Post: #1

http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201273.htm

I'm not religious. I respect the viewpoints and rights of others. I believe you have a right to do whatever you want as long as you don't aggress on others. I'm posting this because I thought it was of interest.

Jesus Christ: completely constructed from other stories for an ancient Roman propaganda campaign?
[Jesus Christ] may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources.
London (PRWEB UK) 8 October 2013

American Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill will be appearing before the British public for the first time in London on the 19th of October to present a controversial new discovery: ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ. His presentation will be part of a one-day symposium entitled "Covert Messiah" at Conway Hall in Holborn (full details can be found at http://www.covertmessiah.com).
Although to many scholars his theory seems outlandish, and is sure to upset some believers, Atwill regards his evidence as conclusive and is confident its acceptance is only a matter of time. "I present my work with some ambivalence, as I do not want to directly cause Christians any harm," he acknowledges, "but this is important for our culture. Alert citizens need to know the truth about our past so we can understand how and why governments create false histories and false gods. They often do it to obtain a social order that is against the best interests of the common people."
Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire. "Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century," he explains. "When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare. They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system. That's when the 'peaceful' Messiah story was invented. Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to 'give onto Caesar' and pay their taxes to Rome."
Was Jesus based on a real person from history? "The short answer is no," Atwill insists, "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources. Once those sources are all laid bare, there's simply nothing left."
Atwill's most intriguing discovery came to him while he was studying "Wars of the Jews" by Josephus [the only surviving first-person historical account of first-century Judea] alongside the New Testament. "I started to notice a sequence of parallels between the two texts," he recounts. "Although it's been recognised by Christian scholars for centuries that the prophesies of Jesus appear to be fulfilled by what Josephus wrote about in the First Jewish-Roman war, I was seeing dozens more. What seems to have eluded many scholars is that the sequence of events and locations of Jesus ministry are more or less the same as the sequence of events and locations of the military campaign of [Emperor] Titus Flavius as described by Josephus. This is clear evidence of a deliberately constructed pattern. The biography of Jesus is actually constructed, tip to stern, on prior stories, but especially on the biography of a Roman Caesar."
How could this go unnoticed in the most scrutinised books of all time? "Many of the parallels are conceptual or poetic, so they aren't all immediately obvious. After all, the authors did not want the average believer to see what they were doing, but they did want the alert reader to see it. An educated Roman in the ruling class would probably have recognised the literary game being played." Atwill maintains he can demonstrate that "the Roman Caesars left us a kind of puzzle literature that was meant to be solved by future generations, and the solution to that puzzle is 'We invented Jesus Christ, and we're proud of it.'"
Is this the beginning of the end of Christianity? "Probably not," grants Atwill, "but what my work has done is give permission to many of those ready to leave the religion to make a clean break. We've got the evidence now to show exactly where the story of Jesus came from. Although Christianity can be a comfort to some, it can also be very damaging and repressive, an insidious form of mind control that has led to blind acceptance of serfdom, poverty, and war throughout history. To this day, especially in the United States, it is used to create support for war in the Middle East."
Atwill encourages skeptics to challenge him at Conway Hall, where after the presentations there is likely to be a lively Q&A session. Joining Mr.Atwill will be fellow scholar Kenneth Humphreys, author of the book "Jesus Never Existed."
Further information can be found at http://www.covertmessiah.com.
About Joseph Atwill: Joseph Atwill is the author of the best-selling book "Caesar's Messiah" and its upcoming sequel "The Single Strand."
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Post: #2

I think even Santa Claus might be a more believable character.

Post: #3

I'll see you guys on page 20.

Post: #4

Post: #5

Mary was either a lying slut or she was abducted and impregnated by aliens. That would make Jesus a human/alien hybrid and would account for his mystical superpowers.

Post: #6

Lying slut. Joseph was clearly cuckolded.

Post: #7

I can already see where this is going....

....the "religious men are more red pill than atheists" thread is calling.

Post: #8

Jesus was blue-pill hippie. Why worship him?

Post: #9

From everything I've read, I believe that the evidence is that there was a notable historical figure, later referred to as Jesus, who lived at some point roughly around the years where they place him.

Anything else beyond that is speculation and/or faith though.

Post: #10

The veracity of the Bible has always been challenged and archeologists keep digging up sites that were mentioned in the Bible. Until the tomb of Caiaphas was discovered he was just a character in the Bible nothing more. I believe in Jesus Christ and when my head hits the pillow tonight I'll fall right to sleep not worrying about those who don't believe.

Post: #11

Should have just posted this here:

"Religious people are more red pill than atheists"

Post: #12

If they had DNA testing and Mauri povitch back in Jesus' time, Christianity probablyvwouldnt exist.

We all know that deep down in the abyss of the female psyche is the fear of being deemed a slut and being banished from the tribe over this to face elements on her own.

