Reply #39: I think the Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke, John) may have a touch of truth [View All]

[notadmblnd]

but one poster is correct (if you discount the dead sea scrolls), they weren't put to parchment (or papyrus maybe the more correct term) until 100-150 years after Jesus life. When Saul/Paul, a Jewish Roman citizen and tax collector, most probably hated by the masses, had a revelation, showed up and claimed himself to be Jesus' emissary on earth... (who also by the way also penned most of the rest of the New Testament), this in my opinion is the beginning/foundation of the Christian church. The thing that always stuck in my mind about Paul was that.. other than his claim to have a direct connection to Jesus, how do we know/verify what he claims is his agenda? Personally, I think Paul had some convoluted thinking especially in regards to women. The organization grew with Paul and continued to worry the Romans, which resulted in the next 150-200 years of Christian persecution.... boy I'll bet that feeding them to the lions thing .. must have been quite a show.

When the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity around 350 A.D., and if I recall correctly... at the request of his mother on her death bed, decided it would be the official religion, he had to convince the pagans to accept his decision peacefully. Hence, the merging of the holidays and the changing of the sabbath. That is when the "official" writing of the "bible" of the Christian religion was undertaken. Religious scribes were used, it was a huge project. I can't imagine that important details were not left out. In fact I'd probably go as far to say that of the original texts in regards to the character Jesus' life, many details of the practices, views etc., were left out or skewed intentionally.

I am by no means an expert but I have always been fascinated by early history. My comments are based purely in regards to how I understand this religion got rolling. There are many details, events and characters that worked in shaping the resulting work (along with all the revisions over the hundreds of years). I've never trusted that all their hearts and minds were pure. So for me I won't know the answer till I die. But in the meantime, I'll continue to look for the answer to the question.. Did god create man.. or did man create God?