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PART 1: QUESTIONABLE FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIANITY

Is Jesus a proven historical person as valid as Napoleon or George Washington? This question is not posed to deny the existence of the Creator, but to introduce a challenge to Christianity's historical claims.

Before accepting any claim, evidence, reason, and conscience must be applied. This is particularly important for history, where we lack direct personal experience.


WHAT COUNTS AS GOOD HISTORY
Believable history is best derived from evidence, such as eyewitness accounts, artifacts, archeology, dating, and self--written documents. That's how Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Napoleon, Washington, and countless others have been validated.

Jesus is believed to be the Creator incarnate, a figure who should have left mountains of indisputable evidence.


THE EVIDENCE PROBLEM
Writings about Jesus come to us from people who did not live at the time of Jesus. Moreover, these authors repeat what they supposedly were told by another person who was also not a contemporary of Jesus. That's noncontemporary hearsay evidence, the weakest of all historical and legal evidence.

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No bust of Jesus sculpted by a contemporary can be found. None of the Bible writers described the physical appearance of Jesus. There are no proven Jesus artifacts, no eyewitness testimonies, no descendants with pedigrees, and no works of carpentry, dwellings, or written documents attributable to him.

Claimed nails and fragments from the cross, the crown of thorns, bits of clothing, and many other Jesus mementos sold as Catholic indulgences to buy the way into heaven, are not valid artifacts.

Selling and buying Jesus indulgences

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NO EYEWITNESS RECORDS
The New Testament is not an eyewitness document but a compilation of songs, stories, and oral traditions edited over centuries.


NO ORIGINAL BIBLE
There are about 8 billion Bibles in 3,600 languages in the world. However, no original copy of the Bible exists. There are only copies of copies of edits and revisions.


DECEPTION WAS ADVOCATED
The early church, the Bible curator, was not above fabrication and prevarication. For example, Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, wrote: "To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black if the Hierarchical Church so decides it."

The sainted John Chrysostom wrote: "And often it is necessary to deceive, and to do the greatest benefits by means of this device, whereas he who has gone by a straight course has done great mischief to the person whom he has not deceived."

When the guardians of the text defend deception, how can their product be considered reliable history, let alone divine revelation?


NO SECULAR CONFIRMATION
Many historians, philosophers, scribes, and record--keepers living during Jesus' alleged lifetime--Philo Judaeus (authored over a million words), Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Justus of Tiberius, and many others--wrote detailed accounts of their era. But they never mentioned the Bible's account of Jesus' great fame, a three--day eclipse, earthquakes, graves opening up, or great crowds drawn to him.

Nor were the spectacular Jesus miracles that the Bible reports ever mentioned: water into wine, feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, walking on water, calming a storm, healing the blind, lepers, lame, and paralyzed, and raising Jairus' daughter and Lazarus from the dead.

Although Pontius Pilate has been verified archeologically, there is no secular evidence of him trying Jesus. There are many Roman records of the killing of many messiahs, but none for Jesus. Even the massacre of infants under Herod--surely a record--worthy atrocity--is absent from history.

References to Jesus by the Jew Josephus and others were written decades after Jesus' supposed death, and most scholars agree these passages were interpolations tampered with by Christian scribes eager to create a historical record where none was present. BIBLE GOSPELS AND LETTERS
The texts of the four Bible gospels telling of Jesus' life were written from 70CE to 90CE, long after the life of Jesus. They do not identify their authors, nor admit to having met Jesus. For centuries, early Christians disagreed about what constituted the real gospels.

No originals of the gospels have been found.


REAL HISTORY CITED IN THE BIBLE
The gospels do cite historically verified people, events, and places, which seem to give credibility to the stories. But inventing historical events that are then seeded with real places and people is common in fictional stories. Historicizing myths is done even today in fiction such as Superman and Star Trek.


WHY NOT TODAY
If the Creator came to Earth as a man to save humanity, why place that event in an obscure corner of antiquity when writing was with bones and wood on reeds and animal skins, and when proof is impossible? Why not today, when cameras, DNA testing, the internet, easy travel, and global communication could verify it beyond all doubt?


BETTER YET, WHY NOT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FALL
The whole reason for Jesus is said to be because Adam and Eve disobeyed. So why not a Jesus redeemer immediately after that, so billions of people through thousands of years would not be tainted with original sin?

The Creator could easily do that rather than wait thousands of years to leave communication with the world to self--serving, original--sin--tainted humans to write a book (to repeat: no original copy) that is interpreted differently by almost everyone who reads it.


RESPECTING THE GIFTS GIVEN TO US
People of good heart turn to religions because that's where they think they can best give thanks for existence, learn how to please the Creator, and prevent after--death consequences.

But all religions and their gods are man--made and lack confirmatory evidence. That's why belief and faith, not verifiable truth, are central doctrines to them.

Religions are totally unnecessary to achieve what people want and need. The Creator has imbued within us reason, conscience, love, and the free will to use them. Nothing more is needed.


DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH
A quick internet search will provide an almost endless array of information, briefly touched upon here. Search words and names mentioned above, as well as phrases such as "did Jesus exist," "origins of Christianity," "origin of the Bible," etc. (truthbeknown.com is a good start.)

Today many scholars (not all) agree that an unremarkable Clark Kent physical Jesus did exist. However, they do not agree that he was the Superman version walking on water, healing the blind, calming a storm, raising the dead, etc. Myths abounded in the time of Jesus and the shared features of Jesus with prior pagan gods, leads them to conclude Jesus was a myth as well.

