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Christians- How do you know Jesus and the Bible are true?

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
In this case, I would have to say "yes"

For an example, his statement:

" The 16th century Christian theologian is not trained in proper Hebrew" and " He;s bias towards Christianity and he's an amateur."

No supportive documentation, no real substantive effort to qualify that statement. When his position are so full of statements and interpretations like unto these, then one has no choice but ignore his position.

His "appeal to authority" position is overused.

Now, as you said, if he is happy to believe what he believes (as I have said before) I support his right to believe it and, I may add, if it makes him happy... great.

it also might help if he/she stayed on one point and not flood a post with innumerable points.
To believe the Bible and the NT in a very literal isn't easy for some of us. I'm not going to research it out like Joeir, but for those of us that do have our doubts, we take his word for it and assume he is right. It makes so much sense, to some of us, that ancient people made up myths about Gods, floods, creation, giants, people living for hundreds of years, and then the NT? Virgin births, walking on water, angels and demons, people coming out of their graves and Jesus resurrecting and ascending into the clouds? It's much easier to believe that it's all religious legends and myths.

I have no doubts, though, that, for believers, it is the absolute truth. They know it. They feel it. And, for some, they live it. The downside is... some don't live it. They just go through the motions. And, even worse, are the preachers that get caught fooling around and getting rich off their followers. Oh, and the fake healers too.

And, as with this and the many threads started by Baha'is, they don't believe the Bible and NT very literally. They make lots of things symbolic, and by the time they are done, all that's left if their religion standing up as being true. And they believe, Christians have missed the thing they've been praying and waiting for... the return of Christ. Who's telling the truth? Each thinks they are.
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry, this is so biased and filled with unbelief, I think I will end with one statement...
Yes it's biased. Biased towards truth. The vast consensus opinion of Hebrew scholarship says the Hebrew did not say "pierced"among other things and it is not about a crucifixion. That was a later interpretation by Christians looking for ways to prop up their new beliefs. You are welcome to form some type of argument, sourcing experts is usually the best route because they are most understanding of the nuances and language involved. I have NOT seen any Hebrew historical experts who argue in favor of the Christian fundamentalist reading.

Your only source was a 16th century Christian fundamentalist who studied Hebrew as a hobby. All I did was point out these facts and the only response you can muster is to claim bias and something far stranger - "filled with unbelief"....??? As if that's a bad thing.

In the apologetics world belief trumps logic, evidence and facts. I can come at you with sources, scholarship, empirical evidence and you response is to comment on "unbelief". Ironically the intent was negative however this is in fact a positive thing. When someone tries to sell you a story, join a cult or is making claims without proper evidence you should always be filled with unbelief.

Apologetics doesn't want this, they want brainwashed people who don't dare to use logic and facts to form unbelief. Notice how it's used here as a negative. Cult tactics.

You also failed to respond to the idea that EVEN IF THE HEBREW did actually foreshadow a crucifixion you have to show that Mark was reporting history and not using the OT to write a continuation.
He doesn't write as a historian did in those times, no sources, doesn't explain unusual improbable events, writes anonymous (kata evengelion) is Greek for "as told to be by" which starts all the Gospels, he uses mythic language and devices and copies OT narratives, sometimes verbatim. So the idea that he's writing a part 2 is almost 100% certain.
It's just they didn't have savior demigods for salvation when Psalms was written, that didn't begin until they were Hellenized in the last A.D. centuries when Greeks moved in.
Many other religions that Greeks moved into also had all the similar additions as Judaism did and in this case became Christianity.
This can be explained in greater detail, with sources.


1 Corinthians 14:38
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
Yes all religions speak on people who haven't bought into their mythology. The Quran is no exception -
Al-Muminoon, Chapter #23, Verse #54
Therefore leave them in their overwhelming ignorance till...

among many others. Doesn't prove anything is true. Proves they know many people will not believe them because the stories are made up.

I have no idea why you would quote this verse? Besides that I already know it you have been commanded to defend your scripture but instead you choose a tautology to state the obvious.....

1 Peter 3:15 - But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,​

2 Timothy 4:1-22

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. ...

2 Corinthians 10:5

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Titus 1:9

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

2 Timothy 2:24-25

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

Colossians 4:5-6

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Matthew 5:11-12

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Philippians 1:16

The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:15

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

Jude 1:3

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Acts 17:1-34

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ...

1 Peter 3:15-17

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

Romans 16:16-19

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Peter 2:15

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Ephesians 5:11

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Romans 12:1-21

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

 

joelr

Well-Known Member
In this case, I would have to say "yes"

For an example, his statement:

" The 16th century Christian theologian is not trained in proper Hebrew" and " He;s bias towards Christianity and he's an amateur."

No supportive documentation, no real substantive effort to qualify that statement. When his position are so full of statements and interpretations like unto these, then one has no choice but ignore his position.
"full of statements"? You haven't demonstrated that at all. But let's clear this up because you brought up the one statement about Gill.

1) I said - "He;s bias towards Christianity"

- John Gill, was an English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology. I think it's fair to say he was bias towards Christianity?

2)I said - " is not trained in proper Hebrew" and "he's an amateur."

An amateur of course in the subject at hand which is the Hebrew in Psalms.
So how does he know the Hebrew?, Well it happens to say,

", he attended Kettering Grammar School where he mastered the Latin classics and learned Greek by age 11. He continued self-study in everything from logic to Hebrew, his love for the latter remaining throughout his life."

There is, supportive documentation and a substantial effort to quantify that statement. He self-studies Hebrew, he is NOT A HEBREW SCHOLAR. Positions you have asked for to support statements in the past when they were not given, you said "source?".
Supportive documentation is something you NEVER do when responding to my posts. In fact you do the OPPOSITE and if I source something you will cry source bombing or some authoritative fallacy (always incorretly).
I see exactly what you are doing and it's sneaky.

NOW, we have the expert opinion of Rabbi Tovia Singer whos work is all over youtube and can be researched easily. His entire life has been dedicated to understanding the Torah and Judaism. He even shows the correct Hebrew here.

"
To understand how Christian translators rewrote the words of King David, let’s examine the original Hebrew words of this verse with a proper translation.

Psalm 22:17 (16)​

Correct Translation​

Hebrew​

King James Version (16)​

For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evildoers have enclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.כִּי סְבָבוּנִי, כְּלָבִים: עֲדַת מְרֵעִים, הִקִּיפוּנִי; כָּאֲרִי, יָדַי וְרַגְלָי:For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet.
Notice that the English translation from the original Hebrew does not contain the word “pierced.” The King James version deliberately mistranslated the Hebrew word kaari (כָּאֲרִי) as “pierced,” rather than “like a lion,” thereby drawing the reader to a false conclusion that this Psalm is describing the Crucifixion. The Hebrew word כָּאֲרִי does not mean pierced but plainly means “like a lion. The end of Psalm 22:17, therefore, properly reads “like a lion they are at my hands and my feet.” Had King David wished to write the word “pierced,” he would never have used the Hebrew word kaari. Instead, he would have written either daqar or ratza, which are common Hebrew words in the Jewish Scriptures. These common words mean to “stab” or “pierce.” Needless to say, the phrase “they pierced my hands and my feet” is a not-too-ingenious Christian contrivance that appears nowhere in Tanach.



I ALSO offered the Yale Divinity scholars lectures on Psalm 22 to which the response was - Yale educators know Hebrew but don't understand".

That's it. No supportive documentation, no real substantive effort to qualify that statement. NEVER do I get anything like that, EVER. Those fancy words are great when it's against me but for him, he just says "eh, nonbeliever" or "they don't understand".

So when I offer supportive documentation it's too much sourcing and when I don't it's also a problem and that is a lot of work to just admit you don't have an argument because apologetics isn;t supported by logic. It forces people to do this tapdance we see here.

Are you getting a feeling for how ridiculous and misleading this response is yet?





His "appeal to authority" position is overused.

There it is!
The truth is I source scholars to show it's not just an opinion or a bias. It's a legitimate seacrch for truth.

Now get this. First part of the post contains this complaint - "No supportive documentation, no real substantive effort to qualify that statement."


Second part of the post contains this complaint - "His "appeal to authority" position is overused."

Try and figure that one out.

It's called tapdancing around the truth, among other things. Moving the goalpost could be another.



Now, as you said, if he is happy to believe what he believes (as I have said before) I support his right to believe it and, I may add, if it makes him happy... great.
Nothing to do with belief. Looking for evidence, counter arguments, honest interlockers. All I get is a run-around and posts trying to justify it behind my back.


it also might help if he/she stayed on one point and not flood a post with innumerable points.
and yet he cannot answer ANY points. It was "this post is so bias and full of non-belief I cannot answer" or some such.
So I don't buy this at all.
 
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joelr

Well-Known Member
To believe the Bible and the NT in a very literal isn't easy for some of us. I'm not going to research it out like Joeir, but for those of us that do have our doubts, we take his word for it and assume he is right. It makes so much sense, to some of us, that ancient people made up myths about Gods, floods, creation, giants, people living for hundreds of years, and then the NT? Virgin births, walking on water, angels and demons, people coming out of their graves and Jesus resurrecting and ascending into the clouds? It's much easier to believe that it's all religious legends and myths.

I have no doubts, though, that, for believers, it is the absolute truth. They know it. They feel it. And, for some, they live it. The downside is... some don't live it. They just go through the motions. And, even worse, are the preachers that get caught fooling around and getting rich off their followers. Oh, and the fake healers too.

And, as with this and the many threads started by Baha'is, they don't believe the Bible and NT very literally. They make lots of things symbolic, and by the time they are done, all that's left if their religion standing up as being true. And they believe, Christians have missed the thing they've been praying and waiting for... the return of Christ. Who's telling the truth? Each thinks they are.
I will believe whatever evidence demonstrates is true. Knowing and feeling an absolute truth in a religious sense is not evidence of anything beyond psychology.
I personally dated a Muslim and a Hinudu, both fundamentalists (almost) and I heard the same personal proofs over and over. Up until that point I had only heard these anecdotal stories about Jesus - it isn't a religion, it's a relationship, I know in my heart it's the truth, Krishna speaks to me through feeling, I know because of all the little ways Krishna has helped me, how else could I have changed my life from being so low and right when I prayed my life began to change, Allah tells me in my heart that the Quran is the real truth, I don't need your scholars to tell me what is true......and then a host of much more advanced Islamic theology that included anti-materialism, Berkeley, awareness, Thomas Hagle and so on.
Which in some ways does support a general deism but not theism and revelations. In fact Hagle is an atheist.


Anyway, It's said many times in the Quran, use your mind and logic, put things to logical tests, seek empirical evidence. I am not attached to any story or outcome, I want to believe true things and discard false beliefs.

Even though some apologists will say I'm providing too many scholars, I do it for the reason that you do not have to take my word for it. You CAN research it yourself, you do not have to assume I am right. And then you will find more scholars to research. You can even research the difference between real scholars and amateur works and contrast those with apologists and see for yourself and make you own conclusions.

Or not. Whatever works for you. You are looking at both sides to some extent so that is admirable.
 
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Brian2

Veteran Member
please go to :40 and listen to Rabbi Singer, a man who has dedicated his life to study of the Torah



Oh you "like" Gill's exposition on it? Hmm, because he's an apologist who desperately tries to insert Jesus into the OT when all Jewish scholars know that's B.S.

So Jewish scholars don't think that Psalm 22 is about Jesus. What a surprise.
Other parts of the Psalm are about Jesus undoubtedly and as Rabbi Singer tells us, verse 16 does not even appear in the New Testament.
We could see it in reverse and say that people made up the gospel story and got ideas from all over the Mediterranean world and quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures to do this. This is how you see it.
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
Yes it's biased. Biased towards truth. The vast consensus opinion of Hebrew scholarship says the Hebrew did not say "pierced"among other things and it is not about a crucifixion. That was a later interpretation by Christians looking for ways to prop up their new beliefs. You are welcome to form some type of argument, sourcing experts is usually the best route because they are most understanding of the nuances and language involved. I have NOT seen any Hebrew historical experts who argue in favor of the Christian fundamentalist reading.
Who wrote the Septuagint?
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
In this case, I would have to say "yes"

For an example, his statement:

" The 16th century Christian theologian is not trained in proper Hebrew" and " He;s bias towards Christianity and he's an amateur."

No supportive documentation, no real substantive effort to qualify that statement. When his position are so full of statements and interpretations like unto these, then one has no choice but ignore his position.

His "appeal to authority" position is overused.

Now, as you said, if he is happy to believe what he believes (as I have said before) I support his right to believe it and, I may add, if it makes him happy... great.

it also might help if he/she stayed on one point and not flood a post with innumerable points.

The problem is this: My wife is a folk Christian. She learned to be Christian by her grandmother in short as:
Love is what matters. Jesus taught us than if you do that, you go Heaven.

In practice for her, what love is secular and happens through democracy and human rights. So is she a Christian?
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
The problem is this: My wife is a folk Christian. She learned to be Christian by her grandmother in short as:
Love is what matters. Jesus taught us than if you do that, you go Heaven.

In practice for her, what love is secular and happens through democracy and human rights. So is she a Christian?
The issue I have is that it puts a "human" in the seat of judging when the judging is done by Jesus alone.

I prefer a different question, maybe something like, "If you were to die today, are you sure that you would be received in Heaven?"

I would start there IMV.

Obviously if one was atheist, that question wouldn't even be relevant.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
The issue I have is that it puts a "human" in the seat of judging when the judging is done by Jesus alone.

I prefer a different question, maybe something like, "If you were to die today, are you sure that you would be received in Heaven?"

I would start there IMV.

Obviously if one was atheist, that question wouldn't even be relevant.

Well, she is sure. I have never heard her doubt that and I have known her for over 20 years.
 

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
Anyway, It's said many times in the Quran, use your mind and logic, put things to logical tests, seek empirical evidence. I am not attached to any story or outcome, I want to believe true things and discard false beliefs.
And so do Baha'is. They say investigate the truth for yourself. But... how deep and how far do they investigate?
 

joelr

Well-Known Member



So Jewish scholars don't think that Psalm 22 is about Jesus. What a surprise.
Because plain and simple, Judaism had no heaven for people, no individual salvation, no coming Jesus, no Hellenistic theology and none of the OT is about Jesus. So no, it should not be a surprise.


Other parts of the Psalm are about Jesus undoubtedly and as Rabbi Singer tells us, verse 16 does not even appear in the New Testament.

The man in the video you posted also agrees, the Hebrew was changed, it does not describe a crucifixion. Rabbi says the Christians changed it on purpose, I don't know, don't care. The point is Psalm 22 does not talk about a crucifixion.
We could see it in reverse and say that people made up the gospel story and got ideas from all over the Mediterranean world and quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures to do this. This is how you see it.
That isn't how I see it, that is what the evidence demonstrates. Salvation, savior demigods who resurrect, save followers, communal meal, baptism and other things unique to Christianity are actually unique to all religions where the Greeks invaded and introduced Hellenistic religion to that nation. All of those religions have this in common, Christianity is the last and is a Jewish version. That is a fact.
Justin Martyr 2nd century apologist was saying this back then. But he says the devil made it look that way to fool Christians. You need some apologetic like that to believe that one version of a mystery religion is true. I don't believe it is true based on historical facts.
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
Who wrote the Septuagint?
Some of it was translated in 3 B.C. some in 2 B.C.
Mark is constructing the entire crucifixion narrative from a patchwork assembly from verses in the Psalms.
Psalm 22.18, Psalm 22.7-8, Psalm 22.1, Psalm 22.16, as well as using a targum of the Psalms. There are several places Mark lifts and makes an adaptation of an Aramaic phrase, not just in Mark 15 but Mark 4.11-12 matches exactly an Aramaic targum according to Dr Carrier.

There are several sources on this -
Bruce Chilton "Targum, Jesus, and the Gospels" - Historical Jesus in Context pp238-55
Roger Aus, Barabbas and Esther and other Studies in the Judaic Illumination of Earliest Christianity p 12
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
And so do Baha'is. They say investigate the truth for yourself. But... how deep and how far do they investigate?
Bahai is largely an offshoot of Islam. Each member is going to be different in how much they actually investigate and how much confirmation and cognitive bias they employ while investigating. I've seen all areas of their proofs, science, writings, prophecy and so on. I don't see one single thing that looks to be a proof? 1844 is based on a silly numerology a Christian sect believed the second coming would happen (but also called for all sorts of obvious events, celestial wars, dragons...), the text has no new, future or even correct science or philosophy, the literature isn't layered with literary devices and high level writing like the Gospels or philosophy like the Hindu text sometimes contain.
I think they just want it to be true?
They say all religions are true and had prophets who spoke for the times. Well this prophet was in modern times and should have gotten cosmology, science, mathematics, medical knowledge, physics, metaphysics, spiritual physics and more. It should have laid it all out, our connections to the spiritual, how to detect a soul, cure cancer, and much more. Is it yet again a God who wants to make it seem like it's really just a man with limitations of the times or really actually just men making claims like all religious text probably is?
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
Some of it was translated in 3 B.C. some in 2 B.C.
Mark is constructing the entire crucifixion narrative from a patchwork assembly from verses in the Psalms.
Psalm 22.18, Psalm 22.7-8, Psalm 22.1, Psalm 22.16, as well as using a targum of the Psalms. There are several places Mark lifts and makes an adaptation of an Aramaic phrase, not just in Mark 15 but Mark 4.11-12 matches exactly an Aramaic targum according to Dr Carrier.

There are several sources on this -
Bruce Chilton "Targum, Jesus, and the Gospels" - Historical Jesus in Context pp238-55
Roger Aus, Barabbas and Esther and other Studies in the Judaic Illumination of Earliest Christianity p 12
I'm not sure if it is just how you read something. I didn't ask "when", I didn't ask who constructed the entire crucifixion, I didn't ask where you get your sources from..................

I asked "WHO wrote the Septuagint".
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
Because plain and simple, Judaism had no heaven for people, no individual salvation, no coming Jesus, no Hellenistic theology and none of the OT is about Jesus. So no, it should not be a surprise.

Judaism had a resurrection and judgement and coming Messiah. If you think that Judaism had no Hellenistic theology then the dying and rising saviour that is found in the Hebrew scriptures must be something from the Hebrew scriptures only.

The man in the video you posted also agrees, the Hebrew was changed, it does not describe a crucifixion. Rabbi says the Christians changed it on purpose, I don't know, don't care. The point is Psalm 22 does not talk about a crucifixion.

It is plainly talking about the Crucifixion that Jesus suffered but believing the gospel story as of things that happened leads to that. If you go to the gospel story in unbelief then Psalm 22 is so much like the crucifixion of Jesus that you have to say that the writers of the crucifixion account copied from the Psalm.
Did these things happen to David? not that we know of. Is David a type of Jesus and a prophet who wrote about Jesus? yes.
I don't think that the man in the video tells us exactly that he thinks Christianity changed the Hebrew. He does say that "pierced" and "like a lion" are very close in the Hebrew and that Tovia Singer clearly exaggerates the difference and does not point out the closeness. He does say that Christianity does not rest on the meaning of Psalm 22:16 and that whether the original was "pierced" or "like a lion" does not change the meaning of the Psalm and does not make much difference to the meaning of the verse.
What is interesting is that, as Singer says, Psalm 22:16 does not appear in the New Testament. That does sounds as if "pierced" was the wrong translation or they would have used it, but it does not mean that the Psalm is not describing a crucifixion.
It is interesting that the Septuagint has "pierced" and not "like a lion". This has nothing to do with Christians. It could be that earlier Hebrew had "pierced". It could be that the mistake happened in the Septuagint and Christians have gone with that translation.

That isn't how I see it, that is what the evidence demonstrates. Salvation, savior demigods who resurrect, save followers, communal meal, baptism and other things unique to Christianity are actually unique to all religions where the Greeks invaded and introduced Hellenistic religion to that nation. All of those religions have this in common, Christianity is the last and is a Jewish version. That is a fact.
Justin Martyr 2nd century apologist was saying this back then. But he says the devil made it look that way to fool Christians. You need some apologetic like that to believe that one version of a mystery religion is true. I don't believe it is true based on historical facts.

From what I have read of the Hellenistic stories they are not close to the gospel story, in fact they are a long way removed and the gospel story has the Hebrew scriptures and prophecies to point to.
You seem to start with the idea that all religions come from other religions and that the supernatural is not true and so automatically the gospel theme had to have been copied from other religions.
Interestingly in the answers you gave above you say , Judaism had no Hellenistic theology. BUT ALL of the gospel message can be found in the Hebrew Scriptures and all of the theology as well. A dying and rising and atoning Messiah who brings a New Covenant and is God's Son and who replaces the Old Covenant and Mosaic Law with God's Holy Spirit etc etc.
The gospel is there in the Hebrew Scriptures and is all through those scriptures.
So do the Hebrew scriptures have Hellenistic theology or not?
Or really it is a case of the Hebrew Scriptures and theology had to have been written in a Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean history or all your arguments fall in a heap.
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure if it is just how you read something. I didn't ask "when", I didn't ask who constructed the entire crucifixion, I didn't ask where you get your sources from..................

And yet.....
Were you under the assumption that you are the king of the world or just the forum, and we must strictly adhere to your every literal command?
Maybe you could use some of that energy to actually answer a question and provide some evidence for a change. Up to you of course, since I'm not the dictator of the threads.


I asked "WHO wrote the Septuagint".
I answered. As I said, some was transcribed 3rd and 2nd century B.C. The authors are spoken of in legends, which are legends and generally not true.
There are different versions of scripture in the Septuagint as we see from letters of people around in the 2nd century. So the legends about who wrote it and that they are perfectly reliable are not true. By the 3rd century there were errors in copies of the Septuagint. The original OT is now unknown because modern translations use the The Masoretic Text from the 11th century.
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
Judaism had a resurrection and judgement and coming Messiah. If you think that Judaism had no Hellenistic theology then the dying and rising saviour that is found in the Hebrew scriptures must be something from the Hebrew scriptures only.
Judaism has no resurrection and coming messiah until the Persians occupied and already had those myths. Hellenism is not from Judaism, it's from Hellenism?????? The Greeks invaded Judea 332 - 110 B.C. Every nation that Greek invaded combined Hellenism with their local religion to form a mystery religion. Christainity is Judaism + Hellenism, another mystery religion.

All Mystery religions have personal savior deities
- All saviors
- all son/daughter, never the supreme God (including Mithriasm)
- all undergo a passion (struggle) patheon
- all obtain victory over death which they share with followers
- all have stories set on earth
- none actually existed
- Is Jesus the exception and based on a real Jewish teacher or is it all made up?



But the Persian religion introduced:

Persian religion, Zoroastrianism had ideas Judaism did not have but picked up.


- War of good God vs Evil God/light vs dark/ God vs Satan


- Bad people burn in hell, good people wait in heaven


- A river of fire will flow over the universe burning everything up (even hell itself)


- A new better world created in it’s place


- All good people will be resurrected by God to live in that new world happily ever after





It is plainly talking about the Crucifixion that Jesus suffered but believing the gospel story as of things that happened leads to that. If you go to the gospel story in unbelief then Psalm 22 is so much like the crucifixion of Jesus that you have to say that the writers of the crucifixion account copied from the Psalm.
Did these things happen to David? not that we know of. Is David a type of Jesus and a prophet who wrote about Jesus? yes.

Yes, the Psalm fits David?
"As mentioned above, it is obvious when reading this larger section of the 22nd Psalm that King David is using an animal motif—most commonly lions—as an animated literary device, in order to describe his pursuers and tormentors. This striking style is pervasive in this section of the Bible. In fact, each and every time the word “lion” appears in the Book of Psalms, King David is referring to a metaphoric lion, rather than a literal animal."


I don't think that the man in the video tells us exactly that he thinks Christianity changed the Hebrew. He does say that "pierced" and "like a lion" are very close in the Hebrew and that Tovia Singer clearly exaggerates the difference and does not point out the closeness. He does say that Christianity does not rest on the meaning of Psalm 22:16 and that whether the original was "pierced" or "like a lion" does not change the meaning of the Psalm and does not make much difference to the meaning of the verse.
The man in the video says since the Hebrew is similar it was probably a mistake. He is not in favor of the Christian interpretation.



What is interesting is that, as Singer says, Psalm 22:16 does not appear in the New Testament. That does sounds as if "pierced" was the wrong translation or they would have used it, but it does not mean that the Psalm is not describing a crucifixion.
It is interesting that the Septuagint has "pierced" and not "like a lion". This has nothing to do with Christians. It could be that earlier Hebrew had "pierced". It could be that the mistake happened in the Septuagint and Christians have gone with that translation.
The crucifixion is a patchwork of Psalms. As I stated, from Dr Carrier - "
Mark is constructing the entire crucifixion narrative from a patchwork assembly from verses in the Psalms.
Psalm 22.18, Psalm 22.7-8, Psalm 22.1, Psalm 22.16, as well as using a targum of the Psalms. There are several places Mark lifts and makes an adaptation of an Aramaic phrase, not just in Mark 15 but Mark 4.11-12 matches exactly an Aramaic targum according to Dr Carrier."
 

joelr

Well-Known Member
From what I have read of the Hellenistic stories they are not close to the gospel story, in fact they are a long way removed and the gospel story has the Hebrew scriptures and prophecies to point to.
LOL. Please tell me which historical scholars you have read on Hellenistic religion, David Litwa? Sanders? Or an apologist article desperately trying to deny history?
Let's look at a plain and simple reading of what changes Hellenistic religion brought:



Changes that religions began taking from Hellenistic religions (this describes Judaism to Christianity exactly) - how many times is salvation mentioned.


-the seasonal drama was homologized to a soteriology (salvation concept) concerning the destiny, fortune, and salvation of the individual after death.


-his led to a change from concern for a religion of national prosperity to one for individual salvation, from focus on a particular ethnic group to concern for every human. The prophet or saviour replaced the priest and king as the chief religious figure.


-his process was carried further through the identification of the experiences of the soul that was to be saved with the vicissitudes of a divine but fallen soul, which had to be redeemed by cultic activity and divine intervention. This view is illustrated in the concept of the paradoxical figure of the saved saviour, salvator salvandus.


-Other deities, who had previously been associated with national destiny (e.g., Zeus, Yahweh, and Isis), were raised to the status of transcendent, supreme


-The temples and cult institutions of the various Hellenistic religions were repositories of the knowledge and techniques necessary for salvation and were the agents of the public worship of a particular deity. In addition, they served an important sociological role. In the new, cosmopolitan ideology that followed Alexander’s conquests, the old nationalistic and ethnic boundaries had broken down and the problem of religious and social identity had become acute.


-Most of these groups had regular meetings for a communal meal that served the dual role of sacramental participation (referring to the use of material elements believed to convey spiritual benefits among the members and with their deity)


-Hellenistic philosophy (Stoicism, Cynicism, Neo-Aristotelianism, Neo-Pythagoreanism, and Neoplatonism) provided key formulations for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim philosophy, theology, and mysticism through the 18th century


- The basic forms of worship of both the Jewish and Christian communities were heavily influenced in their formative period by Hellenistic practices, and this remains fundamentally unchanged to the present time. Finally, the central religious literature of both traditions—the Jewish Talmud (an authoritative compendium of law, lore, and interpretation), the New Testament, and the later patristic literature of the early Church Fathers—are characteristic Hellenistic documents both in form and content.


