(July 9, 2023 at 3:58 am)Nishant Xavier Wrote: Thoughts?

I think that you're cherry-picking the data and using the methods inadvisably. The internal evidence is only meaningful if the authenticity, internal consistency, and authorship of the gospels can be established. Anything else is just a building an argument without a proper basis. The fact is that we have good reason to believe that several portions of the gospels were written by different authors at different times and in different cultures.

The whole Last Supper scene in all of the gospels is littered with pagan imagery and couldn't be less Jewish if you wrapped it in bacon. The trial at the Sanhedrin is an utter farce and a sad attempt by the early Roman church to shift the blame for tacking up the saviour from themselves to the Jews. And the Greek pun in Matthew 16:18 is something that no Jew would ever have thought to utter. It's the best running joke of all time that the Pope's authority is literally a bad joke though.

As such, you can't demonstrate that references to one gospel in another gospel weren't added at a much later date and you're left with nothing.

The Sanhedrin was never once in all of it's history, called into session on the days before or day of Passover.
The passion narratives are contradictory. In one Jesus is relatively silent. In another he gives a long speech.
In one he dies on a totally different day that the other three.

Nobody peasants did not get a trial before Roman aristocrats. They made it all up.
There was a standing order to execute troublemakers in the Roman provinces. He caused a ruckus in the temple.
He was just sentenced to death (no trial) like everywhere in the Roman provinces who caused trouble.

Just passing through. Will address the objections in time. This caught my eye:

Bucky, quoting the Catechism:

Quote:[846] He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.

I've quoted the same thing you did, just changed the bolding. Now, read it again. Yes, if one does not know, there is no sin involved, Christ said that too, and that is true e.g. of those who've never heard the Gospel of Christ; St. James says this too in Holy Scripture, that once one does know what is right, e.g. to receive Baptism or Holy Communion, but does not, then it is a sin.

Quote:You are a judgmental fool ... Now [expletive deleted] off.

Lol, the irony. Rude Expletives, and silliness, combined with an alleged non-judgmental attitude. Take the beam out of thine own eye, friend. I am not judgmental, or at least I strive not to be. I simply proclaimed the same Truth Jesus Christ taught, that once one knows one ought to be Baptized, and has had the Possibility of receiving that Sacrament, it becomes necessary for Salvation. The CCC says this too, if you've really read it. Yes, of course, those who have never heard the Gospel, or are ignorant of it through no fault of their own, are guilty of no sin in that regard. Every Catholic knows this. They may, however, be guilty of other mortal sins, like adultery or hatred, blaspheming and cussing like you did above etc. And those sins are not taken away except by grace through faith, and they are washed away completely only in Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is the Cure or Vaccine not just for original sin, as for babies, but also for all personal mortal sins, as for all adults who receive the Sacrament.

And Christ Himself taught the necessity of Holy Communion for Salvation in John 6, when He said we must receive His Body and His Blood, i.e. the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in order to gain Eternal Life and go to Heaven. IF we don't know, we're exempted. Once we do know, we're not.

St. John Chrysostom, (347-407), Patriarch of Constantinople, and Doctor of the Church, tells us: "Zeal for the salvation of souls is of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our goods to the poor, or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austerities cannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable to God than this one. To employ one's life in this blessed labor is more pleasing to the Divine Majesty than to suffer martyrdom. Would you not feel happy if you could spend large sums of money in corporal works of mercy? But know that he who labors for the salvation of souls does far more; nay, the zeal of souls is of far greater merit before God . . . than the working of miracles." I take it you once were Catholic. Perhaps you should re-learn your Catholic Faith from the ground up, starting with Scripture/Fathers.

In Christ,
Xavier.

(July 9, 2023 at 2:37 pm)brewer Wrote: I'll take the Silmarillion over the Bible any day, and twice on Sunday.

“Nine ships there were: four for Elendil, and for Isildur three, and for Anárion two; and they fled before the black gale out of the twilight of doom into the darkness of the world. And the deeps rose beneath them in towering anger, and the waves like unto the mountains moving with great caps of writhen snow bore them up amid the wreckage of the clouds, and after many days cast them away upon the shores of Middle Earth.


“And Erú spake, saying: ‘Behold! These lands are forever yours from the white shores of the sea isles and coastal regions to the green forests, fair plains and valleys, and great mountain ranges.’


“And, thus, did Elendil stand upon the sandy beach of the new land and proclaim: ‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle Earth I have come. Here I shall dwell, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.’” (The Silmarillion: Akallabêth: 75-77)

Certainly better reading than the Bible. 

(July 10, 2023 at 9:38 pm)Gwaithmir Wrote:

(July 9, 2023 at 2:37 pm)brewer Wrote: I'll take the Silmarillion over the Bible any day, and twice on Sunday.

“Nine ships there were: four for Elendil, and for Isildur three, and for Anárion two; and they fled before the black gale out of the twilight of doom into the darkness of the world. And the deeps rose beneath them in towering anger, and the waves like unto the mountains moving with great caps of writhen snow bore them up amid the wreckage of the clouds, and after many days cast them away upon the shores of Middle Earth.


“And Erú spake, saying: ‘Behold! These lands are forever yours from the white shores of the sea isles and coastal regions to the green forests, fair plains and valleys, and great mountain ranges.’


“And, thus, did Elendil stand upon the sandy beach of the new land and proclaim: ‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle Earth I have come. Here I shall dwell, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.’” (The Silmarillion: Akallabêth: 75-77)

Certainly better reading than the Bible. 

Not to take anything away from Tolkien, but if given the choice I would read the back of a cereal box before reading another word from the Holy Bibley.

(July 10, 2023 at 8:52 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: He was just sentenced to death (no trial) like everywhere in the Roman provinces who caused trouble.

Sentenced? You're giving the Romans way to much credit. In restless provinces like Judea the legionnaires were encouraged to stomp on trouble hard, typically by nailing it to a cross. No judge, no jury, just a bad way to die.

(July 10, 2023 at 9:27 pm)Nishant Xavier Wrote: Lol, the irony. Rude Expletives, and silliness, combined with an alleged non-judgmental attitude.

That's rich coming from a guy who calls everyone who criticizes his misogonic death cult a Marxist and militant.

Quote:Lol, the irony. Rude Expletives, and silliness, combined with an alleged non-judgmental attitude.

Lol, the irony of you of all people whining about judgmental attitudes. Sorry buddy you come here and act like a jackass you had better expect to be treated like one.

Nishy has mastered the art of asshatism. It might be the alpha.

As it has been pointed out, numerous times, it is a dishonest, cowardly piece of shit.

I think it's a shame that the dedication page to the Gospels has never been found:

'To my darling Candy. I'll never forget that wild night in Cabo.'

Boru