(June 8, 2021 at 3:52 pm)Jehanne Wrote: To take just one example (out of many), I believe that the story of Barabbas, which is common to all four Gospels, to be pure fiction:
Wikipedia -- Barabbas
I think that what the story tells Us, some 2,000 years later, is that all four Gospels were written post-70 AD, after the future emperor Titus had laid waste to the city of Jerusalem, and the fledgling Christian community wanted to frame its new religion as being friendly to the Romans, the victors, and hostile to the losers, the Jews. As such, the growing and embellishing tales of the historical Jesus were continuing to evolve, which oddly, included the account of a fictitious individual (more oddly, enough, with the first name "Jesus") whom Pilate pardoned to appease the Jewish mob, who became guilty of the "crime" of deicide for having murdered the Son of God.
The entire intent of that story is the basically the same intent of the entire book. It is designed as a story to create a hero by creating a scapegoat. It isn't that Barabbas was squeaky clean, but more along the lines of setting oneself up as playing false martyr.
Ultimately the entire crucifixion motif was written to draw the reader into having sympathy for the leader. The problem with this logic, is that ultimately that this allegedly "all powerful" God set everything up in the first place, and knew the outcome regardless. The God of the Bible is no different than a gangster who rigs the games in a Vegas Casino.
I'd go further than this. How is it a "sacrifice" if you don't stay dead? How is it a "sacrifice" if you are only seeking attention? The soldiers of D-day didn't fight the Nazis with the goal of being worshiped as gods. They stayed dead, and were not seeking for a religion to be started in their name.
The story of Barabbas is is nothing but a propaganda ploy.
