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| A journey into the history and origins of the Christian Faith. |
AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
I want to make it clear that this article is not meant to be an attack on Christianity, nor am I questioning God, His existence or blaming any of the preceding historical data on Him. I am questioning a book that was written by many different authors, that is presently being called the word of God. I am well aware of many remarkable Christian charitable organizations as well as Christian churches that have a profoundly good impact on their communities and I have many Christian friends. However, I do intend to present an accurate historic account of the formation of the Christian faith and assembly of its Bible. This is meant to be an answer to people who have questions and a resource to those who seek a history on these events.
THE ALLEGED INERRANCY OF TODAY'S BIBLE
It is commonly accepted that the Bible has existed in a virtually identical state right back to the foundations of Christianity. An examination of early church writings will quickly reveal this concept to be false.
Of course, it is helpful to keep in mind that there was no new testament at all (not a single writing) until roughly 50 to 60 years post Christ's crucifixion. Many new testament writings that are found in today's Bible would not be written until well over a century had passed. Like many other religions in their infancy, Christianity was spread by word of mouth and journeyed through a blender of different countries and cultures before being recorded by mostly anonymous authors.
Of course, it is helpful to keep in mind that there was no new testament at all (not a single writing) until roughly 50 to 60 years post Christ's crucifixion. Many new testament writings that are found in today's Bible would not be written until well over a century had passed. Like many other religions in their infancy, Christianity was spread by word of mouth and journeyed through a blender of different countries and cultures before being recorded by mostly anonymous authors.
Christian theologians generally attest that the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has supported the miraculous inerrancy of the Bible. Yet, a comparison of the modern day book of Isaiah1 with the more ancient Great Isaiah Scroll2 will reveal over 2600 variants. Some of the variants are huge, in fact, entire verses were added to the later copy of the book.
THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS FROM CHURCH FATHERS
Papias (pre 70 - 155 CE) recounts a rather thought provoking alternate story of Judas' death:
“Judas walked about in this world a sad example of impiety; for his body having swollen to such an extent that he could not pass where a chariot could pass easily, he was crushed by the chariot, so that his bowels gushed out.3”
~ Papias, Fragment 3, Anti-Nicene Fathers, volume 1
Paul also contradicts the story told of Judas' death in recounting Christ's post-resurrection appearances:
Paul clearly places Judas with the 12 disciples three days post Christ's crucifixion. Yet, according to Matthew:
1st Clement6 (late 1st - early 2nd century) reveals an assortment of inspirational quotes from Christ. None of these quotes are identical to anything in today's Bible. Also thought provoking is that Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215 CE) did not regard the Apostle Paul's writings as scripture, nor did Ignatius of Antioch (35 - 107). Diognetus, Barnabas, Papias, Hegesippus and Justin Martyr all seem to have felt no need to even mention Paul. Given that Paul's teachings would have a profound effect on the shaping of Christianity later on, it is incredible how scarce his teachings are in the early proto-Catholic sect. It was the "heretics:" Marcion of Sinope (85-160), Valentinus (100 - 160) and a plethora of Gnostic leaders that drew heavily from Paul's writings at this time and considered them to be scripture.
“And that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.4”
1st Book of Corinthians, 15:5
Paul clearly places Judas with the 12 disciples three days post Christ's crucifixion. Yet, according to Matthew:
“When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.5”
Matthew, 27:3 - 5
1st Clement6 (late 1st - early 2nd century) reveals an assortment of inspirational quotes from Christ. None of these quotes are identical to anything in today's Bible. Also thought provoking is that Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215 CE) did not regard the Apostle Paul's writings as scripture, nor did Ignatius of Antioch (35 - 107). Diognetus, Barnabas, Papias, Hegesippus and Justin Martyr all seem to have felt no need to even mention Paul. Given that Paul's teachings would have a profound effect on the shaping of Christianity later on, it is incredible how scarce his teachings are in the early proto-Catholic sect. It was the "heretics:" Marcion of Sinope (85-160), Valentinus (100 - 160) and a plethora of Gnostic leaders that drew heavily from Paul's writings at this time and considered them to be scripture.
The Didache7 (late 1st - early 2nd century CE) is written by an author who clearly believes in only one gospel; referring to it always in the singular form as "The Gospel." While the author’s quotes are not identical to any Gospel we now possess, they are similar enough to the Gospel of Matthew that it can be assumed this is "The Gospel" the author refers to. From this we can conclude that either Matthew is the only gospel the author accepts or the only one the author is aware of.
THE ALLEGED PROTO-CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC LINEAGE
Irenaeus8a (130 - 202 CE) was the first proto-Catholic to advocate of a four gospel cannon. He is the first known Bishop that was born into Christianity and did not convert from paganism. Much of his life was spent attempting to discredit Gnostic sects of Christianity to better substantiate his own. His compilation of the New Testament Cannon (though notably different from prior Bishops) would be drawn upon by all subsequent members of the Roman Catholic sect and lead to its completion.
Aside from creating a New Testament compilation that was undeniably different from the sources which he claims to have drawn from, Irenaeus' provides poor logical arguments to substantiate his efforts. For example, his case for a four gospel cannon concept seems unlikely to have been inspired by deity:
THE ALLEGED PROTO-CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC LINEAGE
Irenaeus8a (130 - 202 CE) was the first proto-Catholic to advocate of a four gospel cannon. He is the first known Bishop that was born into Christianity and did not convert from paganism. Much of his life was spent attempting to discredit Gnostic sects of Christianity to better substantiate his own. His compilation of the New Testament Cannon (though notably different from prior Bishops) would be drawn upon by all subsequent members of the Roman Catholic sect and lead to its completion.
Aside from creating a New Testament compilation that was undeniably different from the sources which he claims to have drawn from, Irenaeus' provides poor logical arguments to substantiate his efforts. For example, his case for a four gospel cannon concept seems unlikely to have been inspired by deity:
“But it is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the church has been scattered throughout the world, and since the 'pillar and ground' of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing incorruption on every side, and vivifying human afresh. From this fact, it is evident that the Logos, the fashioner demiourgos of all, he that sits on the cherubim and holds all things together, when he was manifested to humanity, gave us the gospel under four forms but bound together by one spirit.8b”
~ Irenaeus, Against Heresies
So Irenaeus concludes that because there are "four winds" and "four zones of the world" (a concept based on the idea of a flat, four-cornered earth), there must be four gospels. He could just as easily have reasoned that because there is one earth and one moon, there should be only one Gospel. Irenaeus hinges his theological legitimacy on a claim that he descended from a line of Christian teachers that stretch back to the Apostles of Christ. He claims Papias was a disciple of the Apostle John (Against Heresies 5:33:4), yet Papias himself states in his own writings that he was a student of the Elder John8c (a near contemporary of his) and that the Apostle John was (as would be expected) already dead. Irenaeus also claims that he himself had met Polycarp as a youth. He claims Polycarp (a friend of Papias) was also a "hearer of John." Even Eusebius of Caesarea (who drew heavily from Irenaeus' work) later concluded that Irenaeus had assumed the wrong John.8d Eusebius even admits that Irenaeus' Apostolic Succession concept could in fact have provided nothing more than useless information:
As a bishop, Ireneaus conveniently tells hearers to trust only the opinions and teachings of the bishops and embrace their form of Christianity. The Apostolic lineage he invented is erred at best or perhaps even intentionally skewed to create an illusion of credibility where there is none.
OTHER CHRISTIAN SECTS AND THEIR BELIEFS
Before Catholicism became the State Religion of Rome, there were a number of other highly popular sects of Christianity. Evidence suggests that proto-Catholicism was relatively more obscure. However, it was this sect, backed by its key leaders that would soon rise into the Roman Catholic church and greatly expand under Constantine.
The Marcionites10 (followers of Marcion of Sinope) believed that neither Christ or the God he called his father were ever known by the Hebrews, but that they were entirely different gods than the Yahweh of the old testament. The Marcionites did not believe in Christ's physical birth, death or resurrection and considered his appearances to have been made as a spiritual entity, illuding human form (as opposed to Christ's conceptual existence as a material human). Marcionism flourished greatly until Catholic persecution eventually drove it into complete obscurity.
The Arians11 (followers of Arius), believed that Christ was a subordinate entity of God the father and held that Christ's existence began when he was existed in human form. Any other conflicts that may have existed have been lost since Constantine and the later Orthodox Catholic church were extremely thorough in their destruction of Arius' works. In fact, Constantine decreed that anyone caught with an Arian Bible would receive the death penalty; further ordering that every copy of the Arius Bible was to be burnt.
The Gnostics12 Believed in one supreme God (separate from the Creator). They taught of a Christ who was himself a Gnostic and of Gnostic apostles, Including Thomas. Like Marcion, Gnostics taught that Christ was not human, but a divine spiritual being. They had no concept of a resurrection or consequent ascension. They taught that every person is born with a part of the divine God living in them and are thus universally united to God and His creation. Their earliest surviving texts can arguably be dated to 80 CE. Like all of these alternate Christian sects, Gnosticism ultimately was driven into oblivion by efforts of the Roman Catholic church.
There is little common ground that any of these sects can meet on, yet they all claim to have sprung from the same event. This is nothing extraordinary. It is a typical progression often seen in the development of mythologies.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Apostle Paul
Marcion of Sinope13a (85 – 160 CE) was the first person (historically) to have put forth a Christian New Testament Canon.13b The first Marcionite Bible was created in 140 CE. Maricion was among the first to make use of the 10 epistles of Paul (Apostolikon), also including an alternate Gospel of Luke (Evangelikon) in his Bible. Marcion's early use of Paul's epistles would later be absorbed by proto-Catholics and included in all subsequent cannons. Likewise, Marcion's unique method of viewing and organizing theology was also found to be highly useful and quickly adopted by the proto-Catholics; persisting to the present day.
Emperor Constantine I14a (272 - 337 CE) played a huge part in the rise of the Church and development of its doctrine.14b It's safe to say that without Constantine, Christianity would be an entirely different religion than it is today. As for his character, Constantine shows all the signs of a text-book psychopath. He had his own wife put to death by brutally boiling her in oil. He decapitated his brother-in law, and murdered his oldest son - and he did all of this while actively embracing Christianity. Yet he was still a member of the pagan cult Sol Invictus, and certainly unqualified as a christian scholar, when he dictated what Christianity would become at the Nicene council of 325. It was during this council that he announced Christianity was now the "preferred religion" of Rome. At the same time he united church and state, Constantine forever nailed down the polytheistic concept of Trinity - a concept that would have resonated well with him as a pagan. During the council, Arian Christians strongly opposed Trinitarianism, which enraged Constantine to the extent that he exiled them, usurping their land. His goal was to bring unity to the polarized Christian sects of the foundling religion and thus secure stability in his empire. While he horrifically persecuted alternate Christian sects, he would not turn on pagans until the very end of his life. In fact, it was just days before his death that Constantine officially converted from paganism, receiving baptism from Eusebius of Nicomedia (ironically, an Arian). The New Testament that would be brought forth under Constantine carried Christianity much closer to the Book it has today.
“And Papias, of whom we are now speaking, confesses that he received the words of the apostles from those that followed them, but says that he was himself a hearer of Aristion and the presbyter John. At least he mentions them frequently by name, and gives their traditions in his writings. These things we hope, have not been uselessly adduced by us.8e”If Ireneaus was wrong about his "Apostolic" lineage, he gave little more than an opinion by which the blind would lead the blind. The authenticity of the Gospels he selected and everything we know about Christ becomes doubtful. It is worth noting that the Gnostic Christians also claimed lineage to the Apostles of Christ and that their writings date back to roughly the same period as those of the proto-Catholics (80 CE). However, Gnostic scriptures were all but eliminated by the Catholics and until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Scrolls9 in 1949, the only remaining testimony of their teachings was journaled in the biased records of the Catholic Church. As an example, Ireaeus wrote that Gnostics embraced gross sexual promiscuity, while the Nag Hammadi scrolls show us that the Gnostics advised even married people to refrain from having sex.
As a bishop, Ireneaus conveniently tells hearers to trust only the opinions and teachings of the bishops and embrace their form of Christianity. The Apostolic lineage he invented is erred at best or perhaps even intentionally skewed to create an illusion of credibility where there is none.
OTHER CHRISTIAN SECTS AND THEIR BELIEFS
Before Catholicism became the State Religion of Rome, there were a number of other highly popular sects of Christianity. Evidence suggests that proto-Catholicism was relatively more obscure. However, it was this sect, backed by its key leaders that would soon rise into the Roman Catholic church and greatly expand under Constantine.
The Marcionites10 (followers of Marcion of Sinope) believed that neither Christ or the God he called his father were ever known by the Hebrews, but that they were entirely different gods than the Yahweh of the old testament. The Marcionites did not believe in Christ's physical birth, death or resurrection and considered his appearances to have been made as a spiritual entity, illuding human form (as opposed to Christ's conceptual existence as a material human). Marcionism flourished greatly until Catholic persecution eventually drove it into complete obscurity.
The Arians11 (followers of Arius), believed that Christ was a subordinate entity of God the father and held that Christ's existence began when he was existed in human form. Any other conflicts that may have existed have been lost since Constantine and the later Orthodox Catholic church were extremely thorough in their destruction of Arius' works. In fact, Constantine decreed that anyone caught with an Arian Bible would receive the death penalty; further ordering that every copy of the Arius Bible was to be burnt.
The Gnostics12 Believed in one supreme God (separate from the Creator). They taught of a Christ who was himself a Gnostic and of Gnostic apostles, Including Thomas. Like Marcion, Gnostics taught that Christ was not human, but a divine spiritual being. They had no concept of a resurrection or consequent ascension. They taught that every person is born with a part of the divine God living in them and are thus universally united to God and His creation. Their earliest surviving texts can arguably be dated to 80 CE. Like all of these alternate Christian sects, Gnosticism ultimately was driven into oblivion by efforts of the Roman Catholic church.
There is little common ground that any of these sects can meet on, yet they all claim to have sprung from the same event. This is nothing extraordinary. It is a typical progression often seen in the development of mythologies.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Apostle Paul
Marcion of Sinope13a (85 – 160 CE) was the first person (historically) to have put forth a Christian New Testament Canon.13b The first Marcionite Bible was created in 140 CE. Maricion was among the first to make use of the 10 epistles of Paul (Apostolikon), also including an alternate Gospel of Luke (Evangelikon) in his Bible. Marcion's early use of Paul's epistles would later be absorbed by proto-Catholics and included in all subsequent cannons. Likewise, Marcion's unique method of viewing and organizing theology was also found to be highly useful and quickly adopted by the proto-Catholics; persisting to the present day.
Emperor Constantine I14a (272 - 337 CE) played a huge part in the rise of the Church and development of its doctrine.14b It's safe to say that without Constantine, Christianity would be an entirely different religion than it is today. As for his character, Constantine shows all the signs of a text-book psychopath. He had his own wife put to death by brutally boiling her in oil. He decapitated his brother-in law, and murdered his oldest son - and he did all of this while actively embracing Christianity. Yet he was still a member of the pagan cult Sol Invictus, and certainly unqualified as a christian scholar, when he dictated what Christianity would become at the Nicene council of 325. It was during this council that he announced Christianity was now the "preferred religion" of Rome. At the same time he united church and state, Constantine forever nailed down the polytheistic concept of Trinity - a concept that would have resonated well with him as a pagan. During the council, Arian Christians strongly opposed Trinitarianism, which enraged Constantine to the extent that he exiled them, usurping their land. His goal was to bring unity to the polarized Christian sects of the foundling religion and thus secure stability in his empire. While he horrifically persecuted alternate Christian sects, he would not turn on pagans until the very end of his life. In fact, it was just days before his death that Constantine officially converted from paganism, receiving baptism from Eusebius of Nicomedia (ironically, an Arian). The New Testament that would be brought forth under Constantine carried Christianity much closer to the Book it has today.
Eusebius of Caesarea14c (CE 260/265 – 339/340) was appointed under Constantine to assemble the first Roman Catholic Bible in 331 CE. Under the scrutiny of this tyrannical, psychopathic leader, Eusebius would have proceed cautiously with his work, and ensured his findings were in agreement with Constantine's beliefs to avoid the persecution the Arians had fallen under. l50 Bibles were created and distributed to the Church of Constantinople. In Eusebius' hands we see that after nearly three centuries, books that are included in today's Bible were still being thrown out as fraudulent:
“One epistle of Peter, that called the first, is acknowledged as genuine. And this the ancient elders used freely in their own writings as an undisputed work. But we have learned that his extant second Epistle does not belong to the canon; yet, [more recently,] as it has appeared profitable to many, it has been used with the other Scriptures.14d”
~ Eusebius, in Church History, book 3, chapter 3, verse 1
“Such are the writings that bear the name of Peter, only one of which I know to be genuine and acknowledged by the ancient elders.14e”
~ Eusebius, in Church History 3:3:4.
“The so-called Acts of Peter, however, and the Gospel which bears his name, and the Preaching and the Apocalypse, as they are called, we know have not been universally accepted, because no ecclesiastical writer, ancient or modern, has made use of testimonies drawn from them.14f”
~ Eusebius, in Church History, book 3, chapter 3, verse 2Cyril of Jerusalem (313 - 386 CE) brought the Bible to the very threshold of completion; proposing a cannon that (with the exception of the book of Revelation) was all but identical to today's. A complete adherent to Nicene orthodoxy, he lived at an unstable time where Arianism, Catholicism and Paganism ebbed and rose with the succession of Each emperor. Cyril dedicated much of his life to further refining the Biblical cannon and persecuting "heretics." He called on his followers to "hate all heretics," (especially Manicheans) and instructed his followers to "not even give greeting to a man of this kind;" calling his adversaries "the receptacle of all filth," saying they were "filled with blasphemies and all iniquity" and were "serpents, a generation of vipers." Ironically, Cyril would be exiled on the succession of Arian Emperor, Valens; not returning to Jerusalem until the reign of Emperor Gratian. Cyril played a key role in the First Council of Constantinople which was held under Pope Damasus and the Emperor Theodosius I.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430 CE) was essentially the final authority to preside over the development of the New Testament. In his early life, Augustine followed Manichaeism; later turning to Neo-Platonism. In 387 he converted to Catholicism and it was not long before he began to embrace forced conversion. Like Constantine, Augustine persecuted alternate sects of Christianity heavily. He had pagan roots and was a great admirer of Plato and Hellenism in general. Under the authority of this man, the councils of the Synod of Hippo in 393, the Synod of Carthage in 397, and a subsequent council in Carthage in 419 AD, produced the final cut of the Bible. Oddly enough, all three councils concluded that "nothing shall be read in church under the name of the divine scriptures [except the Old Testament]."
It took over three centuries to carefully craft the New Testament that Christians have today. Suggesting that an identical Bible existed any time sooner is both wishful thinking and ultimately, a lie. There is solid evidence to show that the Bible has been changed, verses added, mistakes scribbled out and entire books thrown out or picked up at the whim of rulers. A process that left future generations with only copies of copies of copies and a long running dynasty of corrupt church leaders to vouch for both the authenticity of the testimony and rightful inclusion of these books into the Bible.
