
2.
Parallel lives of Jesus and other "saviors" suggest the Jesus
story was adapted from Pagan mythology.
PARALLEL LIVES
The
argument that
similarities between Jesus and Pagan stories prove Jesus is myth was
answered in #129.
The best
set of parallels
is with the Hindu god Krishna. However, the writings about Krishna were
completed centuries after the Christian writings. Also Christianity
spread to India and not Hinduism to Israel or to Rome. Therefore, if
anyone copied it was the Hindus.
I refer
readers to #129 for
more information about the copycat hypothesis and why mainstream
scholars ignore it.
HISTORIANS
De
Kretser (#129) listed
Roman era historians and says, "The deafening silence by all the
historians and writers of that era is the most damning proof that J.C.
never existed."
If
"deafening silence" is
proof of non-existence then China, America and Australia, and plenty of
other things that existed must be myths and didn't exist. If Roman-era
historians are the final word then numerous peoples such as Japanese
and Australian Aborigines didn't exist.
What
about Josephus and
Philo who were first-century Jewish writers? Wouldn't they have written
about Jesus?
Like
historians today
Josephus focused on political and violent events. Philo was a religious
thinker who tried to explain Jewish belief in terms of Greek philosophy
and wrote very little about first-century Judea.
Peaceful
religious meetings
rarely make news or get a mention in histories of the world or of
particular nations. This is true now and was true of ancient writers.
There are 20th century Christian evangelists who in Africa and India
addressed vast crowds of one or two million people, but who get no
mention in popular history books. Literally thousands of news writers
and historians around the world ignore such gatherings if they were
peaceful. If there's violence, however, then even a small cult becomes
newsworthy.
It is
also often the case
that historians:
1.
Ignore whatever they consider unimportant;
2.
Avoid mentioning political or religious positions they disagree
with so as "not to advertise the opposition";
3.
May
simply be unaware or uninformed.
Even
world-shaking modern
events scrutinized by hundreds of historians may get misrepresented.
For
example, for 60 years
Hitler's Eastern Front 1943 offensive, the Battle of Kursk, was
portrayed as a German military disaster. In that battle Germany's
greatest-ever concentration of armor crashed into the most powerful
defensive positions ever constructed. Ludwig Dyck writes: "Over 2
million men, 35,000 guns, 6,250 tanks and assault guns, and 4,900
aircraft were flung at each other by two merciless totalitarian
regimes, each bent on the utter annihilation of its foe." (WWII
History, September 2006) The day-8 high-point, when German and Soviet
tank armies collided, became known to historians as the "death ride of
the panzers". Now new research suggests that Kursk (including Day 8)
was a "brilliant tactical victory" for Hitler and might have achieved
much more had he committed his reserves instead of calling it off.
The
message here is that
events of world importance scrutinized by hundreds of historians over
decades — even in modern times with modern communications — can be
incorrectly assessed. What then about unimportant events?
MARGINAL EVENTS
Events
considered
unimportant by historians and for that reason omitted in popular
history books, may nevertheless get written up by the people involved
in those events. There are millions of churches, clubs, organizations,
employers and government-offices that publish reports, magazines,
journals and even books.
We
should not arbitrarily
declare the information in such special-interest publications to be
false, or the people non-existent, merely because historians writing on
world history don't mention them.
Any
special-interest
publications should, if they later gain international attention, be
assessed for accuracy on their own merits and not arbitrarily declared
false because historians ignored them.
The same
applies to the New
Testament and what it says about Jesus. The Gospels were "special
interest" writings by a small, peaceful group in a remote province and
of no interest to distant historians writing for Roman readers.
The New
Testament must
therefore be assessed by whatever content we can check or test today
and not arbitrarily dismissed because certain historians didn't mention
the same material.
That's
what I've done for
decades. I search the Bible for statements that can be tested by
reference to scientific and historical documents or by observations in
today's world. Hundreds of formerly disputed statements have been
confirmed, and this trend shows no sign of stopping.
There is
also prophecy. The
Bible predicted that Jesus would have world-wide impact upon all
nations. We see this fulfilled in thousands of Christian schools,
hospitals and charities, and with the Gospel available in over 2000
languages. H. G. Wells, a 20th century historian, called Jesus the
"centre of history".
There is
then no "deafening
silence" except for people willingly deaf.
The New Testament and
the Old Testament
examined and debated on this website: