Ben Carson thinks Charles Darwin was encouraged by SATAN?

[Plane]

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

Some of those co-incidences seem bent to be coincidences.

But I do not think it strange that the Persians , who had a lot of contact with the Jews, might get it almost right.

There was also an Egyptian deity that did some of the same things.

But do you think that the Moon landings were faked?

HG Wells described a moon mission in excellent detail and included details such as a launch site in Cape Canaveral.

Since HG Wells was the real author ,  doesn't this prove NASA is just a plagiarist?

Yes solid proof.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You are describing an entirely different thing when you refer to NASA. The way rockets take off is a bit of engineering that could be deduced from previous rocket launches.
A future deity being born in a manger is with shepherds hanging about on a specific date of the year (out of365) in the case of Mithra centuries before Jesus was born, THat is the sort of coincidence that does not really happen and is extremely unlikely to have been predicted. Human beings do not know the future.  Whether deities know the future seems to be questionable. Are we supposed to believe that before God created humans he knew that he was going to end up drowning them. Why would God make a bet with Satan about Job if he knew the outcome? Surely Satan would have known that God was clairvoyant as well. So either the tale of Job is just some sort made up thing, or God do not know the future.

Paul took the Jesus legend, added some stuff here, took away some unpleasant bits there, and over the years more bits were added and removed.
Islam is the same sort of thing, just crafted for and by a much different culture. People like to make up stuff. Then they make itn essential part of their culture and legal system, and as they develop better knowledge, the influence wanes.

None of this means that there is no God, by the way. That is a different issue. It also does not mean that a God exists, or at some point existed.

No, the Moon landings were not faked. Florida is an ideal place for launching rockets. The temperature is more uniform, there is an ocean to fall into rather than cities and towns for the return.

The Persians did not arrange for the birth of Jesus. Persians liked inventing religions: Zoroastrianiam, Manicheaism, and of course Mithraism, not to mention Baha'i.

[sirs]

Paul took the Jesus legend, added some stuff here, took away some unpleasant bits there, and over the years more bits were added and removed.

Your completely unfounded, non-believing opinion is duly noted........and discarded

[Xavier_Onassis]

It is bloody obvious that Paul invented Christianity. He turned Jesus into Christ and added a variety of popular elements of other religions. He seems to have  thought that this was his duty, in the same way that Mohammad and perhaps Joseph Smith and Sung Myung Moon also thought that they were doing their duty.
There are too many elements in common between Christianity and Mithraism for this to have been a coincidence. And no, the Mithraists did not copy Christian traditions, because they were first.

[sirs]

Your version of "obvious" has been so mutated, that it ranks up there now with your unfounded, uncredible cries of racist.  Christians get it, you "obviously" don't.  We'll keep you in our prayers

[Xavier_Onassis]

Rather than discuss that actual non ''coincidences'' you attack me. This is typical sirs nonsense.

[sirs]

Faith and Christianity isn't based on science or even "coincidences", so there's nothing to discuss in that vane.  And as as you may have not noticed, I indicated you'd be prayed for.  Hardly an "attack"     

[Xavier_Onassis]

Characters in the Bible either did what the Bible says they did, or they didn't. Events in the Bible either occurred as the Bible claims, or they didn't. It is pretty clear that Paul changed many of the rules of Judaism and that facilitated his converting thousands of Gentiles. Jesus did not address the Gentiles. All the apostles were Jews and so were nearly everyone he spoke with.  The abolition of nearly all the traditional Jewish laws, the invention of a trinity, and the changing of the Messiah from a political leader into a Deity were elements that added later.

Believing that something is true does not make it true. It's like the bit in Peter Pan when Tinkerbelle starts fo falter and the audience is asked to BELIEVE, and of course they do, and Tinkerbelle smiles and flits away.

Morgan La Fey and the Lady of the Lake lost their magic when people stopped believing, making Merlin;s job ever so much more difficult.

[sirs]

One more time.....Christians get it.  Others, like yourself, are simply incapable.  That's too bad

[Xavier_Onassis]

You are believing things that have no basis in factual evidence or run counter to factual evidence.
It is precisely the same as people who believe in faeries, talismans, tarot cards, numerology, astrology and such.



Strangely, Christians condemn astrology, EXCEPT in the case of the Magi following the Star of Bethlehem.
In that particular case, then somehow astrology seemed to be valid.

