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My new book: Deciphering the Gospels Proves Jesus Never Existed

Started by rgprice, August 24, 2018, 01:47:39 AM

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g2perk

Quote from: Bluenose on February 15, 2019, 02:45:20 AM
This thread popped up on my unread posts list today, so I re-read the entire thread to make sure I understood the context.  While I did this my BS detector started pinging like crazy. Your claims for the Pauline letters are arrant nonsense.  They do not prove anything about the historical Jesus, they're only the misogynistic rantings of an absolute lunatic.

Why would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?


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Bluenose

Quote from: g2perk on February 17, 2019, 09:29:07 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 15, 2019, 02:45:20 AM
This thread popped up on my unread posts list today, so I re-read the entire thread to make sure I understood the context.  While I did this my BS detector started pinging like crazy. Your claims for the Pauline letters are arrant nonsense.  They do not prove anything about the historical Jesus, they're only the misogynistic rantings of an absolute lunatic.

Why would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?


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Why would anyone think they are anything but nonsense, unless they've drunk the coolaid?
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


SidewalkCynic

Quote from: Bluenose on February 18, 2019, 01:49:27 AM
Quote from: g2perk on February 17, 2019, 09:29:07 PMWhy would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?

Why would anyone think they are anything but nonsense, unless they've drunk the coolaid?
Good argument - absolutely beautifully reasoned details! :P You are a god!
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

Sandra Craft

Just a reminder -- the first rule for posting on this forum is civility. 
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

mathetes

Quote from: rgprice on August 24, 2018, 01:47:39 AM
Okay, trying this again :)

I just published my first book. The book just came out and is now on Amazon. I'm in the process of sending out copies for review. I won't discuss all the people I'm working with on reviewing and promoting the book, but its most of the big names in the field.

What sets my book apart is the research I put into identifying literary references within the Gospel of Mark and how those references relate to the other Gospels. I identified dozens of new literary references within the Gospel of Mark that had not been recognized by prior biblical scholars.

The basic thesis of the book is that the idea that Jesus was a real person originated from the writing that is now called the Gospel of Mark, but the Gospel of Mark was written as a fictional political allegory in response to the First Jewish-Roman War of 70 CE. The author of that work was not trying to convince people that Jesus was real, in fact the work has many signs of blatant fictionality that the author clearly made quite conspicuous. That the work is entirely fictional is proven by the fact that virtually every scene is a literary allusion to the Jewish scriptures.

These literary allusions were misinterpreted by Greeks and Romans as evidence of prophecy fulfillment. All of the other Gospels, and indeed every single narrative about the life of Jesus, descends from this one original story. The early Christians, however, thought that each of the Gospels were independently written works that corroborated each other. What this analysis shows is that all narratives about Jesus descend from a single original narrative.

Furthermore, whoever wrote the Gospel of Mark had read the letters of Paul, and in fact the "teachings of Jesus" presented in the Gospel of Mark are all actually copies of the teachings of Paul. Paul's teachings aren't similar to Jesus's teachings because Paul learned about his teachings from the community, Jesus's teachings ARE Paul's teachings.

The idea that the ancient Jewish scriptures were divinely true comes from the fact that the Greeks and Romans believed that the life and deeds of Jesus had been perfectly predicted by the ancient Jewish scriptures. Of course, what really happened was that the author of the original story just made many literary references to the scriptures, which they interpreted as prophecy fulfillment.

Anyway, it's a lot to try and sum up in a few paragraphs.

A preview of the book is here: http://www.rationalrevolution.net/pdf/web/viewer.html?file=/pdf/DecipheringTheGospels_Preview.pdf#page=1

Admittedly, I didn't read your book, sorry, so perhaps you deal with this in there.  But, what do you do with the John's Gospel?  It's not one of the synoptics, it's seemingly very personal, and written from a personal perspective with some incredible attention to some specific details.  Presumably, one must then also deal with John's epistles, which he (and others) make the claim of having known Jesus personally:

QuoteThat which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

I would also think you have to deal, on some level, with Luke's gospel as well.  By that, I mean clearly Luke is telling a story (a two-volume story which includes Acts) in which Luke narrates some of Acts as a participant, companion and traveler with Paul.  Luke's Gospel (volume 1) claims to be attempting to piece together the narrative from, "...those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us." 

QuoteInasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Luke makes and interesting claim that needs to be addressed if your overall plan is to "prove" Jesus didn't exist from the gospels themselves.  Perhaps you address that in your book.

And, Acts (volume 2) Luke seemingly draws (at least in part) on his own experience and eyewitness accounts of Paul's ministry.  If so, it seems he spent quite a bit of time traveling with Paul, Barnabas and others and recounts the narrative in significant detail.  This means he would have interacted with said eyewitnesses he references in his gospel (i.e. Paul, Peter, James, etc.).

