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Chaplain Hank? It sounds like rhyming slang to me. Where's Seaman Stains? He's down in the boiler room with Master Bates having a laying on of hands with Chaplain Hank.
There is no evidence . . . if you discount the Bible and all of those other people who saw Him. Even the Jews believe He was real. No, it is nothing new and nothing you haven’t heard before, but maybe one day you will get it, hopefully before it is too late. May God have mercy on your soul!
Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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What other people? Of course I discount the Bible, as you discount the book of Mormon and the Koran. We know how cults are founded, don't we? We know that those people in the cult see things differently to those outside, and those on the outside see things how they really are. Christianity is a Jewish cult that got lucky. -- Martin Willett http://mwillett.org/ |
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Martin, You really should do you homework in history. It is not just the Bible but eye witnesses found in other sources that help to prove that Jesus was alive, which was your original claim refuted. I would encourage you to read one passage of Scripture. Luke 16:19-31, Just one. And then ask yourself, what if I (Martin Willett) am wrong.
Just out of curiosity, what do you believe in? Don’t say “nothing”, because we all believe in something, even if it is in ourselves. Humor me.
Of course I discount the book of Mormon and Qur’an. They were written by men only. Scripture was written by man and the Holy Spirit over centuries all pointing to the same fact. The one you so vehemently deny.
I know that you have heard this all before, so I won’t bore you, but glad you responded. Read the passage and then answer the question and if you find time, respond.
Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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What if you are wrong and you have been denying the real god and been paid to do so? I could be wrong in so many ways, not just the way you want me to be wrong. What is your plan B when you meet Odin or Vishnu clutching records of your salary from Uncle Sam for viciously preaching lies about them?
Can you answer the following questions about the passage:
1 ] Is this a parable (made up story like Aesop's fables in which the teller of the story invents every single detail in an entirely fictional universe to “prove” exactly what he sets out to prove) or the historical account of the life of Lazarus? If it was history a) how did Jesus know what happened b) how is the reader or the original audience supposed to tell the difference between allegory and history?
2 ] Where is the bosom of Abraham relative to the Right Hand of God? Are there any other heavenly places we should be aware of such as Saint Peter's rectum or the big toe of Elisha? How do you know?
3 ] Why did Lazarus go to the Bosom of Abraham rather than wait in the grave until The Last Trump®?
4 ] On your death do you expect to go to the Bosom of Abraham or is that for Jews only? Where if anywhere does the white light at the end of the tunnel fit in with this? Do you like Jews? How do you feel about stealing their myths?
5 ] How long will you wait to get into heaven, where will you wait and in what form?
6 ] Is there any connection between this Lazarus and the deceased brother of Mary of Bethany? 7 ] Where was Lazarus of Bethany when Jesus called him back and why would he want to answer? How do you know? 8 ] Why did Jesus resurrect just one stiff, according to just the one gospel, the seriously freaky John? Why did the other gospel writers omit this minor detail, including Luke who (again alone) tells the parable of Lazarus? 9 ] Why is there no mention of any form of afterlife in the Torah? 10 ] How can you be sure that those books given approval by various committees were in any sense written by God? Is there anything in the texts of these books which tells you that they are the work of God? If there is how do you know it's not faked? 11 ] Have you ever prayed for any of the several thousand other gods to come into your heart? 12 ] If there is only one god why is he jealous? If there isn't only the one why do so many Christians say there is only one? |
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13 ] Did you get good enough grades to do a proper job?
14 ] Which sort of bullshit is easier to swallow military or religious? Which pays best?
15 ] Have you ever rejected as incredible, far-fetched and transparent nonsense any story you have been told by people in authority to accept? If yes give me details. If no, give me strength. Remember the baby Jesus is watching you and telling lies is a sin.
I fully accept the possibility that I may be wrong, but not the idea that there is only one possible way in which I may be wrong, your way. And not the idea that your way is somehow likely to be true or perhaps a fifty-fifty chance. For your way of being wrong to be true the universe would have to be profoundly fucked up, run by an entity who makes sacrifices of himself to appease his own wrath rather than simply forgiving people or telling them where they are going wrong in a way that they are likely to be able to understand. How hard would it be for the alpha and omega (sounds smarter and more upmarket than The A and Z doesn't it?) to make worshipping a false god fatal? I'm sure after rebuilding a temple for the third time they'd start to get the message.
--
Martin Willett
http://mwillett.org/
Wow, Where to begin. I can tell by your questions that you’re extremely cynical. Fair enough. The questions are all good ones, but it would do absolutely no good for me to even respond to them. You would not listen anyway. You seem to have your mind made up. However confused and disillusioned it is. If you truly wanted the answer you would do the research and find the answer for yourself. You don’t want answers you want people to believe you have no belief system. This makes you stand out and gives you the attention you want. Look you have a website and some preacher responding to you via e-mail, you must be important. You also seem to be confusing many “beliefs” or things you perceive to be part of Christianity and tied them into doubt. Fine with me, It is your choice after all. Or is it?
I also sense your hatred for the military. No big deal, I don’t mind serving with those who are fighting so you can have these silly and ridiculously rehearsed questions about life and religion. I can also tell by your language that you are an educated man. And I would like to answer one question. Number 15. You seem to think that I am doing either thing for the pay. Would it be beyond your thinking to understand that I don’t do either for the pay? I do them because I like to serve others, both by serving my country and my God. Funny, do you realize that your taxes pay me for preaching “lies” about other gods. Ironic huh? Thanks for your help.
One last thing. You still never answered my question. You asked me over 15 questions without answering mine. Is it easier to believe in something or nothing? I don’t expect a response and don’t really need one. Just know that it is interesting to hear your perspective and know that I am praying for you. But that may not always be a good thing. Enjoy your search for what has been staring you in the face the whole time.
Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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What is this nonsense about believing in nothing or something? I believe that men invented gods and spirits because our brains are wired that way. We like who answers to why questions, no other sort of answer is deeply satisfying. But that has nothing to do with whether or not such questions or answers make sense or are true. Our brains are designed to look for agency in events around them in the same way our brains suck faces out of blobs and smears, it is a tendency that has evolutionary advantage. If we can detect enemies or predators out to get us we can stay one jump ahead, therefore spotting patterns that suggest agency at work will naturally feel satisfying to us. That is what I believe. Religions are made up, mostly by people who are well-meaning and sincere but they are nevertheless made up and not true.
I don't hate your god because I find the concept of hating something I don't believe exists is simply silly. I don't obsess about your god or anybody else's god and it is not that I don't want them to exist, I simply and honestly don't believe that any gods exist and I don't believe I can have any existence beyond or after my body. I have no vendetta against your god for the same reasons you have no vendetta against Dracula, Lex Luthor or Montgomery Burns. All incidentally are better drawn and more multi-faceted fictional characters than your unimaginatively named god. Do Christians call their pets Pet?
You should have been able to detect that I am not your countryman so I am not paying you anything, although I will be contributing to the pay of people doing a very similar job.
Do you get to dismiss all my questions and then claim you win? That's not how this will come off to the readers.
Where to begin? How about question 1? Seriously. I have not dug any special elephant traps for you to fall into, any holes you fall into were there before you or I were born. You picked the text didn't you?
I'm not really mean and nasty, this is the persona I use for this sort of debate. Don't take it too personally, imagine I am smirking as I type, not bashing the keys with venom and a snarl. You wouldn't use the same tone of voice to your dog, your lover and your commanding officer would you? If I don't use this persona, if I have to pretend to be respectful of religion I would be debating at a handicap. I am no more going to pretend to respect your beliefs than Iraqi insurgents are going to wear uniforms, form up in neat rows and make camps out in open country, much as you'd like that to be the case.
I often finish emails with taunts at Christians but that would be inappropriate. Instead I'll say is a headlong retreat in the face of hostile fire the way you have been trained soldier? ;-)
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Martin Willett
http://mwillett.org/
Ooops, that should have been sailor not soldier, shouldn't it? We can all make mistakes as the dalek said climbing off the dustbin.