A CHRIST MORE CONCEPTUALLY PAGAN THAN JUDAIC
On inspection, the Messiah of the new testament appears to have been ironically endowed with a plethora of pagan demigod characteristics. This is easily demonstrated by quoting the same church fathers who guided the formation of Christianity and the Bible as we know it today:
“We propound nothing different from what you believe. For you know how many sons your esteemed writers ascribed to Jupiter: Mercury, the interpreting word and teacher of all; Æsculapius, who, though he was a great physician, was struck by a thunderbolt, and so ascended to heaven; and Bacchus too, after he had been torn limb from limb; and Hercules, when he had committed himself to the flames to escape his toils; and the sons of Leda, and Dioscuri; and Perseus, son of Danae; and Bellerophon, who, though sprung from mortals, rose to heaven on the horse Pegasus. For what shall I say of Ariadne, and those who, like her, have been declared to be set among the stars? And what of the emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem worthy of deification, and in whose behalf you produce some one who swears he has seen the burning Cæsar rise to heaven from the funeral pyre?”
Moreover, the Son of God called Jesus, even if only a man by ordinary generation, yet, on account of His wisdom, is worthy to be called the Son of God; for all writers call God the Father of men and gods.
And if we assert that the Word of God was born of God in a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, let this, as said above, be no extraordinary thing to you, who say that Mercury is the angelic word of God…
And if we even affirm that He was born of a virgin, accept this in common with what you accept of Perseus.
But if any one objects that He was crucified, in this also He is on a par with those reputed sons of Jupiter of yours, who suffered as we have now enumerated. For their sufferings at death are recorded to have been not all alike, but diverse; so that not even by the peculiarity of His sufferings does He seem to be inferior to them.
And in that we say that He made whole the lame, the paralytic, and those born blind, we seem to say what is very similar to the deeds said to have been done by Æsculapius.”
~ Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter 21 - 22, Analogies to the History of Christ
“The readers and admirers of Plato dared calumniously to assert that our Lord Jesus Christ learnt all those sayings of His, which they are compelled to admire and praise, from the books of Plato—because (they urged) it cannot be denied that Plato lived long before the coming of our Lord.”
~ St. Augustine, 2:28, parenthetical item in orig.
“He [Christ] was parted from them by a cloud, and so received up before them into heaven, much more truly than what your Proculus' report of Romulus, and some others of your deified kings...”
~ Tertullian, Apology 21What is undeniable is that these early church fathers fully recognized the plethora of similarities between Jesus Christ and the Pagan demigods that predated him. What is also undeniable, is that these same church leaders knew that their followers would be able to see these parallels - easily. They weren't denying the similarities, they were promoting a new, bigger, better God steeped in popular pagan attributes.
Would God present his own people with such a conflict? Would he give them second hand testimony of a Messiah that was so similar to the idolatrous Gods that they had been warned of? Would God do this knowing that the huge majority of the Hebrew people would reject it? Would he be content spreading his new vision for man through the very people that had just ordered the execution of his son and would soon destroy his holy temple and slaughter over one million of the people he claimed to love?
THE JUDAIC REJECTION OF CHRIST
The very people who prophesied the coming of a Messiah, almost unanimously rejected Christ as that Messiah. Despite enduring persecution and genocide across the globe, the Jewish people simply would not convert. They penned the question, yet Christians claim they are not entitled to rule on the answer that was given to them.
Christian scholars try to manipulate Isaiah chapter 53 to refer to Jesus, as the "suffering servant;" thus injecting a suffering pagan god concept into old testament prophecy.
In reality, Isaiah 53 directly follows the theme of chapter 52, describing the exile and redemption of the Jewish people. The prophecies are written in the singular form because the Jews ("Israel") are regarded as one unit. Throughout Jewish scripture, Israel is repeatedly called, in the singular, the "Servant of God" (see Isaiah 43:8). In fact, Isaiah states no less than 11 times in the chapters prior to 53 that the Servant of God is Israel.
When read correctly, Isaiah 53 clearly [and ironically] refers to the Jewish people being "bruised, crushed and as sheep brought to slaughter" at the hands of the nations of the world. These descriptions are used throughout Jewish scripture to graphically describe the suffering of the Jewish people (see Psalm 44).
Again, an early Christians attempt to inject the pagan concept of virgin birth into the old testament prophecies appears in the mistranslation of Isaiah 7:14; where an "alma" is described as giving birth. The word "alma" has always meant "young woman," but that was no obstacle to the early church fathers. They simply manipulated the translation to read "virgin."
THE PROPHESIED MESSIAH
The Judaic Messiah is a man who will be king - a man who will deliver his people from oppression, rule Israel under God and establish a perfect government of peace on earth. Nowhere in the old testament is Israel told to expect their own God to be born in human form, to suffer, to die, to come back from the dead and then to ascend into heaven.
