Josephus only mentioned Jesus one time as the (one crucified) in his history. It is highly unlikely that the early Christians would have been fed to the lyons for sport until 300AD if Christianity has been anointed into population in the times prior instead of their own Gods. I will address this later when I have more time but I find much not setting with my previous studies on this era.
Rome and Israelis knew the power of propaganda and were familiar with psychology. They knew full well that to promote the virtue of passivity, to promote being virtuous and above brutality appealed to many innocent naive people. Martyrdom was a way to promote the cause, it made them look righteous, and hammered in the Romans' minds that Christianity was an enemy of the evil empire. That was a selling point.
Unpopular Rome developed and nourished the religion by acts of persecution against it. Centuries later, it had grown and was adopted by Constantine as a state religion. But constantine did not convert until on his deathbed, he never accepted the bullshit that he knew Christianity was. Read my other comments.
And that's been discredited as an obvious scribal insertion. It breaks the flow of the account he was writing, as it has no relation to the paragraphs before or after it.
I had never heard of this before!! Interesting the lengths people will go to try and debunk Christ and Christianity!! I am a believer and thankful for my gift of faith, thankful for all my brave and courageous brothers and sisters down through the ages and even today!!
Fascinating read. It's a great reminder to approach bold historical claims with careful evidence and context, especially when they intersect with faith.
Sorry, the article's self-deprecating style and oft-repeated self-contradicting signaling can lead to only one cautionary note: "beware of the tyranny of words"! Words, words, words can drive one senseless! I don't see strong anti-Christian bias.
However, a question rises in my mind: why didn't the Hebrews see Jesus as their messiah? They were waiting for one to arrive.
Did the propaganda machinery create fog, dense enough to blind people from seeing what was really going on around them? I know the Romans did, but did the Hebrew establishment plot against and persecute Christians of the day? How did Christianity manage to survive and eventually establish itself, against such odds? Was this achieved on merit alone or forced upon the people by the bluff and bluster of the neophytes serendipity? Such facts are very difficult to ascertain. Pray, do enlighten.
A true man of righteousness is led by the spirit. The Holy Spirit is not one of the trinity, is not a person. The Hebrew words translated to “Holy Spirit” are “rouach hakodesh” Kodesh is defined as “outside of worldliness,” and can mean being unselfish, not chasing sensual desires, not involved in worldly or materialistic desires. It is called in English- “holy.” “Rouach” is defined as “breath” or “wind.” In other words, Holy Spirit is that enthusiastic force within some people that drives them to strive against worldly materialistic sensual temptations and selfish motivations.
In the Old Testament, Moses fought against oppressive slave masters, Sampson slew a thousand oppressive Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, when the spirit came upon him. David killed Goliath. In 1 Kings chapter 18, Elijah called fire down from heaven and slaughtered 450 prophets of Baal. In 2Kings chapters nine and ten, the prophet Elisha anointed Jehu with oil, who killed all the Baal worshippers in Israel.
In the OT, the spirit was responsible for enabling prophets, kings, and warriors to have the incentive, drive, courage, and strength to successfully oppose the powerful evil entities against all odds. Baal was the god of prosperity and virility- money and sex.
But in the New Testament, while the spirit did oppose the flesh, it was tamed and disarmed. The fruits of the spirit are described in Galatians chapter five as love, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That scripture is followed by the statement: against those there is no law.
So be overcome by evil powers, because you don’t want to break any laws those powers made. Funny (not really, a better word is “suspicious”) how the same book that tells you to be a good slave, to obey your government, to be a sheep, to turn the other cheek, to love your enemies, and bless those who curse you, to rejoice when being persecuted, that weakness is strength, to not trust your own wisdom, to pay taxes and tithes, and to return goodness to evil, has now declared that the spirit of the righteous warrior should be replaced with gentleness, restraint, and patience.
It excludes from the list of positive qualities such characteristics as integrity, courage, and wisdom. Does that not raise some red flags??? Is this realization not alarming?? What have we been taught? Why?? What is their motivation?!!
Seems to me that they want to strip us of what a man really is, to make sure that nobody attempts to break free of slavery.
The bible was used on innocent people, and used language to make them feel knowledgable, it was a trap to capture naïve victims and put them in spiritual bondage in hell.
Josephus was a pharisee who was a leader of the Jewish rebellion against Rome. When he saw that the Jews had no chance to win, he abandoned his people and went to the Roman side. He was a treasonous opportunist. He ;penned the New Testament to assure Rome's easier rule over the people in the hell realm, where Saturn ruled over Rome. (Saturn=Satan. Jehovah was the same character under different name and doctrine). My book THE UNTOLD NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY proves that Josephus composed the NT for that purpose. It gives undeniable evidence that the bible is full of occult symbolism, bad values, contradicting concepts, spells, and outright lies.
Josephus only mentioned Jesus one time as the (one crucified) in his history. It is highly unlikely that the early Christians would have been fed to the lyons for sport until 300AD if Christianity has been anointed into population in the times prior instead of their own Gods. I will address this later when I have more time but I find much not setting with my previous studies on this era.
