Paul And The Founding Of Christianity

The question of how Christianity started is a very much open question, as there is NO objective evidence supporting its founding. Since Paul's writings appear to be the first written material for a Jesus of the Bible and were written decades after the supposed events, some Bible scholars (especially the secular ones) support the claim that Paul was the founder of Christianity as we know it today. 

Click on the link below for an 18-min video interview with Richard Carrier Ph.D., a noted secular scholar who has devoted his professional life to the study of early Christianity:

How Did Christianity Really Start?

The Bible Story Is All They Have

"Christians love telling each other about how really reliable secular historians like Josephus and Tacitus wrote about Jesus. The implication is that these references serve as some kind of proof not only for Jesus' existence but for his resurrection, miracles, and godhood. But what do they actually say? What if anything do they prove? In this video, I take a look at an article that typifies how Christians approach ancient non-Biblical references to Jesus - along with looking at what these sources state, when they were written, and if they add up to good evidence for Jesus.
"SPOILER ALERT: They don't."

Click on the link below for a continuation of the revelation (pun intended) of how vapid Christian apologetics is. Sadly, these facts will not penetrate the delusion and dogma of those who are dependent on false claims for their living.

Secular historians are not helpful to Christianity

"Manifest Destiny" In-Depth

The term "Manifest Destiny" is usually used to explain the motivations of the early settlers of the US as they moved westward. However, its roots go back to the foundations of Christianity, with its alliances with Monarchies in Europe. These alliances initiated such religion-state policies as imperialism, colonialism, and the genocides of indigenous peoples. As the Catholic Church and other branches of Christianity deny their roles in this horrible racist ideology, keep in mind that history is written by the victors. Below is an excellent podcast exposing the breadth and depth of this sad legacy of religion and its views of "The Other."

"Today we take a look at the origins and legacy of Manifest Destiny, the historical term most closely tied to our most toxic version of nostalgia: the one longing for America's golden age of genocide"

Click on the link below:

What Trump is Invoking When He Invokes Manifest Destiny

The Bible And The Telephone Game

Most of us played the Telephone Game as children. It caused laughter, for sure. However, this article goes into the psychology of it and how it exposes the flaws in our emotional intelligence. Understanding this phenomenon is important in understanding why secular historians and others using science-based thinking cast serious doubt on the reliability of the Bible. Why? It is the consensus of Biblical scholars, religious and secular, that the writings found in the New Testament were created decades after the supposed events. The video below goes into detail on the matter:

Were the Stories of Jesus Corrupted Before they were Written Down? (Click on the link)

Christianity Exposed

Let's look behind the marketing of Christianity:

"Those earliest Christians agreed about precisely nothing. Some of them bickered about just how divine Jesus was–or if he existed in the flesh at all. Others bickered about how much Judaism to retain (as Peter and Paul had). They argued about how important Jesus’ death and resurrection were (and what they even meant)."

No such thing as an "Original" Christianity

"Although it is highly unlikely that the authors of the Synoptic Gospels directly based any of their stories on pagan mythology,^[12] it is possible that they may have subtly shaped their accounts of Jesus's healing miracles to resemble familiar Greek stories about miracles associated with Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine.^[13][14] The birth narratives of Matthew and Luke are usually seen by secular historians as legends designed to fulfill Jewish expectations about the Messiah.^[15]

"The Gospel of John bears indirect influences from Platonism, via earlier Jewish deuterocanonical texts, and may also have been influenced in less obvious ways by the cult of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, though this possibility is still disputed.^[16] Later Christian traditions about Jesus were probably influenced by Greco-Roman religion and mythology. Much of Jesus's traditional iconography is apparently derived from Mediterranean deities such as Hermes, Asclepius, Serapis, and Zeus and his traditional birthdate on 25 December, which was not declared as such until the fifth century, was at one point named a holiday in honor of the Roman sun god Sol Invictus. At around the same time Christianity was expanding in the second and third centuries, the Mithraic Cult was also flourishing. Though the relationship between the two religions is still under dispute, Christian apologists at the time noted similarities between them, which some scholars have taken as evidence of borrowing, but which are more likely a result of shared cultural environment. More general comparisons have also been made between the stories about Jesus's birth and resurrection and stories of other divine or heroic figures from across the Mediterranean world, including supposed "dying-and-rising gods" such as Tammuz, Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, while the concept of "dying-and-rising gods" has received criticism."

Jesus in comparative mythology 

"Neither biographies nor objective historical accounts, the gospels resembled religious advertisements."

What are the Gospels?

Why do you think Christianity is special?

Don't Strawman Mythicism

I am agnostic regarding the question of a historical Jesus. However, I lean toward accepting that there was no historical Jesus and I do accept that the stories about Jesus as found in the New Testament are probably myths.

That said, I find that Biblical scholars, whether Christian or atheist, who don't accept the claim that there probably was not a historical Jesus frequently use the Strawman Fallacy.  The following videos are excellent in clarifying the evidence behind the claim that Jesus was probably not a real person.

Mystery Faith (Part 1 of 2) - Richard Carrier

Mystery Faith (Part 2 of 2) - David Fitzgerald

Pondering Parallels and Mythicism - Robert M Price

Following are other links looking at this issue:

There are clearly good reasons to doubt Jesus’ historical existence

Christ Myth Theory

Did Jesus Exist?

Debunking the Historical Jesus

The Crazy Facts You Didn't Know About the History of Christianity

The Trinity Was An Evolving Concept

"The son, the father, and the holy spirit. This is the trinity, one of the most interesting and highly debated doctrines in all of Christianity. God, in 3 parts. From its conception, there have been many disagreements on the nature of Christ. Things concerning his divinity and his relationship to God. The modern view of the trinity is one of the most mysterious and incomprehensible doctrines in Christianity. Was Jesus God? Was Jesus possessed by God's spirit? Were Jesus and God two separate but equal beings? Was Jesus human? Was Jesus just a prophet? These questions have plagued Christianity since it's conception. This doctrine is the untouchable doctrine of Christianity and it continues to become more complicated as time goes on. Why is this? What were the early Christian ideas? What contentions were brought up? and how have these ideas changed over time? These are just some of the questions I set out to answer in this video."

This is dedicated to those Christians who believe Christian ideas about the nature of the supposed Jesus Christ were clear from the start of the movement.

Click on the link below:

A Brief History Of The Trinity
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***If you disagree with this post, how do you justify or verify that your beliefs are true? What is your view regarding the value of evidence?***

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