User:Dickie birdie

Religious fundamentalists
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The Cathars and Transubstantiation
From Jean de Joinville, Life of St Louis (1309): "The King (Loius IX) once told me how several men from among the Albigenses had gone to the Comte de Montfort, who at the time was guarding their land for his Majesty, and asked him to look at the body of Our Lord, which had become flesh and blood in the hands of their priest. The count had answered: 'Go and see it for yourselves, you who do not believe it. As for me, believe it firmly, in accordance with Holy Church's teaching on the sacrament of the altar." (Margaret Shaw, Chronicles of the Crusades: Joinville & Villehardouin, Penguin Books, 1963)

Acacia and Freemasonry
The Acacia was the plant that marked the grave of Hiram Abiff, the central character within the myth of Freemasonry who provided some of the builders for King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, also by extension representing the purity and endurance of the soul, and as funerary symbolism signifying resurrection and immortality (the Acacia is represented on Third Degree Master Mason Tracing Boards, because the Worshipful Master represents Hiram Abiff). Samuel Prichard's Masonry Dissected (1730) gave details of the Master Mason Third Degree Ritual where the Candidate had to swear that "Cassia is my name" during initiation into that degree. Cassia is the French word for Acacia.

The idea of Freemasonry, "building", is really an allegory, or symbol, of the development and expansion of reason and logic. The antithesis of the material and physical world. Masonic Aprons are representations of mental purity. The symbols often found on Masonic Aprons are also found on the Third Degree Tracing Boards that show the coffin of Hiram Abiff, situated at the center. (When you think of Hiram Abiff, or the Worshipful Master, think of Morbius and his "Brain Booster" in the 1956 sci-fi film, Forbidden Planet). "High Twelve" is an essential feature within Freemasonry linked to the Three Degrees and the myth of Hiram Abiff.

Albert G. Mackey described the Acacia as "an interesting and important symbol in Freemasonry". Mackey stated that the Acacia symbolised the immortality of the soul, adding that it is said in the funeral service within the Freemasonic Order that "this evergreen is an emblem of our faith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall never, never, never die." Mackey also added, "in the closing sentences of the monitorial lecture of the third degree, the same sentiment is repeated, and we are told that by 'the ever-green and ever-living sprig' the Mason is strengthened 'with confidence and composure to look forward to a blessed immortality'." Mackey also described the Acacia as the "symbol of innocence" because "in the Greek language, [Acacia] signifies both the plant in question and the moral quality of innocence or purity of life." Mackey also identified the Acacia as the symbol of Initiation - concluding that it was the symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of initiation. Mackey lastly observed: "the recollection of the place where the sprig of Acacia was planted - Mount Calvary - the place of sepulture of him who 'brought life and immortality to light,' .../... and remember too, that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of the Acacia, and in this little and and apparently insignificant symbol, but which is really and truly the most important and significant one in Masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future."

'SPRIG OF ACACIA'


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This User page
This User page also consists of various material (including references) relating to Tacitus, Josephus, Suetonius, Cassius Deo, Paulus Orosius that once existed on Wikipedia but have been deleted.

Jesus Christ did not exist during the first century
I Cor. 15:45 -- So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit"

Paul did not believe in a real Jesus Christ as a human being, but in a Jesus Christ that was a supernatural power that became manifest in the believer. The "historical Jesus" was developed by later generations of Christians after the death of Paul, using his writings as inspiration. The myth of Doubting Thomas was created to combat versions of Christianity that rejected the physical substance of Christ (eg, Valentinus, Basilides, Marcion, etc - this information was covered by Robert M. Grant who highlighted the distinction within Christianity between faith [pistis] and knowledge [gnosis]. Such is the state of religious fundamentalism within Christianity today that it is denied that forms of Christianity existed that rejected the historical Christ, and believed in a Christ spirit that gave salvation through a person's individual belief, flying in the face of what is written within Gnostic texts and what was written by the Church Fathers who attacked heresies).

Although Paul never mentioned Pontius Pilate anywhere in his writings, it could be possible that Pilate perpetrated some sort of Religious Sacrilege against the Jews in their temple, Josephus mentions how Pilate imposed Jewish standards bearing the image of the divine Roman Emperor into the Jerusalem temple -- Antiquities, 18.3.1-2; Wars of the Jews, 2.9.2-4 (only Roman Catholic fundamentalists and the Martinists, the followers of the late mystic Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, claim the Pastoral Epistles [I and II Timothy, Titus] were the works of Paul, and these give Pilate's name).

Of course, these observations won't overnight change 2,000 years of accepted beliefs, or even shake the adoption by Society of the "value" of the Holy Bible (still used in Courts of Law to swear upon, and officially accepted by Heads of State) but since when has the majority of the population at any given point in time taken Fundamentalist Christianity or the New Testament seriously. Christianity, after all, is just another religion. Dickie birdie (talk) 16:44, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Tacitus
The Annals survive only in parts, with only Books 1-4 and 12-15 intact. John Wilson Ross noted that the Annals were not mentioned in antiquity. The earliest surviving manuscript of the Annals dates from the ninth century, known as the "first Medicean" (technically referred to as M or M1). No original copies of the Annals exist and the surviving copies of Tacitus' works derive from two principal manuscripts, known as the Medicean manuscripts, written in Latin, which are held in the Laurentian Library in Florence, Italy. It is the second Medicean manuscript, 11th century and from the Benedictine abbey at Monte Cassino, which is the oldest surviving copy of the passage describing Christians. Scholars generally agree that these copies were written at Monte Cassino and the end of the document refers to Abbas Raynaldus cu... who was most probably one of the two abbot of that name at the abbey during that period.

The authenticity of the Annals has been challenged several times since 1775, by Voltaire, Linguet, John Wilson Ross, P. Hochart, Leo Wiener, Eugène Bacha and T. S. Jerome.

Early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Lactantius, Sulpicius Severus, Eusebius and Augustine of Hippo do not refer to Tacitus when discussing the subject of the Christian persecution by Nero. Furthermore writer, Suetonius, mentions Christians being harmed during this period by Nero, but there is no connection made with the fire.


 * At Project Gutenberg, Tacitus and Bracciolini by John Wilson Ross

Josephus
Earlier manuscripts of works by Josephus also contained other references to Jesus Christ that have not survived in our current versions (notably a reference mentioned by Saint Jerome, ignored by modern scholars).

Two manuscripts located in the Bibliothèque nationale de France by John of Damascus entitled "On the Orthodox Faith" contain references to Josephus describing the appearance of Jesus: "...since also Josephus the Jew, as some say... records in the same way that the Lord appeared with joined eyebrows, beautiful eyes, a long aspect [or face], both humped over and well grown."; this passage is no longer included in current translations of John of Damascus. Andrew of Crete added that Josephus "also describes the appearance of the Mother of God."

G. A. Wells has noted that the Testimonium was unknown to Origen, stating "Origen could not have known it because in his polemic against Celsus he professes admiration for Josephus 'although he did not believe in Jesus as Christ', whereas in the interpolated passage [the Testimonium] Josephus is made expressly to say of Jesus 'he was the Christ'." Wells further observed that "Origen's comments on Josephus' mention of James do not square with the passage on James from the Antiquities of the Jews," adding "the passage about James that is in the extant manuscripts of Josephus does not link his murder with the siege of Jerusalem."

Contemporary Biblical scholars like John P. Meier argue part of the reason why the passages about Christianity in Josephus are authentic is because they exist in all relevant manuscripts – Clare K. Rothschild (Associate Professor of Theology at Lewis University) has censured this argument on the basis that "the earliest manuscript dates from the eleventh century", the Ambrosianus 370 (F 128) being the earliest; preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. Clare Rothschild has also cited the account by J. Spencer Kennard, who wrote "that Thomas Gale of Cambridge had large Greek fragments of Josephus not in the textus receptus: we do not know what became of them, and we are left to wonder whether their suppression was not deliberate."

