Islam was started by mohammed, budhism was started by budha.....if christianity wasn't based on an historical figure called Jesus Christ - whether or not you believe he was god - then how did it start? Why did they break away from mainstream judaism?
2007-08-04 08:14:54 · 21 answers · asked by Alex 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
who needs god:
santa claus was apparently started when the historical person who later became st nicholas went and delivered some presents to some poor people.
2007-08-04 08:20:46 · update #1
gorgeoustxVileTemptr:
I don't get it...so paul invented someone called Jesus who never really existed and got people who would have known that this person never existed to die for him? Surely it would be much more believable if it was based upon a real person.....
2007-08-04 08:24:55 · update #2
judy_t00
he "lied and was executed"? I didn't realise the romans executed people for lying...how very moral of them!! :-D
2007-08-05 21:27:29 · update #3
I believe there was an enlightened being named Jesus, just as I believe there was an enlightened being named Buddha. I do not believe in all the stories about Jesus just as I don't believe that Buddha took 7 steps immediately after being born. Believing in a person does not mean you have to buy all the fairy tales associated with their life.
2007-08-04 08:26:06 · answer #1 · answered by Pangloss (Ancora Imparo) AFA 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's entirely possible that there was a historical Jesus who was a charismatic preacher but did not perform any miracles. He may have been crucified (it was a common form of capital punishment at the time) for preaching about the apocalypse -- there is evidence that the Romans didn't condone that and killed others for doing that.
The question is how much embellishment happened after the fact. There were a lot of other myths about characters who had properties similar to Christ. It's not too surprising that some legitimate story telling mixed with rumors and other myths to become the popular story of Christ as son of God. Paul in particular probably had a huge role in this, since he wrote so many books of the New Testament. Paul never saw Christ in real life, and only claims to have seen Christ in a vision. There are good reasons to think that Paul's vision may have been a kind of epileptic seizure, possibly involving guilt over his persecution of the newly forming Christian sect.
There was no true "mainstream" Judaism. There were already several sects, one of them being the Apocalyptic Jews of which Christ and John the Baptist were clearly members.
I don't think the story of Jesus as 'son of God' adds up. It just seems like myth to me, and I don't buy the common line of reasoning that we haven't see miracles occurring in modern history because God and Jesus have decided to withdraw in order to test faith. There is no evidence of supernatural phenomena now, and the only reasonable assumption is that there never has been supernatural phenomena.
2007-08-04 08:38:31 · answer #2 · answered by Jim L 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hello. I like this question because it raises so many other questions! :) Was Jesus a fairy tale? Was he a real man who did great things and then his story was picked up and embellished later by others for political/power reasons? If he was real, did Jesus come to enlightenment himself (like Buddha did) or did he have a master? Was Islam started by Mohammed, or is Islam also an offshoot of Judaism? Like Christianity, Islam is an Abrahamic religion.
2007-08-05 14:30:32 · answer #3 · answered by Meg H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I find Jesus and Santa to be a great way of looking at it. There was the man and then there is the myth.
As far as how Christianity started... his name was Saul... later he changed it to Paul. It was his teachings, not Joshua bin Mirium of Nazareth (Jesus) that Rome adapted to create Christianity. Jesus was Jewish, and his followers were as well. Jesus taught Judaism. Christianity was created as Rome's official religion that led to all modern day Saulism/ Christianity. It combines polytheism with monotheism and the religious pagan beliefs of the lands Rome conquered.
Hope this helps.
2007-08-05 02:52:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One theory I've heard (from a Jew) was that Jesus was a historical figure but just a regular Jewish teacher. He attained divine proportions from St. Paul who went about starting churches in all his travels. St. Paul never met Jesus, but just exaggerated stories he was told until none of the stories resembled the true facts. Hence, Jesus became a myth.
2007-08-04 08:21:56 · answer #5 · answered by Dr. D 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because they didn't b reak away from mainstream Judaism. The temple was destroyed by the Greeks, and the relifgion was broken up. Christianity is a combination of Greek, Egyptian, and only a smattering of Jewish faith.
And, as I recall, Sidhartha i in the same questionable boat as Jesus.
Hey TL, before the Romans. LOL.
2007-08-04 08:18:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The man Jesus actually lied andwas executed. there isproof of that. Everything else about him is , like all other so called prophets, open to interpretation. Sort of like how Muslims say mohammed was a good guy.
2007-08-04 08:23:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Christianity started when Jesus got up and shouted "Except ye eat my flesh."
It was a crazy idea, but it worked.
Now look. Every Sunday they hum a tune about eating Jesus' flesh, and the pastor commences to shake and shimmy, and the whole congregation becomes holy, during the course of the ritual...
2007-08-04 08:21:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Only historical hacks dispute the existence of Jesus.
Hey Chris, the temple was destroyed by Romans, not Greeks.
2007-08-04 08:18:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Christianity is not a fairy tale.The Bible is the very word of GOD. If one makes a judgement, he/she will surely be judged and in this time which will surely come, one will tremble with fear before THE LORD GOD WHO will render judgement.
2007-08-05 02:02:45 · answer #10 · answered by Prophet John of the Omega 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