Martin, First, I already told you why I did not respond to your questions. You would not listen to a word I said and some questions would take months to answer. The answers are there and you and your readers can do their own homework. Nothing I said would convince you. Second, what you call nonsense "about believing in nothing or something?" did deserve an answer. Your belief is in man, our brain, and our ability to outrun animals. Fair enough. Third, the fact that you "don't obsess about your god or anybody else's god" sure seems to be a surprise since you have written so much against mine and others as well as have continued this lengthy dialogue, as you stated yourself for over 18 years with numerous people. You must have some sort of obsession. Fourth, I never claimed to win. I simply do not expect you to change your mind. We will find out one day who is right, which I already have a slight advantage. Fifth, I do not need to answer the questions for the reason above, as well as I have already answered them in my own mind. I have spent years doing my own homework and have the answers. I do not need to justify them to you or your readers. Your readers should answer them for themselves and not simply listen to what you tell them either. Lastly, I just want to ask, why continue living? It seems such a miserable life. You believe in nothing but man who continues to falter and lie and cheat and murder, no matter their religion. People die all of the time. All we do is come to life, on this miserable planet and then we die, according to you. So why live at all? What is the purpose? You seem to not believe in any absolute truths. So, why should we have rules? Is murder wrong? If man is no more than the smarter animal then why do we deserve to even live? What a hopeless miserable life. Why live at all? That is my question. Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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Oh come on. Is that really the best you can do? That is truly pathetic. A professional man of God and you can't do any better than the knuckle-walkers who can't string a sentence together. Why continue living? You think that is a valid question? You are a poor deluded individual, aren't you? Why do dogs keep on living? Dogs don't have faith in any gods so why do they keep bothering to draw breath? The question does not make sense. It only shows that you have been taken over entirely by an idea, you seem to sincerely believe that you live to serve, that serving ideas is what your life is about. I find that deeply sad. Your life is a duty rather than an opportunity. Your life is a brief interlude of duty and of avoiding doing things you want to do before you get to live your real life, of eternal servitude. And if you duck out of your duty or do something you want to do instead of what he wants you to do you believe you will be tortured for eternity by the god who loves you. And this not only makes sense but it is your job to promote such ideas and other similarly ludicrous ideas you don't even share yourself! In the name of duty. And you are asking me why I go on living. I go on living because I have a life and the freedom to live it as I see fit. You merely have the freedom to obey laws and duties defined for you by other people and a god who is apparently so much smarter than you that you can't even allow yourself to try to begin to contemplate why he's making you do all this shit.
I asked you questions about your religion and you ducked them. Why? You have to be afraid of the inconsistencies you know are there at the heart of the religion you have been instructed to have faith in.
Faith is not a virtue, it's a weapon. In any other line of human endeavour taking things on faith is gross professional misconduct. I would be sacked if I told an auditor “The computer says there should be seven, I have faith in that. It is written.”
This planet would be considerably less miserable if it wasn't filled with people killing each other in the name of the same non-existent only loving god. Don't you think? No, you don't but you probably should try it sometime.
I don't obsess about any gods, my beef is with the men of gods who inflict so much misery on this world. Gods don't exist, gods don't cause any damage. All the jihads and crusades are done by men armed and primed with unshakable irrational faith. Men armed and made dangerous by people like you.
The most dangerous weapon of the Middle Ages was a prayer. The pope prayed for the crusaders. He forgave them all the sins they had committed and promised them a place in heaven. Then he went on to forgive them in advance for all the sins they were undoubtedly about to commit as they set off to the Holy Land. And sin they did. I don't blame God for those atrocities, he wasn't and isn't there, I blame faith and those who pray for soldiers in battle. With or without religion, belief or faith people will do good things and bad things, but to get good people to do evil actions with a clear conscience, that demands faith. It is because faith is the enemy of mankind and by far the biggest obstacle to peace on Earth and goodwill to all men that I do this. I do it because I am a good man.
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Martin Willett
http://mwillett.org/
First, You can sling accusations as much as you wish, I understand you want your readers to have a good read. Fair enough. But, I simply asked the question. I have now asked you two questions that you have not answered, but responded with more questions and wordy paragraphs. Of course I am deluded because I do not have the knowledge that you do. Maybe one day I can be at the height of intellectual understanding as you. I can only hope. Answer – Dogs keep living because they are not smart enough to know any other option. We are different. We have an intellect that allows us to understand life and death. Animals don’t. When is the last time you saw a dog commit suicide? Comparing animals to humans is insane. It is like comparing apples to oranges. That is your first mistake. Second, concerning my service to My God, I don’t do it cause I have to. I don’t even do it to earn His favor. There is nothing I could do to earn His favor. That was given to me through the work of Jesus X. Oh, wait you don’t believe He even existed. So, that is why you could not possibly understand my desire to serve Him. It is because of His love toward me and the many blessings that flow from His grace. It has nothing to do with what I do. Question, How do you know you have a life of freedom? I am free and have been since we left England and the rule of your King/Queen, even more so since Jesus Christ gave me the victory over sin and death.
