Celsus

[Minimalist]

Iesou.  Yeah, we know.  Doesn't matter.  It's the same fucking myth.

You know they write Mickey Mouse in Japanese, too.

[Angrboda]

Not immediately, though.

Celsus writing towards the end of the 2d century is the first Greco-Roman writer to mention anyone named "Jesus."  Even Lucian of Samosata, some 20 years earlier heard the tale of the shitwits worshipping a crucified criminal but he never mentions the name.

Suetonius, Tacitus ( if not a total forgery ) and Pliny the Younger mention Christus.... or more probably "Chrestus" but none of them ever heard of this jesus guy.  Suetonius, the youngest of the three died in 130, some 50 years before Celsus.

This suggests that the addition of "jesus" to the story is a second-century rewrite.

There was no one named "Jesus" until about 1630 A.D.  Before then he was known as Yeshua or some other variation of that name, maybe Iesus.

[Minimalist]

The better question is was there any jesus before 130 AD?

[Minimalist]

What an absurdity! Clearly the christians have used the myths of Danae and the Melanippe, or of the Auge and the Antiope in fabricating the story of Jesus' virgin birth."

[Minimalist]

"You are fond of saying that in the old days this same most high god made these and greater promises to those who gave heed to his commandments and worshipped him. But at the risk of appearing unkind, I ask how much good has been done by those promises have done either the Jews before you or you in your present circumstances. And would you have us put out faith in such a god? Instead of being masters of the whole world, the jews today have no home of any kind."

Another great one.

[The Grand Nudger]

That's one christianity seems to have taken to heart, too..at some point they got tired of waiting for god to make good on his promises and started looking for ways to force his hand and make the world conform to the desired end result. Exhausted by that effort, they appear to have handed the torch to the godamned muslims.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Not immediately, though.

Celsus writing towards the end of the 2d century is the first Greco-Roman writer to mention anyone named "Jesus."  Even Lucian of Samosata, some 20 years earlier heard the tale of the shitwits worshipping a crucified criminal but he never mentions the name.

Suetonius, Tacitus ( if not a total forgery ) and Pliny the Younger mention Christus.... or more probably "Chrestus" but none of them ever heard of this jesus guy.  Suetonius, the youngest of the three died in 130, some 50 years before Celsus.

This suggests that the addition of "jesus" to the story is a second-century rewrite.

I just realized how trashy the story of Jesus is.  Mary is a "virgin" and has not yet slept with her soon to be husband Joseph.  Mary fucks some other guy and gets pregnant.  Real father bounces out of the picture, lets face it too it's not like he ever sent child support either.  Jesus grows up knowing that Joseph is not his real dad, develops daddy issues and starts rebelling against authority.  Father tells him to kill himself.  Gets caught by authorities for being a criminal and executed.

Let's worship that guy!

Venezuelans have a religion based on the worship of criminals.  BTW, can anyone cite any reason why the Yeshua character should be worshiped as a deity?

[Minimalist]

"So too their fantastic story-- which they take from the Jews-- concerning the flood and the building of an enormous ark, and the business about the message being brought back to the survivors of the flood by a dove (or was it an old crow?). This is nothing more than a debased and nonsensical version of the myth of Deucalion, a fact I am sure they would not want to come light."

[Minimalist]

"Let's assume for a minute that he foretold his resurrection. Are you ignorant of the multitudes wh ohave invented similar tales to lead simple minded hearers astray? It is said that Zamolxis, Pythagoras' servant, convinced the Scythians that he had risen from the dead... and what about Pythagoras himself in Italy! -or Rhampssinitus in Egypt. The last of these, by the way, is said to have played dice with Demeter in Hades and to have received a golden napkin as a present from her. Now then, who else: What about Orpheus among the Odrysians, Protesiaus in Thessaly and above all Heracles and Theseus."

[Minimalist]

"Not only do they misunderstand the words of the philosophers; they even stoop to assigning words of the philosophers to their Jesus. For example, we are told that Jesus judged the rich with the saying 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god.' Yet we know that Plato expressed this very idea in a purer form when he said, 'It is impossible for an exceptionally good man to be exceptionally rich.'* Is one utterance more inspired than the other?"