tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post5099566888882764029..comments2023-09-30T06:42:31.235-07:00Comments on Advocatus Atheist: Dating the Gospels: Looking at the Historical FrameworkTristan Vickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-13712562051124310562010-01-28T23:42:59.480-08:002010-01-28T23:42:59.480-08:00It baffles me that God would choose a time in hist...It baffles me that God would choose a time in history when people were more gullible, naive, ignorant, and easy to reveal himself to the world. Some would say that this was needed so that it would spread to later generations. But that is just a bunch of bloaded piffle. If God is all-powerful surely he could find a way to overcome our scientific minds. I have always said that rationalization is Christianity's greatest tool and they use it prodigiously.<br /><br />Peace,<br />DevinDevin Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17813524079960692662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-68582019145495553722010-01-26T20:31:18.336-08:002010-01-26T20:31:18.336-08:00As a former fundamentalist, I would use what I tho...As a former fundamentalist, I would use what I thought was logic to explain the nuanced differences in the gospels. But, I would ignore any logical implications of the many problems that I tried to explain away. <br /><br />Fundamentalists use a form of logic, denying the implications thereof.<br /><br />:-D<br /><br />Yes, each gospel was written for a different theological group; thus resulting in a different kind of Jesus who caters to each respective group and soothes their respective insecurities, hurts, disappointments and worries. Each gospel serves to redefine the expectations of the followers, so that the faith can continue to evolve and not fizzle out. This evolution is necessary because the religious movement was totally unfounded from the beginning.<br /><br />Three psychologists back in the 1970's infiltrated an UFO cult. The cult prophesied that aliens would come and destroy the earth, but "rapture" away the believers. When the day and hour came and went, the psychologists had a first hand look at how the cult members coped. Some stormed out angrily. Others cried and wondered what went wrong. Not all left, however. And only a few hours after the prophesy failed, the leaders (subconsciously, or consciously) reinvented the whole meaning of the failed prophesy. The leaders re-rationalized everything, causing the cult to survive a few more months before fizzling out. The cult also made new attempts to proselytize when before, they were a rather closed group. (sound familiar?) Christianity could probably hang on because it was birthed out of the larger movement of Judaism and everyone's thinking was far more mystical in those days. Odd that the UFO cult had to reinvent themselves due to a failed prophesy, while the psychologists largely predicted the behaviors of the cult members before ever infiltrating their group! They predicted that a group would reinvent the interpretation of their prophesy and they predicted the group would change from being closed and start to proselytize. This would be necessary to sooth their issue of cognitive dissonance. And that's really what their research was about. And in the end, that's really all the gospels were about.Urukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05913837011380611461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-35712122381241410602010-01-26T04:25:11.075-08:002010-01-26T04:25:11.075-08:00Alot of poeople like Michael Kruger like to discre...Alot of poeople like Michael Kruger like to discredit Bart Ehrman's scholarship but to me he is almost always spot on. Amalgamating the gospels only makes things more complicated and poses more problems. But when looked at like they are different people's understandings of the life of Jesus the discrepancies and incongruous parts start to make a little sense. People err and people wrote the Bible. People are biased and there are obvious biases in the Bible. Just look at difference between the veils splitting in Mark and Luke. These are obvious differences in theologies. But of course people don't like that kind of thinking and will quickly discredit you and call you preachy and non-scholarly...Devin Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17813524079960692662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-32257570667365063272010-01-24T04:18:16.573-08:002010-01-24T04:18:16.573-08:00Thanks Uruk! I've seen parts of it when it was...Thanks Uruk! I've seen parts of it when it was airing. But I've not watched the full thing.<br /><br />I'll probably watch it this week in full.<br /><br />Appreciated!Tristan Vickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05348780254008374268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-85741874852030353192010-01-23T19:24:45.252-08:002010-01-23T19:24:45.252-08:00Oh, and if you watch it online, Start with Part On...Oh, and if you watch it online, Start with Part One-- section 11. Then go through the next few sections.<br /><br />Part III is if you're watching the DVD.Urukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05913837011380611461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6045470200571732417.post-66850780324221997392010-01-23T19:20:41.212-08:002010-01-23T19:20:41.212-08:00Have you ever seen that Frontline (PBS) documentar...Have you ever seen that Frontline (PBS) documentary called "From Jesus to Christ-- the First Christians"? Part III has a fascinating interpretation of the four gospels-- one I had never heard before in all my life. You can watch the documentary on DVD or see the whole thing online: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/watch/" rel="nofollow">From Jesus to Christ</a><br /><br />You should watch Part III (and the last section of Part II) if you don't want to watch the whole thing. <br /><br />The special has four parts-- each an hour long. <br /><br />The information they introduced amazed me! The gospels are *not* four different accounts the same events. Each gospel has a different purpose for a different audience. We are *not* seeing four different <i>sides</i> of Jesus. We are seeing four different "Jesuses" pitched to four different groups of people for four different literary and political reasons. And each group lives in a slightly different time period with different expectations and different disappointments concerning their faith. That's why the gospels have the kind of differences and similarities we see.<br /><br />You should check it out. If you do, let me know what you think. I just watched this last night, relative to this comment. There is no way the gospels can be inspired by god. No way. Not when you see why each one was <i>really</i> written.Urukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05913837011380611461noreply@blogger.com