Third, My God is so much smarter than me. See, He is infinite and I am not. How else could such a complex universe be in existence? Try reading M. Behe, Darwins Black Box. Intriguing at the least. If I were as smart as He was then I would know everything. I don’t deny this fact. But the fact that you do implies you know everything.
Fourth, I have not ducked your questions. I gave you he reasons, more than once which shows you are not in this to debate but to belittle and show that you are the better orator. Maybe you should get out from behind the computer and try preaching this stuff to others face to face. A true debate cannot take place behind the shield of a glass monitor.
Fifth, Faith is a weapon and you use your rather well. You mean to tell me that Darwin and other scientist do not have faith? You believe that everything is pure evidence. I guess next you are going say that you believe in global warming. In order to not need faith in science one must have infinite knowledge. Scientists have faith it is just in their own misguided mind, much like you.
Sixth, I too have a beef with these men. That is why I am not Catholic and pray that we learned something from the crusades. See, here is where you are mistaken. These misguided people saw the pope as one who was able to forgive their sins. No man can do that. Only one person is able to do that and He is both man and God. But you know that since you have infinite knowledge. The most dangerous weapon was not a prayer, but a man. One who thought he was God.
Lastly, so according to you the only good people are men such as yourself and the bad people are those such as myself who encourage people to believe in a God who loves them and has given them a free gift of eternal life. This is where we go our separate ways. You believe that man is good. I believe that man is bad from conception and it is only God’s Spirit that allows them to be good. And even that falls short.
So, according to you, you are infinite and good. And, you don’t make mistakes and enjoy life due to the fact that you have freedom to do so. This might explain why my questions seem “pathetic” to you. I am simply not going to change your mind and will not try and do so. I will simply tell you what I believe and why and have done so faithfully. I have answered your questions which you have not done for me. You have many misconceptions about true Christianity. I would encourage you to open some books and see what the early Xian church has to offer. Stop trying to be heard and listen for a while. I know you already know everything, you have been doing this for years, but maybe you will see that your idea of Xianity is disillusioned.
Good luck, since that is what you seem to believe, in your quest.
Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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Let's get this clear first, which questions have I not answered?
I may not have given you the answer you wanted but I am not aware of any
questions I have not answered, please be specific.
--
Martin
First, What do you believe? I don't want to know what you do not believe, but what do you believe? How can you say that the crusades were bad because people were killed if you have no belief system? It sounds like you believe killing is wrong. If you do then you believe in something. What is it? How do you decide what is right and wrong based on no belief system? Second, I asked you what if you are wrong about the Luke passage. You simply answered with more questions but you never answered my question. What if you are wrong? If I ma wrong then I will simply die and no one will even care that I was wrong. If you are wrong you have en eternity of torment and hell for your lack of belief. Is that worth it? Those were the questions never answered. Chaplain R. Hank Wilson, LTjg |
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I believe that man has evolved. I believe that all attempts to understand man's place in the world before 1859 were fundamentally wrong and incapable of correction and have no place in any synthesis, there is such a thing as right and wrong, truth and falsehood and all religions and superstitions are based on falsehoods. Did you need to be told this? If you are looking for a positive belief in me you can ask until the cows come home and you won't get one. I don't have any capital B Beliefs and I don't have religious grade faith in anything. Of course you can use the words faith and belief about my opinions and the things I think are true but it really is not appropriate to compare that to a religion. Atheism is a religious faith like bald is a hair colour.
Right and wrong are learned by living and interacting with people. The golden rule works well, you don't have to believe it was given to you by somebody who was murdered for your sins and you owe him your soul. A good idea is a good idea and personally I don't care whether it comes from a nice man, a holy man or a gibbering lunatic, what matters to me is the idea and the golden rule sums up the way good people actually do behave anyway. Not only that but the basics of morality can be seen in infants and animals. Morality is something which has evolved biologically and culturally.
Civilization is a process which produces a consensus about what is moral and what is not. Over time morality has improved. We are not hung up about silly superstitions about menstrual uncleanliness or irrational rules about farming and cooking practices any longer. Did the man who wrote Leviticus have obsessive compulsive disorder? It certainly seems that way, I really would hate to think that the universe is run by a god as petty and screwed up as that. Instead now we have more important rules which help us get on together. Our laws now are far more reasonable and coherent that those of Moses, which is hardly surprising, we have had time and experience to make them better. The ancient Hebrews thought it was perfectly reasonable to fuck children as long as they were over the age of three years and that ever-so-important day, and to keep slaves and to rape them and to have as many wives as they felt reasonable and as long as they didn't mention the name of their god and gave the priests a few animals to slaughter and cremate they were moral and upstanding men. It doesn't work like that any more and I am glad. My morality comes from society and living in it. Both my parents are Christians and I think I am more moral than they are on several points that really matter but in the main we agree on most matters of morality. The idea that morality comes from religion is a nonsense. Rights for women, the abolition of slavery, the extension of democracy, the abolition of formal classes and social ranks, monogamy, the recognition that somebody else's homosexuality is none of your business, rights for animals and many other issues have nothing to do with following the principles found in any holy books even if they were conducted by men of religion. The reason why men of religion were to the fore in some of those battles is that the people have been sold the line that religion is the source of all morality, which is nonsense but you keep on pushing it.
The evidence is clear, there are far more Christians in prison than atheists both in terms of numbers and relative to the numbers in the general population. Atheism is positively associated with intelligence, education and morality. Atheists are smarter, better educated and less likely to be criminals. Christians are dumber, less well educated, more likely to go to prison, much more likely to divorce, far more likely to murder their family or become a user of and serial murderer of prostitutes, massively more likely to own a pick-up truck and rape their daughters and of course they are also happier. But as we all know ignorance is bliss.
How do I know something is wrong? Simple. I feel it. Feelings, the conscience, come from genetic preconditions and well rehearsed lines of reasoning and conditioning. To slow it down and risk analysing it incorrectly I suppose it comes down to asking myself whether or not doing something will make me ashamed or proud of myself. I feel no shame in masturbating at home but I would on a bus. I would feel ashamed if I was caught being selfish in some way such as being caught speeding in an uninsured car because I think it is a good idea to stop other people acting in such an antisocial way. But it is not simply about not being caught. I think it is immoral to do something wrong and hope not to get caught so I try to act in such a way as it wouldn't matter if I was caught because nothing I am doing is indefensible or wrong. Adding a god into that equation makes it more childish because having a god there means that nothing is unobserved and everything will be up for punishment which thereby removes any genuine moral courage from my actions, I will have to be good because I can't get away with anything so being good becomes identical with fearing inevitable discovery. If you know your sins will find you out not sinning isn't being good it is being made to be good by fear and the good person is not the author of the goodness: the fear is. If I will beat my slave if he doesn't peel your grape he has done you no favour, if he wanted to peel your grape because he liked you he can get no satisfaction from his kindness because a slave frightened of being beaten cannot be kind, only afraid. Get up off your knees you snivelling wretch and go and do something worthwhile because you want to do it because it is worthwhile. I can. You can't. Not while you are answerable to the great spy camera in the sky. To a Christian every good act is motivated by fear and duty and never by love alone. I can act by love alone. In this sincerely I pity you.
Did you follow the link I sent you to the YouTube video? That deals with this "but what if you're wrong and I'm right" stuff head on. It is called Pascal's Wager and it is generally agreed by most philosophers these days to be worthless or even deeply embarrassing as a debating point in favour of religious belief. Can you really get to be a professional Man of God without coming across Pascal's Wager or its demolition? The mind boggles.
I have answered this point time and time again. It is the most popular question asked by Christians of atheists. It is easily dismissed but never silenced as the Christians' capacity to believe they have come up with this "new concept" is limitless. I am really pissed off to the back teeth with Christians keeping on asking the same tired question as if it was new, fresh original thinking on their part. I have answered this one to death.
If I am wrong about the passage in Luke I will go to hell and be tortured for all eternity because I didn't believe in an unbelievable god because I was educated in a way which encouraged me to ask questions and find out the answers. Do you call that justice? I don't. It strikes me as the actions of a bullying tyrant not a loving father. I don't believe that the universe is like that or that I could exist without my body or survive death. Of course believing in something or denying it does not affect reality one iota. No matter how hard you believe in your god you can't make him real. No matter how hard I believe I am just dead I couldn't believe myself out of the sulphurous pits of your imagination if they were real. But they are not real. I know why and when they were first imagined and what function they perform. Is your smugness at this prospect a sin? It certainly should be because it is not a very edifying prospect, it does not speak to me of universal love, it speaks rather loudly of schadenfreude, revenge, evil and hatred.
