Jesus Christ of the Gospels Never Existed. He's a Myth and I Can Prove It (Part 1). (Biblical, believing)
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What you don't seem to understand is that the purpose of mythology in human history has always been to express some deeper idea about humanity, spirituality, and the universe.
It's not that Jesus was "deliberately set up" to look like anything. Jesus is what He is. The ancients understood things about humanity and the universe that were expressed in their various mythologies. They understood that certain things would be fitting of divinity, just as certain things are fitting of man. Jesus was the fulfillment of these mythologies. He became the "True Myth" as C.S. Lewis expressed it in his essay, Myth Became Fact.
You see no value in the human art of storytelling?
I see value in, e.g., Tolkien, but it does not make any pretense that LOTR is factual. It's just an epic ripping yarn that can evoke some feelings about the real world.
The Jesus mythos, on the other hand, claims to be factual, which carries with it a burden of proof that it utterly fails to bear. And many who believe it to be factual want to impose it on those who do not. They don't always have control of the state machinery to that end, but they do their best just the same.
What you don't seem to understand is that the purpose of mythology in human history has always been to express some deeper idea about humanity, spirituality, and the universe.
It's not that Jesus was "deliberately set up" to look like anything. Jesus is what He is. The ancients understood things about humanity and the universe that were expressed in their various mythologies. They understood that certain things would be fitting of divinity, just as certain things are fitting of man. Jesus was the fulfillment of these mythologies. He became the "True Myth" as C.S. Lewis expressed it in his essay, Myth Became Fact.
This is your subjective opinion of course, Mike. It doesn't have to be more complex than this:
In the course of human development gods played a big part in ancient cultures. Before Jesus there was Hercules, Moses, Dionysus, Perseus, Attis, Romulus, et. al. They followed a certain common line of story telling because it was and is exciting. Even the fairytale, Sleeping Beauty follows the same storyline as Jesus and Hercules: hero Aurora is royalty; threatened by a malevolent force, Maleficent with death; spirited away to the country where reared by foster parents, fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather; returns to palace as an adult; killed and is resurrected. The story is timeless.
The writers of the Jesus myth needed source information and so they turned to the Old Testament, Homer and the mythology of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Indians to construct an identical story as the other gods. It's exactly why there is no historical evidence for Jesus; he didn't exist. But he was euhemerized (mythical hero made human) by the gospel writers for a number of reasons that go beyond the scope of this post.
I see value in, e.g., Tolkien, but it does not make any pretense that LOTR is factual. It's just an epic ripping yarn that can evoke some feelings about the real world.
The Jesus mythos, on the other hand, claims to be factual, which carries with it a burden of proof that it utterly fails to bear. And many who believe it to be factual want to impose it on those who do not. They don't always have control of the state machinery to that end, but they do their best just the same.
Agreed; except for the "burden of proof" bit. This far chronologically removed from the events in question, I don't know that it's possible to empirically prove much about the life and death of Jesus. On an individual level, we either believe the testimony of those who came before us or not.
In the course of human development gods played a big part in ancient cultures. Before Jesus there was Hercules, Moses, Dionysus, Perseus, Attis, Romulus, et. al. They followed a certain common line of story telling because it was and is exciting. Even the fairytale, Sleeping Beauty follows the same storyline as Jesus and Hercules: hero Aurora is royalty; threatened by a malevolent force, Maleficent with death; spirited away to the country where reared by foster parents, fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather; returns to palace as an adult; killed and is resurrected. The story is timeless.
The writers of the Jesus myth needed source information and so they turned to the Old Testament, Homer and the mythology of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Indians to construct an identical story as the other gods. It's exactly why there is no historical evidence for Jesus; he didn't exist. But he was euhemerized (mythical hero made human) by the gospel writers for a number of reasons that go beyond the scope of this post.
Contained in the Serpents beguiling lie was that she would be as god. So it is in the nature of fallen mankind under that beguiling lie to create gods from their own image and desires of worship. When the Israelites entered the promised land they were told to tear down all the gods the Canaanites worshipped on the high places and they were told to look to the One True God and the Life He shares.
And those same kind of things continue today with people serving their own image as gods, and not unlike what you are trying to do in this thread, claiming yourself and what you say to be above all, which is no different from what the serpent did in his beguiling lie, as you have lost all reference to the One True God and the Life He shares.
Contained in the Serpents beguiling lie was that she would be as god. So it is in the nature of fallen mankind under that beguiling lie to create gods from their own image and desires of worship. When the Israelites entered the promised land they were told to tear down all the gods the Canaanites worshipped on the high places and they were told to look to the One True God and the Life He shares.
And those same kind of things continue today with people serving their own image as gods, and not unlike what you are trying to do in this thread, claiming yourself and what you say to be above all, which is no different from what the serpent did in his beguiling lie, as you have lost all reference to the One True God and the Life He shares.
Everything you're saying is not historically verifiable. That makes it all mythology, chief--the serpent, Israelites entering the promised land, it's all mythology.
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