Quote:Paul lived after the death of Christ and the foundation of the church, so if anyone made Christianity up, its not him.
Paul made up his own version of what he thought the church should be, and he worked very hard to sell his ideas. His version of christ is very vague when compared to what is in the synoptic gospels. He was often at odds with those who actually knew jesus and he pissed a lot of people off. What the modern church turned into because of his writings should really be called Paulianity.
Quote:The Jews didn't like Jesus because he failed to meet their expectations as king and liberator against the hated Roman Empire.
Funny that a lot of Jews hold a view of jesus that is just like the atheistic view. There may have been a man, he may have been crucified for being a rabble rouser and a false prophet, but he was never resurrected and was not the son of god.
If the resurrection happened, then christianity has a case. Unfortunately the only evidence for it happening is in the bible, which is full of demonstrably false tales.
But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret is as though it had an underlying truth.
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco