Well since you fundie Christians love to bash pagans and our festivals, why don't we talk about the 2000 year old lie that is Christianity. Humm? Shall we?
THERE WOULDN'T BE CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT PAUL OF TARSUS
The Christian myth is completely blamed on Paul. Without him the 2000 year old lie would never had happened. Man what would the world have been like without ol'Paul. Paul is Christianity's Mohammad.
Paul's epistles make up 7 of the Books of the Bible. Also, six more were written in Paul's name at later dates (in some cases some believe the text was written over 80 years after Paul's death). There are 13 epistles which were canonized into the Bible under the name of Paul. The authentic writings are gnostic, whereas the later pseudonymous texts are more literalist and misogynistic.
By Paul:
1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,
Philippians, Philemon and Romans.
Pseudonymous writings in the name of Paul:
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Ephesians, Colossians and 2
Thessalonians.
Paul was Saul
Saul of Tarsus is the man we now call Paul. Saul was a Roman, working for a Sadducee High Priest as a type of hired goon. He was likely a follower of Mithraism, which was a popular religion in the first century Roman Empire especially in Paul's home town of Tarsus.
Saul was a powerful and outspoken critic of the troublesome sect of Jews that were led by the Rabbi Yeshua Nazaret. Acts 8:3 describes Saul ridiculing and arresting the followers of Yeshua. On the way to Jerusalem it was believed that Saul was going to continue to harass the followers of Yeshua. Instead, at about the age of 30, Paul revealed himself as a convert to the Jewish sect of Yeshua and changed his name to Paul, which is the name we know him as.
Yeshua Nazaret (Joshua ben Joseph, Jesus of Nazereth)
Yeshua, a Jewish rabbi, likely a Pharisee, began a failed Jewish revolt against the Roman authorities. He wanted to institute a Jewish theocracy in Judea. He attacked the Jewish temple, because the Jewish religious hierarchy supported the Roman Empire. Yeshua also claimed to be the rightful king of Judea by divine right, as Kings were always assumed to rule by divine right.
Saul was convinced from his Mithraistic roots that the Christ would return within his lifetime. After working for such a high ranking High Priest he probably had religious aspirations for himself. Saul decided that Yeshua, (or Jesus for the Greek), was a living Christ.
Saul is likely to have admired Yeshua immensely and to feel much guilt for persecuting the cult of Yeshua despite it being part of his job. Now not only did it make theological sense to Paul to convert, but it presented a personal chance of guilt abstination and controversial fame, appealing to Paul's aspirations.
He became the holy man he desired to be and was vindicated of all the wrong he had done in persecuting Yeshua. He naturally still felt guilt, and changed his name to Paul and declared himself born again. He began actively preaching about Jesus Christ.
In Damascus Saul began to preach his new belief but the locals forced him away. He arrived at Jerusalem but the original followers of Yeshua did not trust Saul, their old enemy. Paul left Jerusalem and went to his home town, Tarsus, in Cilicia/Cesarea, in an area now called Turkey.
Paul was the original preacher of "Jesus Christ". Yeshua was not called "Jesus" nor "Christ" until Paul concluded that Yeshua had been the Messiah predicted in Scripture. Paul also added much of his own beliefs to the story of the Messiah, including many rituals and parts of the Mithraism religion. He confused the Hellenic Christ theme with the Messiah theme of Judaism, and the result was the sacrificial nature of Christ that Christianity has.
Paul opposed Jewish tradition and preached a new covenant from God that included women and Gentiles. This was an important move, allowing many new converts and followers. He gained a new life of which he could be proud. However many of his attempts to preach his new way in the synagogues were rebuked and he spent more than one stretch in prison. He travelled throughout the Mediterranean bringing the Good News to the Gentiles. Paul died in about 64CE after a two year stretch in a prison in Rome.
When the New Testament was compiled, over two hundred years later, it included many of the writings, letters and teachings of Paul, who became the first evangelist and founder of Christianity. The four gospels are written using Paul as their main source, although none of the originals of Paul's writings have survived.
By the time the New Testament was compiled, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Paul mistook the Jewish "Messiah" to mean the Hellenistic "Christ".
This happened before anything was written down; it happened during Paul's conversations with people as he was working through what had happened. A messiah is a person who is a great leader who leads your people to freedom. The title was taken by Jews from Persian culture. A christ is a god-king who dies as an offering to some divine being as a sacrifice in return for prosperity, especially agricultural prosperity. Both are anointed with oil as a mystical, sexual rite.
And so one man's ambition changed the world. This is why I call it a 2000 year old lie. The Nazarets or Nazarenes were a Jewish sect that had many Buddhist teachings. It is known by Gnostic and Dead Sea Scroll researchers that Joshua ben Joseph travelled to India and even Tibet. This is why there is a 20 year gap in his life. He brought these Buddhist ideas back to Judea and graphed them into his form of Judaism. It is known that Jesus had a twin brother name Thomas. Thomas in Greek means Twin. Together the two brothers, who were of royal birth, were trying, through their revolution, to set them selves up as priest-kings of Judea.
Here's also where the story of Jesus gets muddled by the future Christian writers. Jesus was married to Mary Magdalen. He had to be married to be a rabbi. He had several children, and one of them, his oldest son was crucified along with him. His name comes down to us as Barrabbus.
Barrabbus translates as bar-Rabbi or son of the rabbi. The Myth of Barrabbus is in reality the other story of Jesus as militant revolutionary. I have no doubt that Jesus' son was a fighter too, and given the time frame he would have been between the ages of 16 and 19 when the "Staged" crucifiction happened.
Ya know, the thing that gets me most about Christians is that they say their all about love, when in reality, hate is their main emotion. They attack pagans saying that we are devil worshipers, yet the devil is a Christian diety. I find it facinating to note that since Fundies spend so much time hating everyone who isn't Christian and talking about SATAN, are they really praying to that evil concept?
If more Christians would spend more time READING and LEARNING, then hating and judging, this earth our mother would be a happier place.
Peace!
Arius
http://thepaganleft.blogspot.com/