RE: I still don't understand why anyone would make up a person like the Biblical Christ..
August 8, 2011 at 3:33 pm
(August 6, 2011 at 9:43 pm)Aerzia Saerules Arktuos Wrote: I thought you were mabus for a second, and I got all excited.
And then you weren't
Why: power. It's a nice thing to have, but you being poor probably don't understand it
I get the "Jesus was an apocalyptic who was crucified for sedition and his followers made up a story" argument. I of course think there are several flaws with the argument, but I can see the basic logic of it. I don't however see "power" as a possible motive here. This was not a lucrative money-making scheme either.
Considering the evidence it appears that the early followers of Christ actually lost livelihoods and social standing. Their particular ancient culture was honor/shame based, and being a Christian was shameful to both Greeks and Jews. So the only thing being a Christian got you was kicked out.
As for the disciples themselves, they didn't become the heads of a lucrative empire, most of them actually passed up the opportunity to be well respected teachers in their community in favor of a life on the road. And then there's the whole "getting killed" part. James, John, Andrew, Peter, and Matthew seemed to have a fairly stable livelihood, and everyone of them except Matthew already had good standing in the community. The rest of the disciples we don't know about, but the main figures in the early church were most likely stable members of a community and James and John were probably from a well connected family (the "beloved" disciple's family was connected to the high priest, however you choose to interpret that phrase).
Everything we know about the early church tells us that these people had nothing to gain by their profession of faith. It wasn't until Constantine that Christianity had any benefits in terms of power, money, or social standing. I can see that some people think they were deluded or crazy, but they were not power-players. Maybe there's some argument to the contrary that makes more sense, but I haven't heard it. If you or anyone else have any more insight into this position I do value a chance to understand another position through conversation. Thanks for your thoughts friends!
