Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult

[Aractus]

I have never met the man and I doubt he has heard of me. I have heard of him. He is a believer who assumes his conclusions and argues to them. Therefore he is far from impartial and uses fallacies instead of logical thought.

Wrong. He was a believer and lost his faith after learning Greek and studying it critically. However you are correct on one thing - he does indeed assume his conclusions and argues for them exactly as you argue for yours.

YOU have presented not a single thing which demonstrates there is anything older than the Greek version of these stories. Until you do you are lying about me. That is not nice.

The DSS are older than any Greek mss of the OT - that should be enough.

I am a scholar, in fact at one time nationally recognized by that title. The term scholar is meaningless.

No you're not. You have demonstrated that you know less about the original languages than I do.

As to consensus reality is not determined by a vote.

Maybe you could point out where I said consensus? I said "cumulative opinion" in and of itself that phrase tells you that there's some inherent disagreement in it.

As most "scholars" in this field are also believers and there are even atheist believers for political reasons the idea of a consensus if meaningless. You are a believer. Your religious beliefs are superior to any facts you might observe or know. That is the most serious problem with believers. Their and your faith trumps reality and physical evidence.

You invention of an educated Jesus was more than sufficient to demonstrate that.

Invention? Jesus taught from the scriptures. And not just from the Torah either.

Evidence the son of some sort of craftsman did not have the education of a priest of the Yahweh cult? One would expect that burden being on you. Priest was hereditary. Joseph was not a priest. You evidence of your invention is ...?

Joseph was a legal descendant of David - and he could prove it using the genealogies that existed at the time. Further to that he was a builder. These two facts alone would be enough evidence to show that Joseph's children would have been well educated - including Jesus.

Not convinced? Archaeological evidence shows that the regions of Sepphoris as well as cities in the Galilee and Jordan valley region had a number of large extensive construction projects. Additionally, Sepphoris was the economic centre of the region. Herod's son was rebuilding the city after its seizure, and the city was growing. It would have been a very good time and place to be a builder.

The Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud both record that it was decreed by Simeon ben Shetah that every town and district have a "school of the book" (Bet ha-Sefer). True the two Talmud's were not written until much later, but the fact is that they are recognized to record what was understood orally in the first century, and also this relates to a order given by Simeon ben Shetah in the first century BC.

The Bible give you the rest of the evidence.

Evidence that Jesus was educated? 1. He taught from the written scriptures, and makes reference to them. 2. His father was of David's line. 3. He and his father were builders in a time of city growth and numerous building projects being carried out in the city of Sepphoris just 6km away, 4. There was a Jewish order recognized by Palestine that every town and district have a Bet ha-Sefer. So I've fulfilled all requirements to show that Jesus was educated: 1. his family had the finances to educate him, 2. there was a facility located within Nazareth which provided education to families that could afford to educate their sons, 3. Jesus teaches from the written word as an educated man would.

And your evidence that he wasn't educated? (I know I'm left wanting).

As the phrase jot and tittle is an English expression referring to punctuation, I will have to defer to your superior knowledge of the Greek phrase so translated. Please recite the original text and explain the reason for this choice of phrase.

I think it's ironic that you claim it's an "English expression". Ironic because that would then have to originate with none other than William Tyndale. Of course back then the letter j hadn't been invented and it was "iott" and "tytle". You would have been best going to a translation like the NIV:

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Yodh ("jot") is the smallest Hebrew letter. A tittle is a tiny point on a Hebrew letter, similar to a serif in English text.