Why the Bible? (Religion)

by David Turell , Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 18:33 (5922 days ago) @ dhw

The virgin birth, the miracles, the resurrection, the three-day darkness ... as far as I'm concerned, they all sound like the product of the propagandists. But I'm not convinced that Christ and his contemporaries were fictional, or that the latter suffered their appalling martyrdom for what they believed to be a fictional character.
 
> We all agree that there is some colossal creative force out there. What we don't know is whether it's conscious or not. Even the main religions, despite their myths and symbols, may yet have an element of truth in them. - I'm not sure how far we should go on this website debating the truth or falseness of all the fables of Christianity. I agree with you that Jesus (real name Joshua ben Joseph, to illustrate how much of the real story got changed in the process of creating written records decades after the fact) probably lived as a charismatic opponent to the corruption going on in the Temple at that time. He was a purist who preached exactly the same message as Rabbi Hillel (who did exist) did a century earlier. That is the same Hillel for whom the Jewish college organizations in this country are named. - I am convinced that the followers of Jesus invented stories to create a religion about him.