If there were a Star over San Diego, how would you know it was really over San Diego and not, perhaps, Van Nuys or Bakersfield?
I went through a telescope and astronomy phase, and never noticed that an actual star was ever hovering over my town that did not appear to be hovering over other towns as well, when I traveled to them.

I suppose it could have been a UFO. But probably not an extraterrestrial one. 

[sirs]

How many times must you be reminded that Christianity isn't based on the scientific method??  It's based on faith  Christians get it.  Others, like yourself, are simply incapable.  And following a star to Bethlehem was as much about astrology, that I am to following gun control     

[Xavier_Onassis]

Who were the Magi?

They were Zoroastrian priests. They have been given the names Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar. They came from the East. In the time of Jesus, that was the Parthian Empire, which included much of Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In popular mythology, they are portrayed as being Caucasian, Black and Chinese, but there are no Black people in Persia. There are, however some pretty dark Persians, up to about two shades darker than Beyoncé: plenty dark enough to be refused a burger at any Alabama lunch counter in 1957.   There are a lot of Chinese-looking people in both Afghanistan and Iran. The idea of duplicating am, Shem and Japeth  (Noah;s sons) was clearly done in order to indicate that Kings of all lands came to appreciate the Baby Jesus.
=========================================================

Who Were the Magi?
Bible passages and other ancient texts give us clues about who these astrologers and 'kingmakers' were.
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What are "Magi"?

The original Greek in Matthew 2 calls the men who came to visit Jesus
magoi

. The text reveals that they had the wealth and knowledge to travel and offer lavish gifts; they also had knowledge about the stars ("We have seen his star in the east..."). The only other occurrence of the Greek word
magos

is in Acts 13:6, where it is translated "magician," meaning one who practices sorcery. The Greek Old Testament has an occurrence of
magos

(Daniel 2:2), and there it also means "magician."

Fortunately, other ancient literature helps us to understand who the Magi were. From the Jewish historian Josephus, the Greek historian Herodotus, and the writings of Strabo, a clearer picture of the people called the Magi appears. The Magi first appear about the 7th century B.C. in the Median empire

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2004/12/Who-Were-The-Magi.aspx#sb0IFlhjdIYBfz9g.99

 At the time of the birth of Jesus, the Magi were an ancient priestly caste dwelling within the Parthian empire, a large area to the east of the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.These priests practiced astrology, which at the time was a hybrid of astrology and what we now call astronomy.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2004/12/Who-Were-The-Magi.aspx#sb0IFlhjdIYBfz9g.99

[sirs]

Thanks for the added references.  Irrelevent to the point about Christianity, or the erroneous attempt to apply astrology, where there is none, but thanks anyways

[sirs]

Here's a hint....God can move stars, wherever and whenever he wants.  If he wanted 3 wisemen to follow a specific star, there's nothing preventing him from placing it in a position that if followed, would lead them directly to Bethlehem.  Yes, I know that defies science & laws of physics, but as the need continues to be required, Christianity, and God for that matter, isn't founded in physics.  They're founded in faith

And the best part is, you're not obliged to believe.  So knock your socks off in trying to move something, completely immovable....that being the faith of a Chrisitian

[Xavier_Onassis]

God can actually violate the laws of physics?  You are aware that what we see in the sky are not stars, they are the light emitted by stars a very, very long time ago, I suppose?

Perhaps God sent a lighted drone to lead the wise men to Bethlehem.

They did not actually require a star, by the way. Merely some average camel trace directions would have certainly sufficed: ''proceed East unto Jerusalem, take a right at  Nablus, inquire locally for a town called ''Bethlehem''.

But see, whoever wrote this was focused, perhaps obsessed on theses dudes as being able to read prophesies from the stars.

Can we really determine future events on Earth by looking at stars in the sky and constellations? 
No, not really.

The idea that such things were possible  came from the observation that the proper seasons of the year to plant certain crops and harvest them coincide with the appearance in the night sky of the positions of various star groupings. That is how astrology was created independently in the Middle East, India, China and among the Indians of the Americans.

Time seems to have been something the Bible's authors did not think much about. There is only one mention of time standing still. to give the Hebrews time to win a battle. The idea of traveling forward into the future or backward into the past does not seem to have occurred to them.