RE: Indoctrination & Mental Gymnastics
January 16, 2015 at 8:51 pm
(This post was last modified: January 16, 2015 at 9:06 pm by Lek.)
(January 16, 2015 at 8:11 pm)goodwithoutgod Wrote: Philo of Alexandria
The early years of the Roman Republic is one of the most historically documented times in history. One of the writers alive during the time of Jesus was Philo-Judaeus (sometimes known as Philo of Alexandria).
Philo was born before the beginning of the Christian era, and lived until long after the reputed death of Christ. He wrote an account of the Jews covering the entire time that Christ is said to have existed on earth. He was living in or near Jerusalem when Christ’s miraculous birth and the Herodian massacre occurred. He was there when Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He was there when the crucifixion happened with its attendant earthquake, supernatural darkness and resurrection of the dead took place – when Christ himself rose from the dead and in the presence of many witnesses ascended into heaven. These amazing marvelous events which must have filled the world with amazement, had they really occurred, were all unknown to him. It was Philo who developed the doctrine of the Logos, or Word, and although this Word incarnate dwelt in that very land and in the presence of multitudes revealed himself and demonstrated his divine powers, Philo saw it not.
Philo might be considered the investigative reporter of his day. He was there on location during the early first century, talking with people who should have remembered or at least heard the stories, observed, taking notes, documenting. He reported nothing about Jesus.
You're just typed 10,000 words, none of which show conclusive evidence that the biblical writings are untrue. Sure you've stated opinions of qualified historians and scholars and then passed them off as demonstrating that your assertions are true. You've attempted to qualify your supposition that christian writers were biased, and therefore lying, and the same for oral tradition, but again what proof do you have of this? Are the teams of qualified historians and bible scholars, who disagree with your assumptions, that have written the commentaries in the numerous modern day bibles biased liars also? I'm just taking one example from your post. Philo lived in Alexandria all of his life. He did mention in his writings that he visited Jerusalem, but never stated how long he spent there or the specific time frame. In fact, we know almost nothing of the details of his life. Show the words from Philo's writings that state that he was present in Jerusalem during the crucifixion, resurrection, etc., especially when we're not even sure of the dates?