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PART 2: ROME AS THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY

Given that Christianity arose at the time of Roman world power, it's reasonable to think they may have had something to do with its origin.


THE JEWISH-ROMAN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The period in which Jesus is Is the origin of Jesus and Christianity what most people believe? This question is posted to introduce a surprising Roman perspective shared in my answer below. Said to have lived was marked by continual Jewish unrest and rebellion against Roman rule.

Whenever Rome expanded into new territories, resistance and uprisings were common. In Judea—the Jewish “promised land”—the Roman presence was particularly resented because it not only represented foreign occupation but also clashed with deeply rooted Jewish religious beliefs.

The common practice for Rome in its conquests was to make an offer before invading. In exchange for taxation and obeisance, Rome promised protection against invaders and tolerance of local gods-- even amalgamating them into the Roman pantheon of gods.

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THE LINGERING JEW PROBLEM
A unique problem arose with the Jews because they were monotheists, rejecting all other gods. This made it impossible for them to accept Caesars as exalted divine rulers, or to blend their god with Rome's polytheistic religion. This created constant friction and rebellion.

Rome attempted to solve the problem in 70CE when it destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and reportedly killed and enslaved hundreds of thousands of Jews.


A JEWISH MESSIAH
This was devastating to the Jews, who then looked fervently for their prophesied messiah to lead them out from the oppression of the Romans. Many messiahs appeared, but none panned out.


THE ROMAN MESSIAH
People who know how to conquer the world and hold it aren't stupid. Rather than deal with the constant annoyance from the remaining Jews, Rome devised a Jesus messiah. Not one to free jews from Rome, but to bond them and all Roman subjects to a state religion with Caesar gods.

The messiah, expected to deliver Jews from Rome, instead became the cornerstone of Rome's empire and its Christian church.

Given that there was no first-hand proof of a physical Jesus, the writings (94 CE) of the Jewish historian Josephus, who was under Roman patronage, were modified. In a paragraph first cited 200 years later by the Christian Eusebius, called the Testimonium Flavianum, Jesus is called the Christ (messiah) who rose from the dead.

It's unlikely that a free Jew would say such a thing, nor is there proof (other than non-contemporary hearsay) that any Jew living at the actual time of Jesus said it. Most scholars agree that Josephus may have made a passing reference to Jesus, but over the centuries, it was interpolated by Roman Christians to give credence to the Jesus story.

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THE BIBLE SETS THE STAGE
The New Testament letters and Gospels became like an update of Judaism, diminishing the importance of the Jews and making Christianity and its Roman leaders preeminent.

Roman Christianity was made open to Jews and Gentiles alike. This further weakened the Jewish claim to being god's chosen people, their clannishness, and their rebellious tendencies.


BIBLE PROOF OF ROMAN CONTROL
Rome kept close control over the conquered Jews. Not only militarily, but through the Jewish Jesus messiah they created. Jesus became their mouthpiece when he, according to Bible texts, preached "turn the other cheek" anti-sedition pacifism. He also kept the money flowing to Rome with the command to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's."


THE HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY
Laid out in the New Testament is the exposure of Jewish leadership's hypocrisy, corruption, ritual, pride, and guilt in Jesus' death. This served well the interests of the Caesars.

With Judaism diminished, Roman Christianity evolved slowly into the Holy Roman Catholic Church. This name embraces the very purpose of the Caesars: one universal (the definition of "catholic") Roman authority with a god-man, Christ on Earth (Caesar/pope) at the head.

The Romans needed a sensational version of Jesus walking on water, a resurrection, and the ability to erase sin--mimicking existing Roman pagan sensational gods. (There is no element of Christianity that cannot be traced to Roman and other pagan religions.) The Roman religious goal was to inspire awe and dedication from the masses. So a fantastic story worthy of a god fit the bill. Once the Romans fostered the Jesus messiah story, the Caesars arrogated to themselves Christ on Earth god status and fulfillment of Jewish messiah stories.

Catholic Roman popes, claiming to be the voice of Jesus, took over where the deified Caesars left off.


ROMAN PERSECUTION
A common Christian objection to the idea that Rome and Christianity are inextricably related is the stories of early Christian persecution and martyrdom at the hands of Romans. But history does not support that, other than in stories created hundreds of years after the supposed events.

Stories of "martyrs" band people together in an us-against-them mentality. Heroic deaths gave Jesus and his followers lasting status.

Summary of Rome's genius religious masterstroke

1. The Jews were defiant, monotheistic, and unwilling to worship Caesar.
2. They awaited a messiah to free them from Roman domination.
3. Rome gave them a messiah, Jesus, one who preached obedience, paying taxes, and pacifism.
4. The messiah's kingdom is redefined as heavenly, not an Earthly Jewish state.
5. Salvation is for all people, creating a universal Roman religion.
6. Jesus, “Son of God," a title already claimed by Caesars, makes them appear to be the same divinity.
7. With the passing of Roman emperors, Roman Catholic popes step in with Caesar-like divine authority.

Caesar

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Pope

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THE CREATOR HAS NO PART IN MAN-MADE RELIGIONS AND THEIR GODS
None of the above denies a provable Creator, who is not in any way a part of man-made religions.

The Creator-given gifts of reason, conscience, and free will remove the chains locking the mind with beliefs and faiths, the only footing of man-made religions.

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