Search found 785 matches

by arnoldo
Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:23 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Celsus' view: Jesus and Moses as jugglers
Replies: 11
Views: 8186

Re: Celsus' view: Jesus and Moses as jugglers

We must also remember that, because paganism and superstition were omnipresent in ancient society, the magician could be someone not very different to a travelling priest of an unfamiliar god; or to a down-at-heels sophist. Indeed even the best known philosophers could be sold as vagrants (as Plato...
by arnoldo
Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:11 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Loaves and Fishes
Replies: 322
Views: 234988

Re: Loaves and Fishes

Commentary on Gospel Texts on Loaves and Fishes Collating the text on the loaves and fishes from all four gospels there are about 2000 words, nearly 100 verses. The feeding of the multitude is the most prominent miracle in the Bible, appearing six times compared to three for the resurrection, but i...
by arnoldo
Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:01 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Celsus' view: Jesus and Moses as jugglers
Replies: 11
Views: 8186

Re: Celsus' view: Jesus and Moses as jugglers

. . . It is sometimes hard to tell whether these ancient writers thought Moses or Jesus achieved their miracles by means of incantations to manipulate the demons or by sheer deception. I think they probably placed a lot more credence in the former idea than we would today. The idea, though, that th...
by arnoldo
Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:48 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Euhemerism, the gospels and Hasmonean Jewish history
Replies: 8
Views: 12719

Re: Euhemerism, the gospels and Hasmonean Jewish history

JSTOR has the following article available in full for free; Jesus as Archelaus in the Parable of the Pounds (Lk. 19:11-27) A central question from the article is quoted below. Could it be that this Herodian palace complex, last renovated and used by Archelaus but still standing in Jesus's day, trigg...
by arnoldo
Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:06 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Aquila and Prisca Two Male Apostles in a Gay Marriage?
Replies: 21
Views: 18053

Re: Aquila and Prisca Two Male Apostles in a Gay Marriage?

Hi All, I propose that Aquila and Prisca (AKA Priscilla), the man and wife mentioned in 1 Corinthians, Romans and Acts, were actually a gay married couple. Here is some of the evidence. 1. These are strange names considering that the text calls Aquila a Jew from Pontus. Aquila is Latin for "ea...
by arnoldo
Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:56 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy
Replies: 299
Views: 253087

Re: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy

. . A large number of Christians think they are evidence that God breaks the laws of physics. Atheists think they are evidence the Bible is talking through its butt. I say they encode accurate visions of reality. The test of falsification in this case is coherence. Against both the modern posterior...
by arnoldo
Thu Mar 06, 2014 4:31 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy
Replies: 299
Views: 253087

Re: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy

According to Hans Urs von Balthasar, the perception of "atheism" and orthodox christianity have become reversed between the second and 21st century. Today Christianity is regarded as an “otherworldly” religion, whereas pagan atheism claims to be an affirmation of life in this world. In th...
by arnoldo
Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:23 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy
Replies: 299
Views: 253087

Re: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy

. . .I have long been intrigued by how a Docetic myth, equating Christ and God, could transform itself into its opposite, a doctrine that effectively equated Docetism and Satanism. The psychology and politics of this process bear comparison to Orwell’s parable in 1984 of Oceania’s switch from war w...
by arnoldo
Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:27 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy
Replies: 299
Views: 253087

Re: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy

list what we would expect to find if the passage indeed meant that Jesus is an allegory of the sun. The allegory between Christ and the Sun as the light of the world makes complete sense in terms of the natural observational cosmology available to the ancient world. Everyone knows the sun is the li...
by arnoldo
Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:19 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy
Replies: 299
Views: 253087

Re: Acharya S and the real Christ Conspiracy

More relevant, in simplified terms Acharya claims Jesus is a fish and a lamb. On the surface these claims - man as fish and sheep - are absurd, so we should expect resistance. And yet there is allegorical meaning within them that is valuable to explicate. I am not aware of similar feline allegory. ...