There are many reasons why I personally am one of a minority group of
atheists that does not believe in the existence of an historical Christ. I have
written about this in my blog before, and have outlined several reasons as to
why I believe that Jesus was the result of a mythological construct and not an
actual person. In this post I would like to add yet another reason that I
believe is also very strong evidence against the existence of an historical
Christ.
I have mentioned this in passing and have gotten the response that in
"those days" people did not use first and last names to identify one
another. In fact, they were recognized by what town they were from, or what
profession they were known for, etc. There is plenty of evidence of this in the
scriptures. But one thing that I have noticed is that when it comes to certain
figures in the bible whether it’s a minor figure or major component to a story
their full name is given.
We have for example Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:2, Luke 3:1, Acts 4:27, 1
Timothy 6:13), Judas Iscariot (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16), Mary
Magdalene (Matthew 27:56, Mark 15:40, Luke 24:10) just to name a few. But the
name of the most important figure in all of the New Testament remains a mystery.
Why is it that the authors of the bible decided to hide the identity of the
most prominent figure of their narratives? It doesn't make any sense! It's like
making a major motion picture and hiding the identity of the main character throughout
the film.
My guess is that the gospels are a combination of fact and fiction. Jesus
is not an historical figure but a mythical one who was later inserted into an
historical backdrop to help give the stories authenticity. Today we call this
fictional writing and as any avid reader can attest it is a very popular style
of writing.
The very name of Jesus Christ is not a name in the traditional sense. Jesus
is the transliteration from the Hebrew Jeshua which means Jehovah is salvation
and Christ is translated into anointed or the anointed. You can read a short
article from the Catholic Encyclopedia here.
Although Jesus is believed to be a
popular name in the first century this fact does not get us any closer to the
so called “real Jesus” or historical “Christ.”
My major contention with scholars in biblical studies is that they are
trying to authenticate the existence of Christ basing themselves mostly on the
gospel narratives and maybe a couple of other relevant texts. But the fact of
the matter is that the gospels have been shown to be unreliable on several
counts as historical texts, and that in order to affirm the historicity of
Christ you must first identify who he was.
The Old Testament plays this same name game when it comes to certain
historical events. The one that bugs me the most is the narrative of the Exodus
of the Hebrews from Egypt. The bible doesn’t tell you who this pharaoh was that
died in the Red Sea or Sea of Reeds together with his entire army. Don’t you
think this is a matter of historical importance if we are to authenticate the
event as an actual event?
Most Christians don’t realize it but they are worshiping an anonymous deity
whom some of them believed was actually named Jesus Christ! This is one of
those curve ball questions I love to throw at theists when they come knocking
at my door to proselytize, the dumb ass look on their face after you bring it
up is priceless! Their fumbling for answers and stammering when their heads are
revealed at that moment to be devoid of any possible answer is worth its weight
in gold.I mean seriously, don't you think it would have been of the utmost importance for historical reasons to at least identify who the main character of this narrative was by name?
The 2005 documentary "The God Who Wasn't There" also makes a very good case for Jesus being a complete myth.
ReplyDeleteI actually have that documentary Matt but one of the best books on the subject is 'The Jesus Puzzle' and its largely expanded version entitled 'Jesus Neither God Nor Man' by the same author Earl Doherty. He makes a great case for the mythical Christ theory.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's plausible that jesus was simply a composit of myths.
ReplyDeleteBut I recommend "The Mythmaker". I fully accept a historical personage named Jesus, a "messiah" figure, meaning in Hebrew, a fully human person who sought to throw out Roman occupation hopefully with god's help. There were many of the time, all failed. Their names are documented in the book.
Claiming messiahship, divine authority, bringing the kingdom of god (which had nothing to do with heaven or supernatural state, simply a free Israel) is akin to trying to reestablish a Jewish Monarchy- which was forbidden by the Romans, and their quizlings the Priesthood. So the Roman's nailed him for insurrection. end of story.
The rest of the nonsense is all Paul's invention. He build a cult around a myth... used the greek term for messiah "christ" to imply divine status, which it never had. He is to those days what Jos. Smith was to the 19th century... a succesful charltan.
Thanks Hump, I will look into that book you suggested. My contention in this post though is that if you want to identify someone you have to have a name. What was Jesus name? The bible does not say and we don't even have a clue as to what his parents names were either. Joseph the carpenter and Mary the virgin maiden? Not much to go on. There is no evidence for the crucifixion as depicted in the gospels which btw are all contradictory to one another. Any "evidence" we have about Jesus is circumstantial at best and the sources themselves are wholly unreliable.
DeleteBTW..the author is a rabbi and a credited authority on ancient Jewish history.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree. there was no history of Jesus, so it all had to be created in the Gospels... conveniently using the torah to establish the myth constructs, albeit, they did so badly and with much Helenic "mystery religion" interpretation.
ReplyDeleteAt best we have a guy who was nationalistic Jew, had a small following of like minded jewish anti-Roman activists and got crucified, like thousands of other Jews, for his trouble.
That Paul...if he were alive today I'd kick his lying ass for all the trouble he caused with his chicanery.
Wasn't his real name Brian? ;-)
ReplyDelete@tiNstAg, lmfao! It's funny how without having a clue who this Jesus was, so called scholars try so hard to identify him without any evidence of his existence. Maybe his name was Dick assuming he existed at all.
ReplyDeleteHey, My book of fairy stories is true because my it says it's true. And what's more, I'll prove it!
ReplyDeleteSounds like the logic of a angry 4-year old with their hand caught in the cookie jar...
@ tiNstAg, Jesus is real and he existed because the bible says he did and the writers of the bible were all inspired by God and they cannot tell a lie. In fact I know they were inspired by God because the bible says they were.
ReplyDeleteWait a sec! The prophecy said his name would be Immanuel. This guy was named Jesus. He don't fulfill the prophecy.
ReplyDeleteso you say Jesus was just a man?
ReplyDeleteI'm saying if he did exist he wasn't divine nor God in the flesh nor the son of God. He was just another of many self proclaimed prophets and messiahs of his time. By the way I don't believe he ever existed.
ReplyDelete