On the evening of the 8th of November, 1910, in Tonypandy in Wales, striking coal miners clashed violently with members of the Glamorgan Constabulary, reinforced by support from Bristol and other areas.
Great writing! Very interesting. As an atheist anything that is obviously unphysical, unworldly and immaterial does not rise to the level of proof. But this does to get to the question of why. Maybe now you can do an essay on how Catholics are cannibals and pagans, just for clarification.
The trick is to steer a path through the particularly thorny maze of avoiding theological arguments in favour of just talking about the history of it all, which does, to some extent, rule out most of the 'why'.
I am thinking of doing more about early Christianity, though, because it is my 'thing' after all.
but it gets to that point.. why did the gospels increasingly add physical traits to the “resurrection.” Why did John start writing about the “word” and the “light?” Why was Judas, who was apparently Jesus’ best friend, betray him to the Romans? Was it because JC asked him to do it? at the “last supper”? How would the prophecy be fulfilled and martyrdom achieved if he didn’t?
An essay on how the Jews were increasingly blamed for “killing Christ” as the scripts were written is always a good read as well.
Re resurrection: I wonder if the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was included to set the stage for the argument that he, Jesus, could physically overcome his own death later?
There's a lot of theological setup in the Lazarus story, which only appears in John and has obvious parallels with the story of Jesus' resurrection. By having Jesus resurrect someone, it then makes his own resurrection more plausible - if he can do it to others, so it can be done to him.
This sort of religious scene setting is relatively common across the ancient world, and not just in Christianity. The 'miracles' associated with Vespasian are very clearly staged so that he can appear to be able to channel divine powers, for example, and that whole scene is remarkably similar to some of the miracles attributed to Jesus. almost like they are standardised 'models' for attributing divine power.
Okay- no quoting or mentioning Sir Winston if I get to Wales...
Great writing! Very interesting. As an atheist anything that is obviously unphysical, unworldly and immaterial does not rise to the level of proof. But this does to get to the question of why. Maybe now you can do an essay on how Catholics are cannibals and pagans, just for clarification.
Thank you for your kind words!
The trick is to steer a path through the particularly thorny maze of avoiding theological arguments in favour of just talking about the history of it all, which does, to some extent, rule out most of the 'why'.
I am thinking of doing more about early Christianity, though, because it is my 'thing' after all.
but it gets to that point.. why did the gospels increasingly add physical traits to the “resurrection.” Why did John start writing about the “word” and the “light?” Why was Judas, who was apparently Jesus’ best friend, betray him to the Romans? Was it because JC asked him to do it? at the “last supper”? How would the prophecy be fulfilled and martyrdom achieved if he didn’t?
An essay on how the Jews were increasingly blamed for “killing Christ” as the scripts were written is always a good read as well.
Thanks!
Re resurrection: I wonder if the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was included to set the stage for the argument that he, Jesus, could physically overcome his own death later?
There's a lot of theological setup in the Lazarus story, which only appears in John and has obvious parallels with the story of Jesus' resurrection. By having Jesus resurrect someone, it then makes his own resurrection more plausible - if he can do it to others, so it can be done to him.
This sort of religious scene setting is relatively common across the ancient world, and not just in Christianity. The 'miracles' associated with Vespasian are very clearly staged so that he can appear to be able to channel divine powers, for example, and that whole scene is remarkably similar to some of the miracles attributed to Jesus. almost like they are standardised 'models' for attributing divine power.