Just curious how and if you deal with these issues in proving Jesus didn't exist, as these seem to be stumbling blocks to your endeavor.  I'm always a bit skeptical when I hear the words "proof" regarding ancient texts, and especially when there is no such consensus within the academic community regarding your assertions.  Not only that, there are many who believe Jesus likely existed, even if they don't buy into the claims he was making or are non-religious.


g2perk

Quote from: Bluenose on February 18, 2019, 01:49:27 AM
Quote from: g2perk on February 17, 2019, 09:29:07 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 15, 2019, 02:45:20 AM
This thread popped up on my unread posts list today, so I re-read the entire thread to make sure I understood the context.  While I did this my BS detector started pinging like crazy. Your claims for the Pauline letters are arrant nonsense.  They do not prove anything about the historical Jesus, they're only the misogynistic rantings of an absolute lunatic.

Why would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why would anyone think they are anything but nonsense, unless they've drunk the coolaid?
These things are foolishness to those that do not have Gods Spirit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bluenose

Quote from: g2perk on September 07, 2019, 02:18:16 AM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 18, 2019, 01:49:27 AM
Quote from: g2perk on February 17, 2019, 09:29:07 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 15, 2019, 02:45:20 AM
This thread popped up on my unread posts list today, so I re-read the entire thread to make sure I understood the context.  While I did this my BS detector started pinging like crazy. Your claims for the Pauline letters are arrant nonsense.  They do not prove anything about the historical Jesus, they're only the misogynistic rantings of an absolute lunatic.

Why would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why would anyone think they are anything but nonsense, unless they've drunk the coolaid?
These things are foolishness to those that do not have Gods Spirit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please be advised that we do not tolerate preaching in this forum.  See the forum rules
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Davin

Quote from: g2perk on September 07, 2019, 02:18:16 AM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 18, 2019, 01:49:27 AM
Quote from: g2perk on February 17, 2019, 09:29:07 PM
Quote from: Bluenose on February 15, 2019, 02:45:20 AM
This thread popped up on my unread posts list today, so I re-read the entire thread to make sure I understood the context.  While I did this my BS detector started pinging like crazy. Your claims for the Pauline letters are arrant nonsense.  They do not prove anything about the historical Jesus, they're only the misogynistic rantings of an absolute lunatic.

Why would you say that Paul's letters are nonsense?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why would anyone think they are anything but nonsense, unless they've drunk the coolaid?
These things are foolishness to those that do not have Gods Spirit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You don't have to believe in Ohm's Law for turning a light on to not be foolish.

You don't need to believe in the Theory of Gravity for throwing a ball to not be foolish.

You don't have to believe in the Theory of Relativity for sending and receiving messages around the world to not be foolish.

All those things and more work and are not foolish whether you beleive in the sciences they depend on or not.

So why would it be foolish only if you don't have this god's spirit? Why doesn't god stuff work as well as science stuff?
Always question all authorities because the authority you don't question is the most dangerous... except me, never question me.

Drich

Quote from: rgprice on August 24, 2018, 01:47:39 AM
Okay, trying this again :)

I just published my first book. The book just came out and is now on Amazon. I'm in the process of sending out copies for review. I won't discuss all the people I'm working with on reviewing and promoting the book, but its most of the big names in the field.

What sets my book apart is the research I put into identifying literary references within the Gospel of Mark and how those references relate to the other Gospels. I identified dozens of new literary references within the Gospel of Mark that had not been recognized by prior biblical scholars.

The basic thesis of the book is that the idea that Jesus was a real person originated from the writing that is now called the Gospel of Mark, but the Gospel of Mark was written as a fictional political allegory in response to the First Jewish-Roman War of 70 CE. The author of that work was not trying to convince people that Jesus was real, in fact the work has many signs of blatant fictionality that the author clearly made quite conspicuous. That the work is entirely fictional is proven by the fact that virtually every scene is a literary allusion to the Jewish scriptures.

These literary allusions were misinterpreted by Greeks and Romans as evidence of prophecy fulfillment. All of the other Gospels, and indeed every single narrative about the life of Jesus, descends from this one original story. The early Christians, however, thought that each of the Gospels were independently written works that corroborated each other. What this analysis shows is that all narratives about Jesus descend from a single original narrative.

Furthermore, whoever wrote the Gospel of Mark had read the letters of Paul, and in fact the "teachings of Jesus" presented in the Gospel of Mark are all actually copies of the teachings of Paul. Paul's teachings aren't similar to Jesus's teachings because Paul learned about his teachings from the community, Jesus's teachings ARE Paul's teachings.

The idea that the ancient Jewish scriptures were divinely true comes from the fact that the Greeks and Romans believed that the life and deeds of Jesus had been perfectly predicted by the ancient Jewish scriptures. Of course, what really happened was that the author of the original story just made many literary references to the scriptures, which they interpreted as prophecy fulfillment.

Anyway, it's a lot to try and sum up in a few paragraphs.

A preview of the book is here: http://www.rationalrevolution.net/pdf/web/viewer.html?file=/pdf/DecipheringTheGospels_Preview.pdf#page=1
You do know contextually (with in the literary ques of the other books of the NT) Mark was not the first book/gospel to be written? That in fact it was one of the last. The idea that Mark was the first can only be accepted if you ignore the context and time line provided by the other books.

Recusant

Drich, you know that the chronology is disputed, and that many reputable Bible scholars claim that Mark was indeed the first of the four to be written. Your "fact" is not a fact at all--it's nothing but your opinion.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken