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Old 09-04-2005, 12:56 PM   #56 (permalink)
asaris
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Location: Washington, DC
Well, I looked over the web page you mentioned, Harry, and I thought I'd point out a few flaws in his arguments:

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The progressive forces of the world are at war with this Asiatic superstition
...

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But the Gospels are written in Greek -- every one of them. Nor were they translated from some other language
This is debatable. There are biblical scholars who think that it was originally written in Aramaic -- a minority, to be sure, but it is a disputed point.

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Works were forged in the names of the apostles, and even in the name of Christ
This was really a fairly common practice in ancient literature, and doesn't necessarily indicate the same level of culpability as if someone did the same thing today. They had different views about authorship and plagiarism than what we have.

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We cannot perhaps venture to assert positively that there was a city of Nazareth in Jesus' time." No certainty that there was a city of Nazareth! Not only are the supposed facts of the life of Christ imaginary, but the city of his birth and youth and manhood existed, so far as we know, only on the map of mythology
Ah, the good old-fashioned argument from silence. Just because there's no extra-biblical evidence of Nazareth doesn't mean that there's evidence that there's no evidence.

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add again the unlikelihood that a child would appear before serious-minded men in the role of an intellectual champion and the fabulous character of the story becomes perfectly clear
There's a lot of fabulous stuff in the gospels; why pick on this point, which is hardly as unlikely as, say, a guy walking on water.

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According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, the public life of Christ lasted about a year. If John's Gospel is to be believed, his ministry covered about three years
To the best of my knowledge, none of the gospels say a word about how long his ministry lasted.

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But if Christ was actually crucified, why was his place on the cross so long usurped by a lamb?
Symbolism and tastefulness. Crucifixion was a grisly death, and especially during the time they were still being used, it might well have seemed in poor taste to portray it in art.

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In all the Epistles of Paul, there is not one word about Christ's virgin birth. The apostle is absolutely ignorant of the marvellous manner in which Jesus is said to have come into the world. For this silence, there can be only one honest explanation -- the story of the virgin birth had not yet been invented when Paul wrote.
Only one explanation! Hardly -- perhaps Paul mentioned it to people in person, perhaps he thought all Christians had heard already, or perhaps he didn't think it was important.

Don't forget two things: that Jesus wasn't terribly important during his life, and that alot of art from antiquity has been lost or damaged. Maybe no one thought it important what he looked like, maybe there were pictures that have been lost, or maybe there are pictures, and we just don't know that they are pictures of Christ.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."

"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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