If Jesus was just a man, why all the stories?

[Drich]

If Kim Il Sung was just a man, why all the stories?

If L. Ron Hubbard was just a man, why all the stories?

Who?

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not to mention it hasn't been 200o years since their deaths either.

[Minimalist]

Meet Constantine.



Sleazebag politician and murdering thug. He made two serious mistakes.

One was demolishing the Roman military machine which had kept the empire for 3 centuries and the other was legitimizing a bunch of nutty old fucks with a silly superstition and thinking he could use them to "unify" the empire.

It appears that christianity already had grown earlier than that:

"The imperial support that Constantine gave to Christianity had a great impact. Obviously Constantine legalized Christianity in all areas of his empire. In the eastern half of the empire, a stronger population of Christians always had existed."

Why?

Define "grown?"

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Roman_Cultu...ristianity

While many people tend to exaggerate the growth of Christianity before the 4th century, ninety percent of the empire was not Christian, and there is no evidence that Christianity could have continued to grow. It was the support of the emperor Constantine that transformed Christianity into a driving force in the Roman Empire. “Most authorities agree that by 300 A.D., between seven and ten percent of the population of the Roman Empire were Christian.”

Understand the phrase, "to the victor go the spoils." A bunch of xtians, (and not even all xtians! just one faction) supported Constantine in his struggle with Maxentius for control of the Western Roman Empire. Because Constantine won, these xtians were rewarded for their support. [ Damn you Maxentius...why couldn't you have killed the motherfucker!!! ]

As a result of that we have been stuck with 1500 years of xtian barbarism in the west.

[EgoRaptor]

I just can't understand how it became one of the largest religions in the world?

Meet Constantine.



Sleazebag politician and murdering thug. He made two serious mistakes.

One was demolishing the Roman military machine which had kept the empire for 3 centuries and the other was legitimizing a bunch of nutty old fucks with a silly superstition and thinking he could use them to "unify" the empire.

It is when someone posts something like this that I wish I could give multiple kudos.

[Godscreated]

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Meet Constantine.



Sleazebag politician and murdering thug. He made two serious mistakes.

One was demolishing the Roman military machine which had kept the empire for 3 centuries and the other was legitimizing a bunch of nutty old fucks with a silly superstition and thinking he could use them to "unify" the empire.

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It appears that christianity already had grown earlier than that:

"The imperial support that Constantine gave to Christianity had a great impact. Obviously Constantine legalized Christianity in all areas of his empire. In the eastern half of the empire, a stronger population of Christians always had existed."

Why?

They can't give you a reason, they do not understand why it happened. Unlike you 1tasolo, they do not question, they just dismiss what they can't understand as something that doesn't exist, kinda like the child with his fingers in his ears and making noise so he can't hear, then he believes all's well because he purposely ignored what was being said.

I'll say this, if Jesus had just been a man and not done those things that was written about Him, there would have never been a religion called Christianity. His followers would not have stayed in the fold to die a terrible death for a lie, human nature is a testament to this. People will say that cults have done this in the recent past and they have, but these people were not hounded day and night, beaten and placed in prison repeatedly, a great deal of the New Testament was written from prison. Most of them died terrible deaths. If the cults around today had to face the Roman Empire well lets just say they would not have organized and if they did would not have lasted long.

to the forum and I hope you find the truth you are looking for.

GC

[Alex K]

I'll say this, if Jesus had just been a man and not done those things that was written about Him, there would have never been a religion called Christianity.

That is NOT how it works, Godschild. You don't need any facts on your side to get an arbitrarily large movement behind you. From 60AD on, it didn't make a shred of a difference whether Paul has made it up whole cloth. By the time Constantine took interest, it was all stories and hearsay.

[Cato]

Ladies and gentlemen, please step aside, argument from incredulity coming through.

[themonkeyman]

If we have a starting point that Jesus was just a man, had a small cult and followers, got killed by someone or the goverment, why would the stories develop and grow so much?

How did it get so big?
He was practically invisible to the surrounding historians etc

I just can't understand how it became one of the largest religions in the world?

Any rational explanations why it turned out the way it did?

Ok well for a start we need to think of the population back then and it was definitely much smaller.

We also need to factor in that there were several peoples performing miracles and wonders so Jesus was not exactly someone to stand out.

The reason that Jesus took off is because there were many who did not like the Jewish System of things and Jesus allowed them to be 'Jewish' but not follow the Reigeme.

Look at it this way would you follow the OT or the NT. Most Christians base their faith in Jesus and not the OT which was also a valid view point.

Jesus also was the only one to teach the words 'Eternal' / 'Lake of Fire' which have obviously came from Egyptian Influences growing up. So stuff like this deeply scared people.

Jesus only Got big around 150 Years after his death when different cells of religion got together under Constantine so if you have the Emperor of Rome pushing your version of religion and burning others who oppose it makes sense how Christianity took off 'IT WAS THE ONLY RELIGION THAT YOU DIDNT GET KILLED BY THE ESTABLISHMENT'

[houseofcantor]

People, usually of the less intelligent variety, have a need to believe in extra stuff to give their lives meaning.

[Chad32]

It's also interesting to note that Jesus roamed a place that was basically the backwater hole of the world. He wasn't in Egypt, or Athens, or any of the more educated and civilized places. He was supposedly born in an unsanitary animal food trough in a place where many couldn't read or write. I doubt he could write himself, otherwise he would have written the new testament.

[Alex K]

I doubt he could write himself, otherwise he would have written the new testament.

Interesting thought. Though from how he acts in the bible (quite incoherently to begin with), he doesn't come across as the author type at all to me. His schtick rests mostly on being this enigmatic leader figure who every once in a while gives off some deepities while travelling around and "healing" people. Writing it down in a longer coherent fashion in a closed form, rather not. He'd have a follower who writes down the stuff though.