A foot-wide stone tablet is said to bear Jewish
messianic messages from the first century B.C.



MORE HERE

I thought this story might be of interest to our fellow members of Christian faith.
I thought for sure somebody would have posted, "I told ya so!"

Still...no comments?? Hmmm. So much for posting religious articles.

Don't blame me for lack of interest.

I think there's a lot of material coming out now that suggests many of the tenets of Christianity are not purely novel, and originated out of existing Jewish sects and beliefs and practices.

Obviously, inquiry of this kind began with the Dead Sea Scrolls, which, after translation, contain many passages which mirror phrases in the New Testament, particularly, there is a strong overlap between the War Scroll and the Book of Revelation.

It looks like early Christianity emerged out of a matrix of Essenism, Hillelist Pharisaism, and the "Zadokite" movement that Eisenman discusses.

"I think there's a lot of material coming out now that suggests many of the tenets of Christianity are not purely novel, and originated out of existing Jewish sects and beliefs and practices"

Those of us that have actually read the Bible, including Christian scriptures and letters, will acknowledge that such material is nothing new.
The Christian scriptures are full of references and quotes from earlier Hebrew scriptures and prophecy. The purpose of which was to demonstrate the source of their beliefs, that they are in accord with the Hebrew scriptures, and that the teachings, life and death of Jesus are in fullfillment of them.

With that at hand, Christians need no relic written in stone to justify their faith.... the stone is a fraud.

In other words, made up from whole cloth to prove some point about Jesus.

I'll wait till archaeologists and paleographers examine it; I need better evidence than the certainty of your "faith".

And some of us have actually read and studied the Bible.
Yet many Christians adhere to the writings of Paul, a person who fraudulently redefined Christianity and proclaimed himself as an Apostle...even without ever meeting Yeshua(h). Paul streamlined Christianity into a religion that promoted "easy conversion" and supported "forgiveness through Jesus" without apology to the wronged person. Circumcision and dietary laws were thrown out for an easier conversion of Greeks and Romans.
The name, Jesus Christ itself is an alteration and perhaps fraudulent.

Paul....false prophet or fraudulent evangelist?

Where does faith begin or end, regarding Biblical history?

I read the article, and the stone says something interesting. It says that this messiah will rise in 3 days. It doesn't say that he did.

Jesus proclaimed the same sign, "the sign of Jonah".

The idea that the messiah would be resurrected may not have been brand new, which wouldn't be a surprise to me. The Hebrew bible is full of Christology, references and types to the life of Christ. (ex. Psalm 22)

The fact that someone claimed to be the messiah and also said that he would perform signs of the messiah shouldn't be a surprise. The question we must ask is, "Did he suceed?"

If you have some evidence that he did rise, then that would be of interest.

What evidence do we have that Jesus rose on the third day? For that matter, what evidence do we have that he even lived? And exactly how many angels were involved in the empty tomb episode anyway? I'd like to get that nailed down at least.

In other words, fairy tales and stories written by men. All religions came from the minds and the pens of men. That what this proves.

I remember back in the early 90s, I had just gotten cable, and was watching CNN. There was a dig for the Ark of the Covenant. They were finding things in the dig that told them that they were in the correct spot. There are two of them, one is a fake, the other is genuine. I woke up the morning they were supposed to actually find the Ark, and I believe Egypt was pumping concrete into the hole, the guy who was the head of the dig was fit to be tied. Anyone remember this?

That's a very intersting reply Tyo, but let's get the objections straight. If the position is that Jesus rising from the dead in 3 days isn't a unique event, but part of a tradition of "messiahs", that means first you must accept that it did happen.

You can say he didn't, or he wasn't the only one who did, but you can't have both.

Why must I? All I'm saying is that the whole death and rebirth theme was an accepted convention by the time Christ blew in. It's like.... I donno, the wicked stepmother in fairy tales. If you needed a heavy, you rolled out a wicked stepmother. It was simply a device that everyone was familiar with. I don't believe any such resurrection actually took place.

Or ... full of prophecies that people have twisted to assume referred specifically and only to Jesus.

My favorite example of this is the passage that they say in Isaiah says "the virgin will give birth" ... except it doesn't say that ... the world almah in the passage specifically means young woman, not virgin.

My problem is when I am about to fly 5 hours over the pacific in a big jet airplane, i invariably close my eyes and ask jesus to keep me alive...

my intellect tells me it is hogwash, but the brainwashing i went thru with 12 yrs catholic school, being baptized when i was 2 weeks old and being surrounded by it all my brain developing years, I am stuck with it...

of course, my skewed version of spirituality doesnt require $5 million dollar buildings called churches, or financial holdings in the billions (i.e. catholicism and mormons), i just need two hands to clap together and the ability to close my eyes...

too bad so many others have never opened theirs

maybe it says "kilroy was here"?

Was it signed by the author?

I can relate to this. It took me many years to re-indoctrinate myself or "de-convert". A simple phrase like "God bless you" when someone sneezes are easy to repeat when not thinking.

Yes, as have all great literature, great classics of philosophy, great works of art, and ponderings on the nature of existence.

It wasn't until I was much older than 13 than I realized the Bible was mythological.

It wasn't until I was much older than that, that I read Joseph Campbell and realized that just because it is mythical, doesn't mean it lacks value.

Myth has Power. It's just that foolish people mistake myth as history. Once we realize it's something else, its real value becomes apparent.