Ben Carson thinks Charles Darwin was encouraged by SATAN?

[sirs]

Anything that is, can be proven to exist.

Not God.  You either do, or you don't believe.  The anecdotal evidence is quite overwhelming if you ask me.  So best don't, and go fish

[Xavier_Onassis]

Anecdotal information by definition is never worth a damn as proof of anything.
There is NOT ONE WORD in the entire New Testament that would be admissible in a court of law. It is all hearsay, much of it from unknown witnesses whose real names we can only guess at.


Which is ironic, since they have people swear upon it all the time in courtrooms.

I have no reason to believe.

[sirs]

Good thing then I'm not trying to prove anything then, isn't it.  Nor is proof required, since this has nothing to do with science, or a court of law, or trying to convince folks who have no intention of listening to the message in the 1st place     

[Xavier_Onassis]

I heard the message, believe me. I see no evidence to believe it. It makes no logical sense.
I do not do things without evaluating them logically.

[sirs]

Of course you didn't.  You're tripping all over yourself demonstrating error after error of the "message", in which Plane has been extremely patient in correcting those errors.  Bravo, on his part.  But I'm confident he appreciates your efforts to keep him on his toes in doing so.  Good job, on your part

[Plane]

Anything that is, can be proven to exist.
Things that cannot be proven to exist, generally don't.

This is nothing like true.
Is Dark matter most of the mass of the universe?

By the time proof of this is found , something even tougher to understand will be found.

The difference between all possible knowledge and ,what we know and can prove is the difference between the infinite and the finite.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am not tripping all over myself at all.

While I do not purport to be an expert at physics, this has zilch to do with the inconsistencies in the history of Christianity.
Dark matter is not involved with this.

It is very obvious that Paul, for reasons best known to himself, took the backstory of a rather minor Jewish cult and turned it into a religion primarily aimed at Gentiles. Paul was very good at what he did, far more effective than Jesus.

Israel/Palestine was NOT the center of Judaism in this period. Other than Jerusalem, the center of Jewish thought and scholarship was in Alexandria. This continued to be true until the Muslims arrived. Alexandria was the intellectual capital of the entire Roman Empire, because of the cosmopolitan population and of course, the Library, which was unique.

[Plane]

I am not tripping all over myself at all.

While I do not purport to be an expert at physics, this has zilch to do with the inconsistencies in the history of Christianity.
Dark matter is not involved with this.

It is very obvious that Paul, for reasons best known to himself, took the backstory of a rather minor Jewish cult and turned it into a religion primarily aimed at Gentiles. Paul was very good at what he did, far more effective than Jesus.

Israel/Palestine was NOT the center of Judaism in this period. Other than Jerusalem, the center of Jewish thought and scholarship was in Alexandria. This continued to be true until the Muslims arrived. Alexandria was the intellectual capital of the entire Roman Empire, because of the cosmopolitan population and of course, the Library, which was unique.

  You have mischaracterized the purpose and message of Jesus, and call the result obvious?

  So how was Paul involved in Pentecost?
  When the miracle was that people from many lands heard their own language as the apostles spoke?

   Don't say something is obvious , you are being very selective in what scriptures you accept as admissible.

     The message of Christ went south to Ethiopia without Paul's direct involvement , it went East and North .

      The Gospels were written in different locations and do not disagree in any important way, how easy is this with the usual four different eyewitnesses?


     Paul was very gifted and persuasive, I don't mean to minimize his importance , but it is really wrong to say that he changed the message of Christ to something that Jesus would not have wanted.

     

[Xavier_Onassis]

The so-called Miracle simply never happened. Perhaps some people overheard others translate, at  most. Miracles are for gullible people. Unless I personally see one, I am unconvinced. I have yet to see a miracle. I have had some coincidences, but they were not miracles.

The source of Christianity as taught in India and as taught in Ethiopia was the Syriac church, denomination or cult, and it included Paul's letters.

The Paul-free versions of Christianity (The Arianists, the Gnostics, the Trinitarians, were all denounced as heresies. Paul's version won.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy_in_Christianity

Jesus was very vague about what he wanted. Paul surely thought he was doing what Jesus wanted, but he really says very little about the actual Jesus, whom he knew only through hearsay.

Jesus established a Jesus cult, a reform group in Judaism. Paul CREATED Christianity.

[sirs]

The so-called Miracle simply never happened.

You weren't there, so you have no fricken clue if it happened or not

And news flash....CHRIST'S version of Christianity won     

[Plane]

The so-called Miracle simply never happened. Perhaps some people overheard others translate,...

Hahahahaa!
  Nevertheless.

   This is an important example of a pre-Paul appeal to all nations.

    I don't think it will be hard to find more either.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Jesus version was a reform movement within the Jewish tradition. Jesus said 'follow the commandments'. Paul said, forget al thart Old Testament stuff. Forget the Kosher, move the Sabbath to Sunday (Son of the Sun: Mithra, born on Dec. 25th)

http://www.truthbeknown.com/mithra.htm

The word CHRIST is not even a Hebrew or Aramaic word. It is Greek, and Paul spoke Greek. Paul invented the name Jesus Christ as well as the religion. Jesus might have known Greek, but it was not what Jews spoke or wrote in Galilee. Greek and Aramaic are written with different alphabets. Aramaic uses the Hebrew alphabet.

We know that Paul was a Roman citizen. ow did that happen?  You paid the Romans money and they made you a citizen. I don't think kissing any idols was always required, but Romans were supposed to acknowledge the divinity of the Emperor

Elements of several other popular religions of the day were combined with the Jesus story into a new, improved Religion for Everyone, and Paul was the first of many designers and promoters. It was a process rather like designing a new brand image for what is mostly an old product.

Perhaps that was God's Plan. But if we assume that God is in the human religion business, we really have to wonder what he was thinking when he goosed Mohammad, Joseph Smith, William Miller, Sun Myung Moon and all those others into inventing their new, improved religions.

As they say on the X Files, the Truth is out there.

[sirs]

You're still trying to mix fiction with faith.   It's ok though,  as Christians grasp the clear difference, and Christ's message, that you keep helping to demonstrate how non-believers are both unable & unwilling can't.   We'll keep you in our prayers, though

[Xavier_Onassis]

Speaking of fiction and faith, there is this, from the mystery religion established before Jesus:


    Mithra was born on December 25th of the virgin Anahita.
    The babe was wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in a manger and attended by shepherds.
    He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
    He had 12 companions or "disciples."
    He performed miracles.
    As the "great bull of the Sun," Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
    Mithra ascending to heaven in his solar cart, with sun symbolHe ascended to heaven.
    Mithra was viewed as the Good Shepherd, the "Way, the Truth and the Light," the Redeemer, the Savior, the Messiah.
    Mithra is omniscient, as he "hears all, sees all, knows all: none can deceive him."
    He was identified with both the Lion and the Lamb.
    His sacred day was Sunday, "the Lord's Day," hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
    His religion had a eucharist or "Lord's Supper."
    Mithra "sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers."
    Mithraism emphasized baptism.
This is the link for the article this was taken from. There is also rather a lot about Mithraism in Wikipedia.

http://www.truthbeknown.com/mithra.htm

What are the odds that each of these is simply a coincidence? I would say that one might be a coincidence, but all twelve? Factorial 12 (12!)  is 467.001.600 to one as the odds for this.

So, its this a coincidence, or is it likely that part of the Jesus story was adapted from Mithraism?

It could not be vice-versa, because Mithraism came first.

[sirs]

That's nice.  Irrelevant,  but thanks for sharing