• Xariphon@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’ve said it before, but, (assuming he existed at all) Jesus was a brown-skinned non-English-speaking Palestinian Jew who healed the sick and fed the poor (and didn’t charge money for either thing) and encouraged his followers to do the same, supported paying taxes, and showed open contempt for wealth and the wealthy.

    If only he had also been openly gay he would be every single thing modern Christians hate.

    • Pilkins@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just wanted to point out it’s widely accepted, even by secular historians, Jesus was a real person. Him being a jew from Nazareth and being crucified for starting a quarrel in the temple are generally accepted as proven through non-biblical records.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Just wanted to point out that if we admit that he was not a real person, just a con James and Peter were running, the mystery is over and no one can sell any more books. If the History channel, or Discovery channel, or any UFO organization or any saint miracle has shown: once it is explained you have nothing left to draw in crowds.

        The only records we have of the events are hearsay multiple times removed decades later.

    • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Pretty sure most historians agree Jesus existed. Was he the son of God and as described in the Bible? That’s the question.

        • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          I’m not the one saying it, the historians who are much more qualified than me or you are, so go argue with them not me.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Don’t be lazy. If you want to see evidence then look at what the authorities say. Historians don’t argue by pulling shit out of their arse.

                • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  Because you’re an unfathomably lazy motherfucker who needs to be spoon-fed the most basic of research skills such as fucking opening wikipedia and looking at the sources section.

                  But the tl;dr is that his existence is attested by non-Christian sources and further details can be filled in by critical analysis (such as early Christians having no theological interest in making up him getting baptized by John). He was prominent enough as an itinerant preacher to be mentioned by the histographers of his time.

                  Frankly speaking Buddha is on more shaky grounds, though his historicity is also widely accepted.

                  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Personal insults won’t convince me. Evidence will.

                    But the tl;dr is that his existence is attested by non-Christian sources

                    Hearsay written decades later.

                    and further details can be filled in by critical analysis

                    Critical analysis shows forgery. The multiple surviving accounts don’t agree with each other. Just like any liar, they couldn’t keep their story straight.

                    such as early Christians having no theological interest in making up him getting baptized by John)

                    Yeah this is bull. John the Baptist was widely respected in the area at the time of the jesus con. Connecting him with Jesus would have been good old fashion name dropping.

                    He was prominent enough as an itinerant preacher to be mentioned by the histographers of his time.

                    Ok who in his time named him? Please show me the contemporary writing that says anything about Jesus.

                    Frankly speaking Buddha is on more shaky grounds, though his historicity is also widely accepted.

                    I didn’t say he existed either.

    • style99@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      One slight correction: he showed open contempt for the money-changers scamming people at the temple.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      He didn’t show open contempt for the wealthy as long as they lived up to his standards for faith, charity, and humility. It’s just that there were, and are, so dang few of those.

    • kromem@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You mean the guy who kissed the person he put in charge of the group’s money right before Peter denies him three times (roughly the same number as the number of trials, which Peter allegedly was seen going into the area where proceedings were taking place for at least one)?

      The guy who had an unnamed beloved disciple reclining on him when he fed the disciple he kissed dipped bread at his final meal?

      Who at his execution told this unnamed beloved disciple to take Jesus’s own mother into his household as if the beloved disciple’s mother?

      Jesus might have wanted to be careful about all of that, as technically being gay in Judea was a death sentence under Jewish law. Though they couldn’t carry out the death sentence at that time and would have needed to appeal to the local Roman authority to carry out capital punishment, which would have put the local authority in a pickle deciding on granting local barbaric legality to quell rising dissent even though the crime charged would have been a common Roman practice alleged even about the emperor at the time.

      So you know, if the story was something like the Sanhedrin wanting Jesus dead and Pilate reluctant, and his most conservative follower who he was seen arguing with potentially denying him at trial right around the time he was kissing and feeding his closest companion at the dinner table - well there might just be more to the story after all.

      (Though a number of the other things you said probably aren’t the case - for example, the “give to Caesar” taxation thing is anachronistic for Judea in 30s CE which had no personal tax and no coinage with Caeser on it.)

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      and didn’t charge money for either thing

      In Mark it was healing to get a free meal and in Matthew only after a women called herself a racial slur and begged at his feet.