Does it not strike you as convenient excuse for her to tell everyone that she was magically impregnated. If there's one thing that was true back then as it is now, Jewish girls are horney cock gobblers.

Post: #13

I had this discussion with a religious Russian girl I know. People got married very young back then. Mary was most likely 14-18. Think about how horny and flaky high school girls are these days as comparison and imagine starting a religion based on one of them.

Maybe they weren't all out fucking but they could have been doing some soaking like the Mormons do. Accidents happen. Maybe we should rename her the Technical Virgin Mary.

Post: #14

No he wasn't. He's the only thing standing between you and eternal hell.

Post: #15

(10-11-2013 10:08 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  No he wasn't. He's the only thing standing between you and eternal hell.

Heaven and hell are mental constructs. Being in hell is about carrying pain and guilt around. They account for these situations by having people "confess their sins" in order to unburden themselves. Priests and ministers are basically therapists that try to help people out through common life issues.

Post: #16

Pragmatically it doesn't matter. People believe it and they put that belief into action. Those actions affect us all, so for all intents and purposes he might as well have existed because there's no effectual difference in either existential case.

Post: #17

This is one of those debates that can go around and around forever. There definitely was a historical Jesus, but in his lifetime he only had local appeal among some sectors of the lower classes in Palestine. He was not much more than a mendicant preacher, reformer, and holy man. There were many such men like him, before his time, and after him.
But by some accident of history, he just happened to be born at the right time when the revolutionary ferment in Palestine at the time was about to explode.

The only reference to Jesus by a pre-Christian author is found in Tacitus (Annales 15.44). It's not a flattering reference. See what he says:

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."


Basically, Jesus was viewed as an upstart trouble maker by the Hebrew and Roman authorities, and they moved swiftly to get rid of him before he became a bigger nuisance. But it just happened that, after his death, all the conditions were right for a mass movement to take off. Other men (especially Paul) turned him into a major prophet, and transformed the legend into a deity. But so what? This is how all religions take off....all religions need a symbol.

There are even more interesting passages in the letters of Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan in which he asks for advice on how to deal with Christian fanatics. He asks for guidance how how to interrogate them, and under what conditions they should be executed. These letters make for amazing reading, and if anyone's interested I can quote them. The gist is that Pliny, and educated and urbane Roman, was shocked at how ignorant and fanatical these early "Christians" were.

True history is almost always stranger than fiction...

Post: #18

You guys know of the Holy Trinity right?

Father, son, and the holy ghost.

If Jesus is the right hand of the father, God being the left,, and the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary....

Does that mean the Holy Spirit is God's penis???

Post: #19

The story of Jesus is false, god is made up. Whether he was a real guy or not is interesting but inconsequential.

God is not a real thing. Come on.

Post: #20

(10-11-2013 10:23 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  

(10-11-2013 10:08 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  No he wasn't. He's the only thing standing between you and eternal hell.

Heaven and hell are mental constructs. Being in hell is about carrying pain and guilt around. They account for these situations by having people "confess their sins" in order to unburden themselves. Priests and ministers are basically therapists that try to help people out through common life issues.

They arent because they don't give people responsibility and lie to them about them world and take their money. Priests and ministers are the biggest hucksters on the planet. They take advantage of the weak-minded. The ultimate con-artists.

Post: #21

(10-12-2013 12:28 AM)soup Wrote:  

(10-11-2013 10:23 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  

(10-11-2013 10:08 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  No he wasn't. He's the only thing standing between you and eternal hell.

Heaven and hell are mental constructs. Being in hell is about carrying pain and guilt around. They account for these situations by having people "confess their sins" in order to unburden themselves. Priests and ministers are basically therapists that try to help people out through common life issues.

They arent because they don't give people responsibility and lie to them about them world and take their money. Priests and ministers are the biggest hucksters on the planet. They take advantage of the weak-minded. The ultimate con-artists.

What if...

...follow me now...

...what if...

Creflo Dollar...

IS JESUS?

Post: #22

"Most of the witnesses to the resurrection were illiterate, stupid, hysterical women.." players, c'mon: everyone on this board should know better than to take Jesus seriously..

Post: #23

interesting thread, I've always been curious about how the old testament went from "God sends the people of israel to war to take back the land that is promised to them and sets them on fire if they disobey" to "Jesus turns the other cheek"

That being said. I think Jesus is as real as siddihartha (the first buddha) and both of those are as real as thor and fionn mac cumail. They are parables that teach something bigger to people who can't comprehend 'bigger' otherwise. They are stories written by old people who figured out how to live.

They are all ideals and were never 'real' people but are 'real' ideas worth living by.

*I am also incredibly intoxicated and this could equally go into the drunk lounge.

Post: #24

The real question is this: Was Jesus a beta?

Post: #25

(10-12-2013 01:17 AM)The Texas Prophet Wrote:  The real question is this: Was Jesus a beta?

The character of Jesus is definitely not beta. He was a cult leader..