Religion
In reply to the discussion: Whether Jesus existed historically [View all]Htom Sirveaux
(1,242 posts)1. If he didn't exist, why include his baptism by John the Baptist? If the Gospel progression is Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John (and that's a common scholarly position), that would mean that each succeeding gospel distanced Jesus from the disciple/master relationship that Mark has between Jesus and John. Understandable if you are trying to emphasize Jesus's superiority, but why include the baptism in the first place if you are making things up out of whole cloth and don't have to?
2. If he didn't exist, why establish his messiahship through death by crucifixion/resurrection? You're making up a tale of a messiah to dupe the masses, right? Who makes up a tale that doesn't conform to traditional understandings of messiahship, and then completely reinterprets existing scriptures in that light? And gives him a shameful, degrading death as a criminal on top of that? That's not going to sell to the crowds, and it didn't. Most Jews didn't accept it. And if it wasn't meant for Jewish crowds at all, why have a Jewish messiah in an empire where the Jews weren't exactly popular, given their repeated revolts?