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12-15-2010, 08:30 AM | #1 |
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Were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Jesus Mythicists?
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Were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Jesus Mythicists? |
12-15-2010, 06:55 PM | #2 | |
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From the writings of Jefferson that I (and everybody else) can see, Jefferson believed Jesus existed (and that he taught excellent morals), but that the supernatural parts of his story were made up. The original title of the Jefferson Bible was "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". From that alone it appears that he thought Jesus 1. lived and 2. was from Nazareth. |
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12-15-2010, 08:02 PM | #3 | ||
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However, I think if he were a mythicist, we would have heard something about it long, long ago. |
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12-15-2010, 10:00 PM | #4 | |||
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My bold. It would be a bit tough for anyone to take principles from the mouth of Jesus himself if Jesus never existed, wouldn't it? |
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12-15-2010, 11:51 PM | #5 |
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This is the problem when you try to fit historical characters into our modern categories.
The big issue for most of the history of Christianity was not whether Jesus existed, but whether he was of the same essence as God. If you don't think that Jesus was a divine miracle worker, it doesn't really make a lot of difference whether the gospel picture of Jesus had a historical core, or was based on a real historical person. |
12-16-2010, 01:04 AM | #6 |
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Mod note: Thread moved from PA&SA to BCH.
Stacey Melissa PA&SA Moderator |
12-16-2010, 06:41 AM | #7 | |
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oti o pathr mou meizwn mou estin Hort & Westcott John 14:28 ...oti o pathr meizwn mou estin Vulgate: ....quia Pater maior me est King James: ....for my Father is greater than I. So, both Jefferson and Washington could have been aware, upon reading a copy of the Vulgate, that some texts included the additional word "my". If they had recognized the distinction between King James/Byzantine versus Vulgate/Codex Vaticanus, then Toto's point may have been appreciated by them, a couple hundred years ago. avi |
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12-16-2010, 07:35 AM | #8 | |
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This article is interesting, although the title is overstated. Ther founding fathers of the US were Bible critics, and there is evidence that some of them were on friendly terms with prominent early mythicists.
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12-16-2010, 08:17 AM | #9 | ||
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Even in court trials with DIRECT evidence, with audio and video recordings, and EYEWITNESSES, some people BELIEVE quite the opposite and will argue AGAINST the EVIDENCE. There is just NO credible evidence, No credible historical source, in ALL EXTANT Antiquity that Jesus was KNOWN to be a MERE MAN and did actually have a KNOWN human father. |
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12-16-2010, 09:10 AM | #10 | |||||||||
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Well, I didn't realize this would get moved over here so I posted it in the thread on the mythicist position.
Anyway, there's just no reason to believe that Thomas Jefferson believed in a historical Jesus: Quote:
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