Contrary to the pagan conceptualization of gods and demigods; Judaism teaches that God assumes no physical form. God is Eternal, He is above time. He is Infinite, He is beyond space. He cannot be born, and He cannot die. Saying that God assumes human form makes God small, diminishing both His unity and His divinity. "God is not a mortal" (Numbers 23:19).
The prophesied Messiah of Judaism must lead His people to full Torah observance. The Torah states that all mitzvot are binding forever and warns that anyone who comes to change the Torah is a false prophet (Deut. 13:1-4). In contrast: Jesus repeatedly contradicts the Torah throughout the new testament and states that its commandments are invalid. As one of many examples, John 9:14 records that Jesus violates the Sabbath.
Despite centuries post Jesus' death in which the early Christian church had free reign to write the self fulfilling prophecies of the new testament and manipulate the translation of old: Jesus still doesn't meet the requirements of the Messiah. For he did not Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28), he did not Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6), he did not Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it was written: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4) and he did not Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it was written: "God will be King over all the world ― on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
All too conveniently, the early Christian church took the most astounding and irrefutable works predicted of the Messiah and simply pushed them off, claiming they would be performed at a later date. There is no second coming concept given in the old testament. The Messiah the Hebrews were waiting for was to prove himself by fulfilling these very prophecies.
To the Jews, if an individual failed to fulfill even one of these prophetic conditions, he could not be embraced as the Messiah. The Jewish people were entirely within their right to reject him and common sense would have told them that this Messiah bore a persona that was all too similar to the gods of the idolatrous.
FORCED CONVERSION, BIGOTRY, ANTISEMITISM AND GENOCIDE
From the Roman adoption of Christianity under Constantine in 315 AD alternate Christian sects were stripped of their land, slaughtered and forced to convert. Antisemitic law was instituted and by 356, pagan services became punishable by death.
In the late late 300s Theodosius the Great removed Jews from all official gate positions and places of honor and allowed the destruction of Jewish synagogues so long as it served the purpose of the Christian church. Theodosius was so overly zealous for his cause, he is even reputed to have had children executed for playing with the remains of pagan figurines.
Around this same time, St. John Chrysostom penned eight notorious homilies "Against Judaizing" in which he describes Jews as “fit for killing,” likens their Synagogues to a "brothel" and accuses Jewish parents of eating their children and sacrificing them to demons. Chrysostom goes on to advise Christians to terrorize opposing faiths with violence:
Around this same time, St. John Chrysostom penned eight notorious homilies "Against Judaizing" in which he describes Jews as “fit for killing,” likens their Synagogues to a "brothel" and accuses Jewish parents of eating their children and sacrificing them to demons. Chrysostom goes on to advise Christians to terrorize opposing faiths with violence:
“But since our discourse has now turned to the subject of blasphemy, I desire to ask one favor of you all, in return for this my address, and speaking with you; which is, that you will correct on my behalf the blasphemers of this city. And should you hear any one in the public thoroughfare, or in the midst of the forum, blaspheming God; go up to him and rebuke him; and should it be necessary to inflict blows, spare not to do so. Smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify thy hand with the blow, and if any should accuse thee, and drag thee to the place of justice, follow them thither; and when the judge on the bench calls thee to account, say boldly that the man blasphemed the King of angels! For if it be necessary to punish those who blaspheme an earthly king, much more so those who insult God. It is a common crime, a public injury; and it is lawful for every one who is willing, to bring forward an accusation. Let the Jews and Greeks learn, that the Christians are the saviours of the city; that they are its guardians, its patrons, and its teachers. Let the dissolute and the perverse also learn this; that they must fear the servants of God too; that if at any time they are inclined to utter such a thing, they may look round every way at each other, and tremble even at their own shadows, anxious lest perchance a Christian, having heard what they said, should spring upon them and sharply chastise them.”
~ St. John Chrysostom, Excerpt from a homily, 387 AD
Athanasius, a patriarch and bishop of the same era calls the Jews “the murderers of our lord” and "children of the devil" and attacks the pagans; calling them "more irrational than the brutes, and more soul-less than inanimate things."
The Manichaeans were accused of heresy for practicing birth control and were exterminated by the thousands in campaigns all over the Roman empire between 372 and 444.
St. Augustine who gave us the Bible as we know it today, determined to force people to convert to Christianity by threat of violence:
“For originally my opinion was, that no one should be coerced into the unity of Christ, that we must act only by words, fight only by arguments, and prevail by force of reason, lest we should have those whom we knew as avowed heretics feigning themselves to be Catholics. But this opinion of mine was overcome not by the words of those who controverted it, but by the conclusive instances to which they could point.”
Epistle 93, Chapter 5, verse 17
By the 6th century, pagans were declared void of all rights. Synagogues were burned and Jews were often slain for their faith. Church lead mobs executed philosophers like Sopatros and Hypatia of Alexandria. Genocides continued to rise and become more frequent. Spain declared that all Jews who refused to be baptized were to leave the country. Shortly thereafter, Spain seized all Jewish land and possessions and declared the Jews to be slaves that would be given to well established Christians. All Jewish children 7 years or older were taken from their parents and given away to receive a Christian upbringing and education. In 782 AD, over 4,500 Saxons who refused to convert to Christianity were beheaded.