Rome and Israelis knew the power of propaganda and were familiar with psychology. They knew full well that to promote the virtue of passivity, to promote being virtuous and above brutality appealed to many innocent naive people. Martyrdom was a way to promote the cause, it made them look righteous, and hammered in the Romans' minds that Christianity was an enemy of the evil empire. That was a selling point.
Unpopular Rome developed and nourished the religion by acts of persecution against it. Centuries later, it had grown and was adopted by Constantine as a state religion. But constantine did not convert until on his deathbed, he never accepted the bullshit that he knew Christianity was. Read my other comments.
And that's been discredited as an obvious scribal insertion. It breaks the flow of the account he was writing, as it has no relation to the paragraphs before or after it.
Interesting, I had never heard of this before. Ancient conspiracy theories are certainly thought provoking, but this does seem a stretch.
Excellent counterpoints. Thank you for the history lesson.
I had never heard this argument before... It sounds like quite the conspiracy theory. Is anyone seriously defending this in academia?
I had never heard of this before!! Interesting the lengths people will go to try and debunk Christ and Christianity!! I am a believer and thankful for my gift of faith, thankful for all my brave and courageous brothers and sisters down through the ages and even today!!
All great points! Thanks!
Fascinating read. It's a great reminder to approach bold historical claims with careful evidence and context, especially when they intersect with faith.
Sorry, the article's self-deprecating style and oft-repeated self-contradicting signaling can lead to only one cautionary note: "beware of the tyranny of words"! Words, words, words can drive one senseless! I don't see strong anti-Christian bias.
However, a question rises in my mind: why didn't the Hebrews see Jesus as their messiah? They were waiting for one to arrive.
Did the propaganda machinery create fog, dense enough to blind people from seeing what was really going on around them? I know the Romans did, but did the Hebrew establishment plot against and persecute Christians of the day? How did Christianity manage to survive and eventually establish itself, against such odds? Was this achieved on merit alone or forced upon the people by the bluff and bluster of the neophytes serendipity? Such facts are very difficult to ascertain. Pray, do enlighten.
From my book THE UNTOLD NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY
A true man of righteousness is led by the spirit. The Holy Spirit is not one of the trinity, is not a person. The Hebrew words translated to “Holy Spirit” are “rouach hakodesh” Kodesh is defined as “outside of worldliness,” and can mean being unselfish, not chasing sensual desires, not involved in worldly or materialistic desires. It is called in English- “holy.” “Rouach” is defined as “breath” or “wind.” In other words, Holy Spirit is that enthusiastic force within some people that drives them to strive against worldly materialistic sensual temptations and selfish motivations.
In the Old Testament, Moses fought against oppressive slave masters, Sampson slew a thousand oppressive Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, when the spirit came upon him. David killed Goliath. In 1 Kings chapter 18, Elijah called fire down from heaven and slaughtered 450 prophets of Baal. In 2Kings chapters nine and ten, the prophet Elisha anointed Jehu with oil, who killed all the Baal worshippers in Israel.
In the OT, the spirit was responsible for enabling prophets, kings, and warriors to have the incentive, drive, courage, and strength to successfully oppose the powerful evil entities against all odds. Baal was the god of prosperity and virility- money and sex.
But in the New Testament, while the spirit did oppose the flesh, it was tamed and disarmed. The fruits of the spirit are described in Galatians chapter five as love, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That scripture is followed by the statement: against those there is no law.
So be overcome by evil powers, because you don’t want to break any laws those powers made. Funny (not really, a better word is “suspicious”) how the same book that tells you to be a good slave, to obey your government, to be a sheep, to turn the other cheek, to love your enemies, and bless those who curse you, to rejoice when being persecuted, that weakness is strength, to not trust your own wisdom, to pay taxes and tithes, and to return goodness to evil, has now declared that the spirit of the righteous warrior should be replaced with gentleness, restraint, and patience.
It excludes from the list of positive qualities such characteristics as integrity, courage, and wisdom. Does that not raise some red flags??? Is this realization not alarming?? What have we been taught? Why?? What is their motivation?!!
Seems to me that they want to strip us of what a man really is, to make sure that nobody attempts to break free of slavery.
The bible was used on innocent people, and used language to make them feel knowledgable, it was a trap to capture naïve victims and put them in spiritual bondage in hell.
Josephus was a pharisee who was a leader of the Jewish rebellion against Rome. When he saw that the Jews had no chance to win, he abandoned his people and went to the Roman side. He was a treasonous opportunist. He ;penned the New Testament to assure Rome's easier rule over the people in the hell realm, where Saturn ruled over Rome. (Saturn=Satan. Jehovah was the same character under different name and doctrine). My book THE UNTOLD NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY proves that Josephus composed the NT for that purpose. It gives undeniable evidence that the bible is full of occult symbolism, bad values, contradicting concepts, spells, and outright lies.