"JOHNJWILSON -> ROSS SAUER"  wrote in
news:8205$HOLYSMOKE{at}JamNNTPd:

 J> -
 ->>>> There's been more than one fundy that has waltzed through here
 J>>> claiming -> it was only their bible that prevented them from
 J>>> performing acts of -> violence.

 J>>> So...you deny that and impute that to all who revere their holy
 J>>> book(s)...

 ->> Revere? Or worship?

 J> Good question. I find it easy to revere and know nothing about
 J> worship. I don't know anybody who worships. I don't even know what
 J> that means. Vestal

A good example of worship of the book is how fundamentalist Christians
who believe the Bible is written by God, and totally without error
operate.
They simply can't handle mistakes or contradictions, or the concept that
some parts of the Bible may be simply fabrications.

 J> Virgins worships, I am told. Historians talk a lot about worship. My
 J> understanding of Jesus is along the lines of that he certainly didn't
 J> want to be worshiped, he wanted to be listened to. I've heard Pastor's
 J> speak on "What would Jesus do?" -- :-) I wonder...If Jesus Returns,
 J> and is handed a copy of, say, Time Magazine, and a list of classes
 J> offered at Bob Jones University...would he laugh...or cry? (This, of
 J> course, on the reasonable assumption that he actually existed.)

It's very possible Jesus did exist.
But his name was Yeshua, and he was simply one of many.

One of the most accurate movies showing how conditions were in Israel at
the time of Jesus, is surprisingly a comedy, "Monty Python's Life Of
Brian."

Israel was under foreign occupation, from Rome.

Their secular leaders were kissing up to the Romans.

Their religious leadership was obsessed with ritual, especially being
ritually "clean' or "unclean."

And would-be messiahs were falling out of the woodwork.

Usually they made some noise and were arrested by the Romans, end of
story.

Christianity didn't die out mostly due to it's agressive evangelizing.

And when the Roman emperor converted, it was a political move that
enshrined Christianity as a religion.

The rest, as they say, is history.

--- Xnews/5.04.25