By the turn of the first millennium, new and heightened waves of violence poured out over Europe. Unimaginable bloodshed ensued against religious minorities, the crusades began, an antisemitic craze gained hideous momentum and Jews were slaughtered all over Europe, century after century.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE PROTESTANT SECT
By the 1500s, the absolute power of Catholic Church was slowly starting to crumble and new sects of Christianity were splintering away from it. Many people feel that this was a time where the true spirit of Christianity was realized. Sadly history reveals no great change in the hatred, forced conversion and persecution that had already haunted well over a thousand years of Christianity.
Martin Luther (1483–1546); one of the most prominent founders of the protestant sect of Christianity, published "On the Jews and Their Lies" in 1543 which he calls the Jews:
“A base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth.”
Luther goes on to state that:
“They [the Jews] are full of the "devil's feces ...which they wallow in like swine." The synagogue was a defiled bride, yes, an incorrigible whore and an evil slut ...”
Luther argued that Jewish synagogues and schools needed to be set on fire, their prayer books should be destroyed, their rabbis forbidden from preaching, their homes destroyed, and their property and money confiscated.
“They should be shown no mercy or kindness, afforded no legal protection, and these "poisonous envenomed worms" should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time.”
He also appears to have advocated their slaughter, writing
“We are at fault in not slaying them.”Reading Luther's words, it's not hard to see how Adolph Hitler would later see him as a personal hero, hailing him as "a great warrior, a true statesmen, and a great reformer" in his book, Mein Kampf. Bernhard Rust (Hitler's Education Minister) viewed the two men and their goals as inseparable, stating:
“Since Martin Luther closed his eyes, no such son of our people has appeared again. It has been decided that we shall be the first to witness his reappearance...I think the time is past when one may not say the names of Hitler and Luther in the same breath. They belong together; they are of the same old stamp.*”
~ Völkischer Beobachter (The National Observer Newspaper)Not only did Hitler look at Luther as an idol, he considered his own work to be in service of Christianity:
“I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God. As I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all. We are doing the work of the Lord and let's get on with it!”
~Adolph Hitler, 1924 Speech, BerlinWilhelm Röpke, a German born professor and advocate against Nazism, perhaps put it best, penning these thoughts after the Holocaust:
“Without any question, Lutheranism influenced the political, spiritual and social history of Germany in a way that, after careful consideration of everything, can be described only as fateful.*”Not only was Luther radically anti-Semitic, he was pro-sin; challenging his followers to sin boldly:
“If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard, for you are quite a sinner.”John Calvin (1509 – 1564), Another giant among protestant church fathers showed himself to be both a great hater of the Jewish people and an exacting leader who did not only demand persecution, he demanded the persecution of members of his own sect who were unwilling to persecute:
“Whoever shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as they are. There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even to the end of the world. Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so long as we set not his service above every human consideration, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory.”
Of the Jews, Calvin says:
“Their [the Jews] rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.”The result of Christianity on the Americas was nothing more than a continuance of the same merciless, sickening pattern of slaughter and persecution. Columbus set foot in the new world, seizing two Natives, reasoning they "ought to be good servants ... [and] would easily be made Christians, because it seemed to me that they belonged to no religion." Columbus planted crosses everywhere he went to lay claim to the Native lands, founded American slave trade and soon announced a new "requirement" for the Native inhabitants:
“I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter in your country and shall make war against you ... and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church ... and shall do you all mischief that we can, as to vassals who do not obey and refuse to receive their lord and resist and contradict him.”
~ Spanish Requirement of 1513, Council of Castile jurist Juan López de Palacios RubiosBy the end of the 1500s, over 200,000 Spaniards had relocated to colonize the Americas and over 60,000 Natives had likely already died as a result.
Solomon Stoddard (September 27, 1643 – February 11, 1729), a leading Protestant and pastor of Congregationalist Church in Northampton, Massachusetts proposed that large packs of dogs be purchased and trained “To hunt Indians as they do Bears." He reasoned that the dogs would better hunt and tear down the light footed Natives who had thus far managed to escape the manhunts of his Protestant townsmen. Stoddard said that the Natives "act like wolves and are to be dealt with as wolves." Within just three years, Massachusetts passed an act financing Stoddard's vision to "secure" the frontier borders with packs of dogs.
By the end of America's colonization, some estimates indicate that as many as 100,000,000 Natives were dead through acts of genocide and colonists intentional spreading of diseases (to which the American Natives had no immunity). Even conservative estimates place the fatalities at 40,000,000 - roughly 4 times the 12 million killed under Hitler during the holocaust. The unsuspecting natives fell under the plague that rest of the world had grown all to accustomed to.
