Knowing everything and allowing evil

[Abracadabra]

@Abra- Jesus didn't spit in the face of the God of Abraham according to the Bible, he "spit in the face" of the Pharisitical teachings of the time. As far as the throne of David, check out Acts 2:25-36 if you're interested.

The book of Acts is not impressive tackattack. All the book of Acts amounts to is some of the earliest apologetics for the original gospels of Mark and John.

The author is just trying to justify the claims that Jesus was the messiah by pretending that his supposed rise from death and ascent into heaven represents him being handed the "Throne of David".

In short it's nothing other than totally absurd superstitious nonsense.

In fact, much of the New Testament is nothing more than early apologetic arguments for the original four rumor gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. And those four original Gospels are just repeats of the same rumors. In fact, most scholars believe that Matthew and Luke are just repeating Mark's tales.

So there's really only two gospels Mark, and John. The whole rest of the New Testament is basically just commentary on those original rumors. And then of course 75% is Paul's ramblings claiming to have seen Jesus in a vision. Personally I don't buy into anything that Paul wrote. He was just reacting to the whole rumor. (Not unlike a lot of modern day proselytizers)

I can't tell you how many Christian lunatics I've met live who claim to be in two-way contact with Jesus and even with God the Father.

Well, duh? If modern day humans are so easily deluded into thinking they are in direct contact with Jesus when it's pretty easy for me to believe that Paul could have been the same time of religious zealot in his day. Just another kook who is so desperate to believe in Jesus he went off the deep end proclaiming to have actually been contacted by the deity.

After all Paul (i.e. Saul) was a deeply troubled and desperate man. He had been the cause of persecution of many Christians. He had extreme reason to fear eternal damnation and a deep need for repentance. He probably just had a nervous breakdown is all. And then became a religious freak just like we see around us today.

Just look at how freaky these fables and rumors can make people. Jim Jones? David Koresh? Others? These freaky stories can easily cause people who are mentally unstable to go off the deep end and believe all sorts of things.

So no. The gibberish in Acts about Jesus being raised up to heaven to sit at the right-hand of God is nonsense. That was made up precisely as an apologetic argument to the Jews who instantly pointed out that these rumors are clearly false because of the fact that Jesus never became the king of the Jews and thus he could not have been the messiah.

That observation no doubt came up immediately. At the very moment that these rumors stared.

So the fact that these lame apologetic arguments became part of the "New Testament" early on, should not surprise anyone. In fact, there's a whole history of how these biblical tails unfolded. The stories and texts that ended up in the Christian Bible were created simultaneous alongside debates that the Christians were having with the Jews.

Here's a course on that very topic if you're interested:

Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity

This course describes how the New Testament cannon evolved over the centuries as the Christians and Jews slugged it out over whether or not it makes sense to believe that Jesus was the messiah.

The Jews kept objecting, and the Christians kept apologizing and that's how the New Testament evolved to become the collection of papers that it is today.

So no, I'm not impressed by what's written in acts.

Those arguments and apologetics started immediately as soon as the rumor that Jesus was the "messiah" were first made. The Jews objected instantly, and the Christians started making their excuses right at that time.

In fact, you can be certain that even Mark, Matthew, Luke and John were fully aware that even they had to justify their rumors to the Jews.

Look at the extremes they went to. They even had to stoop to proclaiming that God himself spoke from a cloud to verify the truth of their rumors.

They were extremely determined not to take no for an answer.

Not unlike religious zealots we meet today.

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Again, what makes sense to you vs what makes sense.

That sentence itself doesn't even make any sense.

What makes sense to me vs what makes sense to someone else.

Evidently you seem to think that whatever makes sense to you must represent 'absolute sense' somehow.

Hey, I'm not denying that these things "could possibly be" totally fictional rumors. But clearly they are rumors about the Torah. They rely on preexisting God-myths.

I just take it one step further and feel that its reasonable to assume that they may have also been sparked by some social event.

The idea that some guy spoke out against the immoral practices taught by the Torah is not an outrageous idea, IMHO.

The idea, that he instead sought to replace those immoral teaching with teachings that, appear to me, to be in perfect harmony with the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism which was at its peak at that very moment in history, is not an outrageous idea, IMHO.

The idea that he would risk being crucified for blaspheme for having spoken out against the Torah and against the Pharisees who oversee the Torah is again not an outrageous idea.

In fact, in Arab countries today you can be sentenced to death for blaspheme against the Koran. It's the same fundamental religion and hasn't changed much over the millennium.

So the idea that some guy spoke out against the immoral practices of the Torah, butted heads with the Pharisees, and was eventually excused on charges of blaspheme is not unreasonable at all.

And had such an event taken place it would have sparked rumors for sure.

It would be like seeing the Dalai Lama being crucified today by the Taliban. It would be cause of huge social controversy.

And that may have been precisely what it was like. This Jesus fellow who was a Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva (and perhaps you don't understand the concept of a Bodhisattva?). Would have naturally been going around preaching spiritual wisdom to anyone who is willing to listen.

He would have taken on disciples and trained them in his wisdom and even request that they too vow to become Bodhisattvas (i.e. to go out and teach spiritual wisdom to others). This was a huge thing in Mahayana Buddhism at that time. The concept of becoming a Bodhisattva was extremely important in Mahayana Buddhism.

So it makes perfect sense that Jesus as a Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva would have acted and behaved almost exactly like the rumors of Jesus. Although, he wouldn't have been claiming to be "The Christ". But if the New Testament is rumors trying to make out that this guy was "The Christ" then you can't expect to push those rumors onto the actual person of Jesus.

Somewhere along the way you've got to recognize that not everything that was written about this man was true. Most of it would be superstitious rumors. (i.e. the virgin birth, a God speaking from a cloud verifying the Jesus is his Son, the resurrection of not only Jesus but of a whole bunch of saints at the same time)

The stories are riddled with superstitious nonsense. But they still could have been sparked by a real person who was crucified.

That is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis.

It's a damn more reasonable hypothesis than the Christians are trying to sell.

Surely you've got to give me that much.

In my hypothesis Jesus is just another moral man like the rest of us.

But this theory explains where many of this rumors came from.

"I and the Father are one"
"Ye are also Gods"
"Don't be stoning people to death like that stupid Torah Teaches"
"Don't be seeking to get even with people like that stupid Torah Teaches"
"Don't be fooled by the Pharisees, they are hypocrites"

All of these things sound like what a Mahayana Buddhist might teach people. And these types of things are all being attributed to "Jesus".

So it's reasonable to believe that the "Jesus rumors" were sparked by a Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva.

For you to say this makes no sense is unreasonable.