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Who Started Christianity?

Logicman

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This one is for the skeptics of Christianity to put forward their theories on who started Christianity, and how and why?

Also, how could lowly, supposedly illiterate fishermen concoct a philosophy and set of teachings for a man (Jesus) that men have marveled at for over 2,000 years?

Finally, skeptics are asked to provide some sort of evidence to back up their theories. Just don't slap something against the wall without having something of substance to support it.

Skeptics, let's see what you have!!
 

The Jews. QED
 

Who ever said the people who wrote the old testament were illiterate fishermen?
 
Dissident Jews began it. Then it evolved through addition redaction editing and collecting scraps of other beliefs along the way.
 



Approaching the subject from the pure historical as opposed to the hysterical, one need read Roman history. Pilate was there because he pissed off the emperor, it was his last chance. Rome was trying to expand west and North. It only maintained a presence in the trouble-prone middle east because they needed a land bridge to their grain supplies in Egypt. They had had to move troops into the region to put down rebellion and religious violence; it was costing Rome too much.

Does this sound like the place a couple of fishermen, a tax collector and a bunch of vagabonds, a fraud and a cheat, and a woman reputed to be a whore could form a religion so vast that it's culture, holidays and festivals, and traditions straddle the globe?

Does it sound feasible that the most complex theology about God's relation to man would be borne out of an obscure race of people who also had a complex and feared religion?

How did a messiah get born in a backwater and come to influence the whole globe in just 2,000 years?

Not even Beyonce' with her start making machinery and power has done that?
 
Manc Skipper said:
Dissident Jews began it. Then it evolved through addition redaction editing and collecting scraps of other beliefs along the way.
Click to expand...

No it was the Egyptians that created the monotheistic religion initially. They are the creators of such a religion.

Hebrews were just around at the time. Liked the idea and named themselves "Son's of God."
 
KevinKohler said:
Who ever said the people who wrote the old testament were illiterate fishermen?
Click to expand...

That's been puzzling me too. I wonder if any Christian can tell us who started Hinduism?
 

Well, since you're asking...St. Paul started Christianity, depending on your sources, his epistles are considered as being written first. Paul was neither illiterate nor lowly, but well steeped in Greco-Roman/Egyptian mythologies.

 
KevinKohler said:
Who ever said the people who wrote the old testament were illiterate fishermen?
Click to expand...

We're talking about the New Testament, and I've seen lots of skeptics refer to people such as Matthew as being illiterate.
 
Fearandloathing said:
How did a messiah get born in a backwater and come to influence the whole globe in just 2,000 years?

Not even Beyonce' with her start making machinery and power has done that?
Click to expand...
There are precendents. Siddhartha Gautama comes ro mind.
 
DDD said:
No it was the Egyptians that created the monotheistic religion initially. They are the creators of such a religion.

Hebrews were just around at the time. Liked the idea and named themselves "Son's of God."
Click to expand...

I think when people refer to who creaed monotheism they mea "ethical monotheism" in which the Hebrews were the first.

I know my western civ book said ethical monotheism as compared to monotheism.
 
Luftwaffe said:
I think when people refer to who creaed monotheism they mea "ethical monotheism" in which the Hebrews were the first.

I know my western civ book said ethical monotheism as compared to monotheism.
Click to expand...

References?
 
DDD said:
No it was the Egyptians that created the monotheistic religion initially. They are the creators of such a religion.

Hebrews were just around at the time. Liked the idea and named themselves "Son's of God."
Click to expand...

Come on, folks. Can you please be more specific, and provide some EVIDENCE for your theories?
 
Luftwaffe said:
I think when people refer to who creaed monotheism they mea "ethical monotheism" in which the Hebrews were the first.

I know my western civ book said ethical monotheism as compared to monotheism.
Click to expand...

A case could be made that the Hebrews' concept was monolatry rather than monotheism. The commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me" seems to acknowledge the existence of other gods.

Monolatrism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
29A said:
Well, since you're asking...St. Paul started Christianity, depending on your sources, his epistles are considered as being written first. Paul was neither illiterate nor lowly, but well steeped in Greco-Roman/Egyptian mythologies.
Click to expand...

Well, not a bad choice. Except that if you believe Paul, he wrote about himself as an unbeliever persecuting the early Christians (Acts 22). So Christianity had already existed and preceded him.
 
29A said:
A case could be made that the Hebrews' concept was monolatry rather than monotheism. The commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me" seems to acknowledge the existence of other gods.

Monolatrism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

I think this is all too general.

The topic is who created Christianity, not who created religion or monolatrism, or monotheism, etc.

Do you have something more specific around the time Christianity was born?
 
DDD said:
References?
Click to expand...

"The history of world civilizations, combined edition"

Talked about ethical monotheism more than monotheism in general when it came to Abraham.
 
Ok I'm going to play devil's advocate here (hehe) and try to debunk this Christianity nonsense.

1. They did for money!... Nope, the apostles were dead broke, barely had a pot to piss in.

2. They did it for popularity?... Nope, if anything this was the unpopular thing to do, unless being spit on, mocked, called a fool and laughed at is your idea of popular.

3. Fame?... see above

4. They enjoyed lying?... Well you have to believe once heads started being cutoff and guys were being crucified upside down, you're gonna come
clean!

5. They were just crazy?... If you have read the gospels, it doesn't come across as the meanderings of nutbags trying to fool people century's later.

6. They were convinced Jesus was who said he was?... This seems to be the choice millions have made over the course of a few thousand years.
 
29A said:
A case could be made that the Hebrews' concept was monolatry rather than monotheism. The commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me" seems to acknowledge the existence of other gods.

Monolatrism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Correct me if I am wrong but Abraham acknowledged the existence of other God's, he simply worshiped only one.
 

billions, not millions.
 
Are there any examples of an ancient society that did not invent a god or gods?
 
Logicman said:
We're talking about the New Testament, and I've seen lots of skeptics refer to people such as Matthew as being illiterate.
Click to expand...

No Old Testament, no New.

No God, no son of God.

The New Testament is nothing more than a continuation of the Old. Christianity is just a different sect of Judaism.
 
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