> If Jesus was not god, then he was just another charismatic wanker
 > like Mohammed, John Smith, Hitler and Billy Graham.

 NP> Now I see where you are coming from And he wasn't here as long
 NP> as any of the above :
 NP> Pity we won't get an answer to that on until his second coming.
 NP> Or never.

  Unless he's already been and no one noticed. We've had the Four
Horsemen a few times: Larry, Curly, Mo and Pestilence.

 > It's no surprise that it contradicts, but to me, the most
 > significant thing is the claim of divinity, and how little of the
 > account is devoted to this crucial (pardon the pun) claim.

 NP> And yet the whole of "christianity" hangs on that one thing.

I'm not sure that it does, in fact. Paul was able to go to Rome and
spread an appealing religion, but so far as I can make out, he down
played the god-claim. It seems that Jesus was sold as a sort of
super prophet offering easy forgiveness in this world and a free
pass to the next.

To me, Christianity had two distinct differences to other religions
of the day, and neither actually rely on Jesus's divinity (except
that he then becomes the absolute authority): first that you can sin
(and be forgiven) in both thought and deed... doing it is no worse
than thinking it. The second is that Jesus guarantees good times in
the afterlife, which lasts basically, forever. Mohammed picked up on
this second idea later. Gods of the time threatened hard times in
the present if you did not worship them in a variety of ways.
Christianity (and later Islam) turned that around.

 > The crap about virgin birth, the star and the angels was
 > abviously added later (and is silly),

 NP> Sunday School stuff. But the catholics have taken the virgin
 NP> birth bit to the extreme.

The problem with Christianity is that it lacks the Earth-goddess.
Poor old Mary has been conscripted.

 > The resurrection is passed off in a few sentences... the *one*
 > sinificant thing that would have proved divinity is brushed
 NP> ^^^^^^^^^

 > over almost casually.

 NP> I just noticed your sinificant :-) Another attempt at a pun ,
 NP> or a freudian slip ?

Not unless Freud was into intermittent 'g' keys on an old keyboard.

 NP> And there was one woman who wrote a whole book about how it was
 NP> all a put up job and reckoned he was only drugged etc. 

I find it more satisfying to accept that someone arrived in the
night, whacked or bribed the guard (why would there be a guard
anyway), and stole the body. The alternativve is too silly for
words.

Regards, Bob

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

@EOT:

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