The writings of Suetonius, Lucian, Mara Bar-Serapion, Pliny the Younger, Emperor Trajan, Emperor Hadrian, Thallus and Josephus give us historical accounts of Christ and early Christians.
Here is a different take on Jesus [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmCS7P-vdRM]Did Jesus Christ learn Buddhism ?? - YouTube[/ame] If you want to see the full documentary [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbUEZfJJaQ&feature=related]Jesus was a Buddhist Monk BBC Documentary - YouTube[/ame]
I watched this ^ Very interesting. The title does not describe the documentary really, the Buddhism part is much later in the film. Well worth a watch for anyone. The original (worked yesterday) is down, so here's an alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxwqAYSsKjY
All of them were very vague and were in response to the common people, becoming known as Christians, and their worship of him. There are absolutely no references to Jesus during his supposed lifetime, and the only ones that speak of him by name and in depth are primarily in the christian Bible. These men did not give accurate historical accounts, they merely commented on things they saw and heard from Christians at that time. The teachings of Jesus aren't anything special. Some of the most common teachings attributed to Jesus were taught hundreds of years before in various cultures around the world. The reason there is so much focus on Jesus on these forums is because of where all of us were born and raised. We've all been indoctrinated by society to think Jesus was something extra special, and perhaps he was if he existed at all, but he certainly isn't any more special than other enlightened thinkers before and after him.
Yes and no. Yes because in his physical life he was an ordinary human being, who gained enlightenment by spending many years as a guru in Tibet. But this was the plan. The plan was for a being to be created and achieve christ consciousness throughout his life, helping to teach lessons and advance humanity towards christ consciousness. These are my beliefs though.
Jesus never said he was god, he was just helping people and spreading his philosophy.. The story changed a bit through time tho
The four gospels were written many years after the death of Jesus, most certainly not from the actual apostles. The commonly held view is that Mark is written around 70 years after, Matthew Luke and John all written up to 100 years after, each successive one building off the last. Many of them written in stages. Different early Christian writers would channel "divine inspiration" to write. I do believe however that Christ was actually a historical figure, I doubt that independent writers would devote so much time to write only fiction. Just as I believe Buddha actually existed, or Shankara. An enlightened state of unconditional love and non-dual awareness has manifested itself in different cultures and different eras throughout history, each having its own resultant interpretation appropriate for the needs specific for that time and place. There is common truth in all the great traditions, this aligns with a Perennial Philosophy outlook Perennial philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
if you people are going to read a book and attempt to live your life by it (and lets face it, no matter how hard you attempt to be a "good christian" person, and live a life by the bible, you will never truely succeed..) the bible itself is a compilation of random stories that took place over several hundreds of years. the current format that the bible is printed was compiled by the council of nasai, overseen by the Roman Emporer Constantine, who was a devout pagan until the day before he died. the book itself is nothing more then one massive contradiction. the old testament is filled with blood, murder, war, genocide, debauchery, and general hooliganism. the "new testament" basically contradicts just about everything in the old testament. also, if you look at other religious texts from that region of the world i.e. Koran. both tell basically the same story, both take place in the same geographical locations. now, getting to the ideals that random people have taken from that book and used them to defraud quadrillions (possibly more) of dollars from countless "sheep" for the last 12-13 centuries. billions of people have died over this fucking book, people to this day, are still dying over a fucking book... now, i realize i am probably going to be criticized over this statement, and before i do, i have one more thing to say, if you are ignorant enough to put your hopes and dreams into a book, go to barnes n noble, and look through the self help books, like how to become a billionaire for dummies... because imho the information in the book i JUST made up will probably suit you better then some of the ideals that are in the bible... im done ranting for now, and if anyone wants to discuss my thoughts and feelings on the subject, or have a rational debate between two or more intelligent adults, feel free to PM me. if i offended you in anyway, get the fuck over it.
No he isn't actually. Scientific and religious scholars from all walks will agree that a Jew named Jesus spread his word at the time he was purported to have lived(Even the Jewish faith accepts Christs existence while denying his messianic claim). There is plenty of historical and scholarly evidence to supports this. The debate is not whether a man name Jesus existed, the debate is whether he was the son of god or not.
Well, this debate is whether he was just another enlightened man, although 'just another' seems a little unfair, as in the history of mankind there haven't been that many enlightened anyway, so being just enlightened was no mean feat in itself.
This where the religious people are wrong. The point is not to just tell yourself that you accept Jesus, or whatever. The point is to find that pure love in yourself.
I feel like I am one. I get a lot about the world I just break everything down to the building of its construction. My name is Jonas
I think that Jesus Christ as we know him today is set of traits found in many other religions and cultures that have been attributed to a historical man; that happened to be in the right place at the right time. The Christ was invented post mortem and the idea was carried on the backs of the Roman Catholic Empire.
Did Jesus actually tell ppl he was the son of God? Did he actually say, "None can enter the kingdom of heaven except through me"? I've always thought he was an enlightened man who tried to teach others how to live a life of love and peace. I know he healed ppl with herbal medicine that was not known at the time. I always thought Christianity was created after his death by ppl who saw an opportunity to gain power by religion.
I'm confused by your reply. Christianity says Jesus claimed to be the son of God and we can only go to Heaven by accepting Jesus. I find this extremely difficult to digest. If this is true, Jesus seems like a fraud to me. However, if he never claimed such things and Christianity falsified his life story in the Bible, then, that is very WRONG.
I don't understand your confusion. Wasn't I accepting what you said? The Christian religion makes it seem like that because they insist that this can only be achieved through them. Agreed.