-Other traditions even more radically reinterpreted the ancient figures. The cosmic or seasonal drama was interiorized to refer to the divine soul within man that must be liberated.


-Each persisted in its native land with little perceptible change save for its becoming linked to nationalistic or messianic movements (centring on a deliverer figure)


-and apocalyptic traditions (referring to a belief in the dramatic intervention of a god in human and natural events)


- Particularly noticeable was the success of a variety of prophets, magicians, and healers—e.g., John the Baptist, Jesus, Simon Magus, Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander the Paphlagonian, and the cult of the healer Asclepius—whose preaching corresponded to the activities of various Greek and Roman philosophic missionaries

Ok, so that would be the EXACT CHANGES that turned Judaism into Christianity.



You seem to start with the idea that all religions come from other religions and that the supernatural is not true and so automatically the gospel theme had to have been copied from other religions.
All other religions in that time and region were Hellenized with fictional savior deities. You need evidence to suggest this one is true. The evidence does not suggest that at all.
Why do you keep on with this? Again, Muslims will say the same "you seem to think the Quran isn't really a revelation from Gabrielle, if you just started with that then you would see it's true"........
Evidence please? Reason to start with an absurd and improbable starting point? Just because you accept a story as true does not mean it is or others should accept it as true? How hard is this to fathom???

Interestingly in the answers you gave above you say , Judaism had no Hellenistic theology. BUT ALL of the gospel message can be found in the Hebrew Scriptures and all of the theology as well.
The most wrong thing you have come up with so far.
Communion, baptism, dying/rising savior son/daughter of a supreme God, personal salvation through a savior deity to get to heaven.
In the OT heaven WAS ONLY FOR YAHWEH. There was NO AFTERLIFE. God as a man would have been never suggested, that is a Greek invention.

Henotheism: transforming / reinterpreting polytheism into monotheism. (Judaism introduced monolatric concepts.)
Individualism: agricultural salvation cults retooled as personal salvation cults. Salvation of community changed into personal individual salvation in afterlife. All original agricultural salvation cults were retooled by the time Christianity arose.
- Cosmopolitianism: all races, cultures, classes admitted as equals, with fictive kinship (members are all brothers) you now “join” a religion rather than being born into it

Savior deities who underwent a passion and obtain victory over death and share this victory with followers. Stories set on Earth.

A devil at war with God (that one is Persian). Judiasm had NONE of these religious aspects. NONE.



A dying and rising and atoning Messiah who brings a New Covenant and is God's Son and who replaces the Old Covenant and Mosaic Law with God's Holy Spirit etc etc.
Yes during the 2nd Temple Period while ruled by the Persians they began to incorporate the Persian theology. It shows up in David, Isaiah but mostly in the NT:

PhD Mary Boyce -

Doctrines
fundamental doctrines became disseminated throughout the region, from Egypt to the Black Sea: namely that there is a supreme God who is the Creator; that an evil power exists which is opposed to him, and not under his control; that he has emanated many lesser divinities to help combat this power; that he has created this world for a purpose, and that in its present state it will have an end; that this end will be heralded by the coming of a cosmic Saviour, who will help to bring it about; that meantime heaven and hell exist, with an individual judgment to decide the fate of each soul at death; that at the end of time there will be a resurrection of the dead and a Last Judgment, with annihilation of the wicked; and that thereafter the kingdom of God will come upon earth, and the righteous will enter into it as into a garden (a Persian word for which is 'paradise'), and be happy there in the presence of God for ever, immortal themselves in body as well as soul. These doctrines all came to be adopted by various Jewish schools in the post-Exilic period, for the Jews were one of the peoples, it seems, most open to Zoroastrian influences - a tiny minority, holding staunchly to their own beliefs, but evidently admiring their Persian benefactors, and finding congenial elements in their faith. Worship of the one supreme God, and belief in the coming of a Messiah or Saviour, together with adherence to a way of life which combined moral and spiritual aspirations with a strict code of behaviour (including purity laws) were all matters in which Judaism and Zoroastrianism were in harmony; and it was this harmony, it seems, reinforced by the respect of a subject people for a great protective power, which allowed Zoroastrian doctrines to exert their influence. The extent of this influence is best attested, however, by Jewish writings of the Parthian period, when Christianity and the Gnostic faiths, as well as northern Buddhism, all likewise bore witness to the profound effect: which Zoroaster's teachings had had throughout the lands of the Achaernenian empire.

