For People Who Think There Was No Historical Jesus

[Minimalist]

He was the father-in-law of Herod Antipas. He made war with his son-in-law Herod because he had repudiated his daughter, the wife of Herod.

Yes. Aretas IV. And he NEVER controlled Damascus.

That was Aretas III. In the first century BC. Which plays hell with your holy horseshit, doesn't it?

I always keep this map handy to show how far Damascus was from Nabatea.



The Decapolis and Syria were Roman territory in the first century. While your quoting Josephus you might mention that he also tells us that when the Great Revolt broke out the good citizens of Damascus rose up and slaughtered the Jews in reprisal.

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Meanwhile, back to Candida Moss who does dissect each of the supposedly "legitimate" martyr stories which survived the church's own cutting block and, to no one's great surprise, finds them to be bullshit, too.

"It seems that all of the early Chrsitian martyr stories have been altered. From the Martyrdom of Polycarp to the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs, these accounts have been edited and shaped by later generations of Christians. In fact, there is no early Christian account that has been preserved without emendation. Often it is the martyr's own words that have been most clearly changed. Even in the case of the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity we cannot be sure that we have the words of the actual martyrs themselves."

In other words....in any fish story the fish always gets bigger!