John Chivington (January 27, 1821 – October 4, 1894) , as a prior Methodist minister and elder of the church, saw no shame in professing "I long to be wading in gore," a dream that came true for him as a colonel in the United States Volunteers. On November 29th of 1864, Chivington ordered the Massacre of Sand Creek, in Colorado. The operation gunned down a Cheyenne village of 600 people - mostly women and children. A record of the event states:
“When the troops came up to them [the Native people], they ran out and showed their persons to let the soldiers know they were squaws and begged for mercy, but the soldiers shot them all. I saw a squaw lying on the bank whose leg had been broken by a shell; a soldier came up to her with a drawn sabre; she raised her arm to protect herself; when he struck breaking her arm, she rolled over and raised her other arm; when he struck breaking it and then left her without killing her. There seemed to be an indiscriminate slaughter of men women and children. There were some thirty or forty squaws collected in a hole for protection; they sent out a little girl about six years old with a white flag on a stick; she had not proceeded but a few steps when she was shot and killed. All the squaws in that hole were afterwards killed and four or five bucks outside. The squaws offered no resistance. Every one I saw dead was scalped; I saw one squaw cut open with an unborn child, as I thought, lying by her side...I saw the body of White Antelope with the privates cut off and I heard a soldier say he was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. I saw one squaw whose privates had been cut out... I saw a little girl about fire years of age who had been hid in the sand; two soldiers discovered her drew their pistols and shot her and then pulled her out of the sand by the arm. I saw quite a number of infants in arms killed with their mothers.”
~ The Reports of The Committees of The Senate of The United States for The 2nd Session, 39th Congress 1866 - 67MORE RECENT ATROCITIES
Jasenovac*, was a concentration camp run from 1941 to 1945 by Catholic Ustasha and built under Ante Paveli,* Catholic dictator of Croatia and friend of Pope Pius XII.* The 210 square kilometer (81 sqare mile) killing ground was divided into 5 sub-camps which were used to exterminate as many as 700,000 civilians - mostly Orthodox-Christian Serbians and Jews.
When examining the history of Christianity, it seems obvious that at some point there would be a strong advocacy within the church against these hideous acts of violence. Sadly, other than Churches advocating against their own persecution, there is little to be found. Rising forces in secular world slowly, over hundreds of years, disarmed the church and conformed it the social, moral organization it is today - church leaders did not let go of their hatred or power easily.
WEIGHING OUT THE FACTS
The authenticity of the new testament is shaky at best. To believe its testimony, you must accept that a corrupt Catholic Church provided true copies of the original writings of it's fathers, that those similarly corrupt Church fathers truthfully identified and copied the correct series of stories told by earlier Christian writers who in turn had also provided true insight (mostly anonymously) into an event that took place no less than 55 years before anyone ever wrote about it. Then, you must believe that the all powerful Creator of the universe has decided to reveal Himself to the world in this way, that he desires that no human would suffer the unimaginable tortures of a place called hell and that this testimony, delivered in this way, is His best effort to save mankind from that place.
The writings of the earliest proto-Catholics are far from being in agreement with modern day teachings as are the Arian teachings, the Marcionite teachings and the Gnostic teachings. The roots of Christianity clash greatly with what was later handed down by the Catholic Church as the State Religion of Rome.
Rome created modern Christianity and told it's citizens to embrace it or die by the sword. Were they messengers of God or is it far more likely that the Roman leaders simply absorbed a popular religious movement (as they had so many others), reformed it to maintain control and in the process, injected many of their own traditions into it?
What seems near certain is that there was a man whom people called Christ and that this man believed he was or was destined to become the Jewish Messiah. While every sect that sprang up from Christ's teachings had drastically different accounts of Christ's life, an almost identical message of love, peace and universal morality is present in all of them. This message of purity and beauty seems unlikely - in fact, odd to imagine as a fabrication. For the Romans, it is out of character, it is without reason, gain or purpose. It is a message (like that of Krishna or Buddha which seeks no power, control or wealth. Yet in the hands of the Romans, Christ becomes a man god, a resurrected Cesar, a God ascending into the heavens to meet his Zeus like father. Rome created modern Christianity and told it's citizens to embrace it or die by the sword. Were they messengers of God or is it far more likely that the Roman leaders simply absorbed a popular religious movement (as they had so many others), reformed it to maintain control and in the process, injected many of their own traditions into it?
To the Gnostics, Christ was a Gnostic; To arians - he was Arian; to the Marcionites, a Marcionite. Christ says many deep, thought provoking things that resound with the good in mankind, but in lieu of the evidence, it seems hard to argue that the Romanized Biblical embellishments of Christ's persona don't have every slanting of a Hellenistic dream child. If Christ's ideals of love, peace and forgiveness had truly been working in so many Christian hearts - if they were inherent from the all powerful creator spirit of the universe that joined with human souls, why were these followers, these bookmakers, these advocates of the faith so morally blind? Why were countless millions slain by its by these self-proclaimed enlightened? As Mahatma Gandhi once said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
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