Christianity
Christianity is a derivative religion modelled on Judaism, evolved out of historical and religious context. The biography of Jesus Christ as given in the New Testament was modelled on Old Testament passages.

No Uniformity of Belief
Early Christian Gnostic sects during the first three centuries denied that Jesus was crucified, because they believed he did not have a physical substance. Basilides promoted the idea that Simon of Cyrene substituted Jesus at the crucifixion, and that Jesus himself took the form of Simon, and stood by and laughed at them.

Docetists held the view that Jesus Christ only seemed to exist (their name was derived from the Greek word dokes, meaning "to seem"). To them Jesus existed as an incorporeal phantasm, a pure spirit and hence could not physically die.

Marcion of Sinope (c.100-c.160) promoted the doctrine that "Jesus did not really take human flesh. He was not even born, but simply appeared on earth during the reign of Tiberius. He was a celestial being with the appearance of a human body." To Marcion there was a contrast between Yahweh, the Evil God of the Old Testament and the Good God of the New Testament who sent his son Jesus to redeem mankind. Marcion believed that matter was evil and spirit was good and that was why he rejected the physical substance of Christ.

No Archaeological Evidence
There is no independent archaeological evidence to support the historical existence of Jesus Christ. The discovery in 2002 of the alleged James Ossuary containing the inscription Ya'akov bar-Yosef akhui diYeshua (In English, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus") would have been regarded as evidence had the artifact been deemed authentic. The recent 2007 claim about the Talpiot Tomb, originally discovered in 1980, that it contained the remains of Jesus Christ based upon the inscription "Jesus, son of Joseph" could also have been deemed as evidence, had the claims been accepted by mainstream archaeologists and Biblical scholars.

Suetonius, Cassius Deo, Paulus Orosius
Suetonius, Claudius 25: "Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome"

Cassius Dio, History 60.6.6-7: "As for the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a tumult to bar them from the city [Rome], he [Claudius] did not drive them out, but ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings."

Paulus Orosius, History 7.6.15-16: "Josephus reports, 'In his ninth year the Jews were expelled by Claudius from the city.' But Suetonius, who speaks as follows, influences me more: 'Claudius expelled from Rome the Jews constantly rioting at the instigation of Christ [Christo, or rather xpo].' As far as whether he had commanded that the Jews rioting against Christ [Christum] be restrained and checked or also had wanted the Christians, as persons of a cognate religion, to be expelled, it is not at all to be discerned"

Did Claudius regard Christianity as part of Judaism, or was he unable to distinguish between Christianity and Judaism. We will never know. First century Judaism was as equally fractured as first century Christianity.

The Gospels
The Gospels found in the New Testament are devoid of historical provenance. Nobody knows when they were written, who wrote them or where they were written. A historical vacuum. The earliest Gospel manuscript fragments date from the corresponding period when they were first mentioned by the Church Fathers during the early second century. There are no references to the Gospels in first century Christianity.

Diocletian
The Roman Emperor Diocletian tried his best to eliminate Christianity and he failed hopelessly. Christianity will forever represent a disfunctional trait of human nature that is attracted to the bizarre and the illogical. It will persist to exist despite the ease with which it can be discredited.

Suzanne M. Olsson
According to local reports, Olsson arrived in Srinagar, Kashmir in 2002, "claiming to be Christ's 59th descendant". Soon after she attempted to gain access to the Roza Bal tomb, "seeking DNA testing of the shrine's remains" in an effort to prove her claim of descent and seeking to move the remains of the entombed persons to another location. Olsson wrote to the shrine's caretakers:

My family has its origins in France, where Jesus and his wife Mary Magdalene lived for 30 years after the crucifixion. There they had two sons and one daughter. We're descendants of the son. And if you wish to know more, I refer you to a book called Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Sir Lawrence Gardner. [...] We feel any claims you make about the sanctity of the grave are invalid [...] we would prefer to move our grandfather.

Majority view
The reason why most people accept the historical existence of Jesus Christ is simply because they want to, for the sake of it. There simply is no other reason.