Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Clivedurdle · 04-29-2007, 04:43 AM

Where are the epistles written to?

Ephesus - Diana
Collosians - Mithras
Thessalonians - Serapsis and Isis
Galatians - Druids

And of course to the Romans - the imperial cult.

And Rome was not a place - like Bognor Regis - but an idea that lasted two and a half thousand years according to some estimates.

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to god that which is god's is a blasphemous idea - caesar was a god!

Coincidence?

jbarntt · 04-29-2007, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clivedurdle

Where are the epistles written to?

Ephesus - Diana
Collosians - Mithras
Thessalonians - Serapsis and Isis
Galatians - Druids

And of course to the Romans - the imperial cult.

And Rome was not a place - like Bognor Regis - but an idea that lasted two and a half thousand years according to some estimates.

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to god that which is god's is a blasphemous idea - caesar was a god!

Coincidence?

Emperor's were deified by the senate after their death, if they were held to be worthy. In any case, Jesus certainly wouldn't have viewed Augustus as a god. Jews were monotheists and Augustus wasn't the one. Same goes for Paul

jgibson000 · 04-29-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clivedurdle

Where are the epistles written to?

Collosians - Mithras

What is your evidence that Colossae was a center of, or had any associations with, Mithras and Mithraism?

JG

Ben C Smith · 04-29-2007, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clivedurdle

And of course to the Romans - the imperial cult.

I am under the impression that the imperial cult was stronger in the Greek east than in the Roman west.

But I may be mistaken.

Ben.

jbarntt · 04-29-2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben C Smith

I am under the impression that the imperial cult was stronger in the Greek east than in the Roman west.

But I may be mistaken.

Ben.

You are not mistaken. The east was used to the idea that the King was a god, (Persia, Egypt, etc). Naturally emprerors didn't spend much time debunking the idea, but nonetheless, Roman emperors were not really viewed as gods.

Clivedurdle · 04-29-2007, 11:55 PM

I am exploring a question - why those cities? And is "to the Romans" to a city?

Clivedurdle · 04-30-2007, 12:08 AM

Quote:

It does not appear that St. Paul had visited this city when he wrote his letter to the church there (Col. 1:2), since he tells Philemon of his hope to visit it upon being freed from prison (see Philemon 1:22).

Accursed wiki!

and

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:1...ient=firefox-a

Quote:

The writer of Colossians does not know the community personally, which was founded by Epaphras while Paul
was imprisoned. When Epaphras and Paul hear of problems caused in the young church by troublemakers, Paul takes
the occasion of returning a slave, Onesimus, to his owner (see the book of Philemon) to have Tychichus report to the
Colossians on Paul’s condition and deliver this letter to be read aloud to the troubled churches in Colossae and
Laodicea.
The specific identity of the opponents mentioned in the letter isn’t known. Phrygia was a region known for its fascination with magic and mystery. At the time of the letter, numerous mystery cults, religious traditions, and philosophies were vying for the attention of the Colossians. Among the competing practices were the cults of Cybele and Mithras, in addition to devotion focused on Apollo, Dionysus, and Asclepius. There was a large Jewish population in the region, and the Colossians may have been confronting some variety of Judaism.

We have during this period a complete paradigm shift from xianity to paganism - most of our records are from the xian perspective.

Has anyone asked if the Pauline letters are a deliberately constructed attack on paganism?

Clivedurdle · 05-01-2007, 06:26 AM

I know this sounds ikeaist - finding parallels, but on Radio 4 someone commented that Tony Blair had had his crown of laurels replaced with a crown of thorns!

Is the NT and Paul a deliberately constructed argument about this paradigm shift away from the true gods (possibly earlier than Constantine?)

04-29-2007, 04:43 AM	#1
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Paul and the true gods Where are the epistles written to? Ephesus - Diana Collosians - Mithras Thessalonians - Serapsis and Isis Galatians - Druids And of course to the Romans - the imperial cult. And Rome was not a place - like Bognor Regis - but an idea that lasted two and a half thousand years according to some estimates. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to god that which is god's is a blasphemous idea - caesar was a god! Coincidence?

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04-29-2007, 11:55 PM	#6
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	I am exploring a question - why those cities? And is "to the Romans" to a city?

05-01-2007, 06:26 AM	#8
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	I know this sounds ikeaist - finding parallels, but on Radio 4 someone commented that Tony Blair had had his crown of laurels replaced with a crown of thorns! Is the NT and Paul a deliberately constructed argument about this paradigm shift away from the true gods (possibly earlier than Constantine?)

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