 

joelr

Well-Known Member
The gospel is there in the Hebrew Scriptures and is all through those scriptures.
So do the Hebrew scriptures have Hellenistic theology or not?
Late OT has elements of Persian mythology. The OT is not Hellenistic at all. In fact there WAS a sect of Judaism that was Hellenized but it failed:

and it helped start Christianity which IS ALL Hellenism/Judaism

"The reasons for the decline of Hellenistic Judaism are obscure. It may be that it was marginalized by, absorbed into, or became Early Christianity (see the Gospel of the Hebrews)."

see, BECAME early Christianity.

Worldhistory -
"

whttps://www.worldhistory.org/article/94/the-hellenistic-world-the-world-of-alexander-the-g/


Hellenistic thought is evident in the narratives which make up the books of the Bible as the Hebrew Scriptures were revised and canonized during the Second Temple Period (c.515 BCE-70 CE), the latter part of which was during the Hellenic Period of the region. The gospels and epistles of the Christian New Testament were written in Greek and draw on Greek philosophy and religion as, for example, in the first chapter of the Gospel of John in which the word becomes flesh, a Platonic concept."

Or really it is a case of the Hebrew Scriptures and theology had to have been written in a Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean history or all your arguments fall in a heap.
You are literally making stuff up with ZERO care about what is actually true. Why?
These are not MY ARGUMENTS? Why would I make up an argument without consulting actual experts who know the period?
This is historical scholarship and the consensus opinions backed up by peer-reviewed scholarship? They don't preach to the public because it's each persons own responsibility if they want to understand what is actually true.


"only in Hellenistic times (after c. 330 BCE) did Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it (Hell) would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven"
Kaiser, Christopher B
Christopher Barina Kaiser is a noted author and scholar, with doctorates in astrophysics and Christian dogmatics.


"

-During the period of the Second Temple (c.515 BC – 70 AD), the Hebrew people lived under the rule of first the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then the Greek kingdoms of the Diadochi, and finally the Roman Empire.[47] Their culture was profoundly influenced by those of the peoples who ruled them.[47] Consequently, their views on existence after death were profoundly shaped by the ideas of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans.[48][49] The idea of the immortality of the soul is derived from Greek philosophy[49] and the idea of the resurrection of the dead is derived from Persian cosmology.[49] By the early first century AD, these two seemingly incompatible ideas were often conflated by Hebrew thinkers.[49] The Hebrews also inherited from the Persians, Greeks, and Romans the idea that the human soul originates in the divine realm and seeks to return there.[47] The idea that a human soul belongs in Heaven and that Earth is merely a temporary abode in which the soul is tested to prove its worthiness became increasingly popular during the Hellenistic period (323 – 31 BC).[40] Gradually, some Hebrews began to adopt the idea of Heaven as the eternal home of the righteous dead.[40]"


(Sanders)


“Christianity is not a Jewish religion, it’s a Hellenistic religion.”

“Jesus is of Jewish ethnicity but is telling the story of a Hellenistic deity”



1:57
Carl A. P. Ruck (born December 8, 1935, Bridgeport, Connecticut), is a professor in the Classical Studies department at Boston University. He received his B.A. at Yale University, his M.A. at the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. at Harvard University.




M. David Litwa author of peer-reviewed book on Jesus and Hellenistic origins

Stanley Stowers
: “M. David Litwa’s Iesus Deus marks a major breakthrough in scholarship on early Christianity. The book manages to overcome the scholarly apologetic segregation of early Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ from Greek and Roman dominated Mediterranean culture and to demonstrate the fit of these beliefs in that Hellenistic context. A great deal of writing about the ‘purely Jewish’ Christ crumbles with this book.”


David Aune: “In Iesus Deus, M. David Litwa surveys six of the more significant ways in which early Christians from the first through the third centuries CE drew on common reservoir of ancient Mediterranean conceptions of deity as models for expressing the ultimate significance of Jesus, namely his divine origin and deity. These six themes include divine conception (focusing on Luke 1), punitive protection of honor (Jesus as the enfant terrible of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas), superhuman moral benefaction (Origen’s argumentation in the Contra Celsum), epiphanic or theophanic manifestation (the Gospel transfiguration narratives), corporeal immortalization (the Gospel resurrection accounts), and the reception of a proper divine name (Phil 2:9-11 in the light of Roman imperial practice). This is an extraordinarily well-written, nuanced, convincingly argued and methodologically sophisticated comparative study which breaks new ground in understanding a centrally important aspect of the formation of early Christology. The author rightly criticizes the continued tendency to bifurcate “Judaism” and “Hellenism,” and in his use of comparative method rejects superficial conceptions of “borrowing” by appealing to the shared existence of an “embedded Hellenization” that pervaded ancient Mediterranean cultures. The author makes use of an impressive array of primary and secondary sources over which he has enviable control. This book gets four stars and should be required reading for all serious students of early Christian thought.”
 
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