I don't believe in gods, or scripture, or an afterlife or a soul. Nothing about your hell story is remotely credible and therefore it does not scare me any more than the prospect of meeting Lord Voldermort or Kali. Of course there is a residual fear with any scary story that somebody claims is true. What if it is true? Nasty. But it is so obviously designed to act in exactly that way that it is clear that it was made up specifically to frighten people. Just like parents use the fear of the wrath of Santa Claus.
This time last week I was dressed up as Father Christmas and I had children coming to me, many of them were scared. The most excited were two boys from a Muslim family, because they didn't believe in any nonsense about Father Christmas watching them when they're bad. Muslims don't believe in original sin, they believe their children are good. Personally I think some of their children can be little buggers but it is clearly nonsense that all children are born either good or bad. Children are born selfish but valuing selfless behaviour in others. If you bring a child up well you will produce a healthy happy child with a functional system of morality and it is not necessary to lie to them about a god in the sky watching them. What about Father Christmas? Is that a pernicious lie? I wouldn't have started the myth but I see no problem with carrying it on, the important thing is never to tell children that they have to believe it when they see through it. Lying to children like that is evil. I am happy to say that my parents didn't force me to believe in God with scary stories designed to scar my psyche. I gave up belief in God with as little mental trauma as I gave up belief in Father Christmas to such an extent that I find it hard to remember myself actually really believing in either of them.
I don't believe in your God or any gods and I am not likely to start because such stories do not strike me as credible in the slightest. I am not scared of your hell or any other religions' hell or afterlife. I can see no reason why I should pretend to believe in a god who could see through my pretence, that way I could still be punished for not believing in him (why is that important to an all-powerful god?) and I still get to piss my life away living a lie and wasting my time performing irrelevant gestures. Watch the video if you want the answer, that's why I posted it.
The passage in Luke was not contained in any other (earlier) gospel. Nobody
else thought Jesus had told that story. Luke's gospel is full of the most
imaginings, “fulfilled prophesies” and similar stuff craftily
put in to make the story seem more significant. The nativity for example,
most of the details exist only in Luke, who made them
up. Use your brain
for something more than warming the inside of your hat for a few moments.
Whoever wrote the gospel attributed to Luke was doing so after the fall
of the temple, more than a generation after the events described. Five
years is a hell of a long time in the life of a young cult. Forty years
is an eternity. He had plenty of time to “remember” things
that Jesus said which would be very handy to help the new cult spread.
It was well known that Jesus spoke in parables so how hard would it be
to write a new one for him? I could write a new parable while drinking
one cup of coffee. Isn't that parable, complete with “prophesy” of
raising from the dead and people being sceptical about it exactly what
somebody writing that gospel would be tempted to put in to make it more
convincing? “Prophesying” the
death of Jesus, his resurrection and the destruction of the temple is very
simple if you are writing after 70 CE. The four canonical gospels are not
the only ones, there are plenty of other gospels which are clearly the
work of pious forgers telling stories of Jesus designed to meet the theological
needs of their particular section of the new cult. Luke clearly shows evidence
of copying from the other gospels (or all gospels except John's being based
on copying the same source which has now been lost). The passage is a pious
forgery not a tale told by Jesus which had been recovered from memory for
the first time a generation later. It is a parable, which is an inherently
fictional narrative form that is easy to make up on the fly by a good story
teller and easier still to make up by a man writing an account. The parable
says in effect that only the credulous go to heaven and cynics will never
believe whatever happens and so deserve to fry in hell. That is exactly
the story any new cult would find the most valuable kind of story to be
putting about. If you were a Scientologist or a Moonie wouldn't you be
looking for a rod to beat cynics with? "Luke" was promoting a
new cult and he was faced with cynicism as all new cults rightly are faced
with, this “freshly remembered genuine parable told by Jesus” was
his response. To any cult cynicism is the greatest possible sin and faith
and open credulousness the greatest possible virtues. To me that is very
nearly the exact opposite of the way things should be.
--
Martin Willett
http://mwillett.org