spin

And what evidence is that which "we have" exactly?

jdboy

The NT

spin

The dictionary might help you with "exactly".

DCHindley

Hmmm.

So, the 3rd Reich was ruled by decree [of Hitler] like [the Pope] does the RCC? I have bracketed the personages you have assumed to be active in the issuing of decrees.

Have you even read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich? Hitler came to power and ruled by manipulation and legal modification of the existing political system and constitution of Germany following WWI.

The RCC rules by episcopal succession, each bishop within the hierarchy possessing authority to make decisions, subject to the approval of those higher up in the hierarchy. This system developed over several hundred years. It is not an imitation of any sort of military or civilian bureaucracy -like hierarchy or It doesn't really matter whether James the Brother of Jesus issued a legal ruling opening up the message of Jesus to the gentiles, or it was projected onto James from a later time when a gentile Christianity was a de facto reality needing to be explained.

What you seem to be doing is blaming a story about the evil Jew, James, making a legal decision on his own authority for all the ills of the world, including the great harlot RCC and the atrocities of Adolf Schicklgruber. Is this supposed to be ironic?

Why resort to hyperbole?

DCH

Diogenes the Cynic

What does "at the core of Jesus of Nazareth" mean?

We have abundant, multiple, independent claims that the Christian movement was precipitated by the crucifixion of a real person in Jerusalem during the Prefecture of Pilate. There is nothing innately implausible about that and we have no contrary claims to that within those first few centuries.

I've never seen personally convincing argument for why I should think that something akin to the summary of Tacitus is so impossible. It's far more parsimonious, to my mind, than some kind of wide ranging, complex construction involving dozens of other mythologies and weird, irrelevant anecdotes involving obscure rural exorcisms and convoluted, pretzel logic explanations for why anyone would invent a Jewish Messiah who met none of the criteria for the Jewish Messiah.

sotto voce

It matters if people describe James that way, capitalised. It may be merely poor grammar, but it may also be attempt at totalitarian propaganda.

It matters if people allege that James or anyone in the church could issue a legal ruling, because it either reflects profound ignorance of the purpose of the whole Bible from Genesis onwards to do so, or that attempt at totalitarianism again.

James' vote was as good as any other man's. One can declare democratic principles by expressing agreement with that; or, one can declare that one wishes to overturn the democratic values of the West, and replace them with fascism, sharia or the like.

jdboy

You don't have to believe anything
you just have to look and reason from the text. There's really nothing convoluted until you try historise a fiction. you see a jewish messiah named jesus crucified i see the new Moses establishing a New Covenant.
Moses and Jesus both representing God and the writers view of God's position in the world. Who's side was god on who was god punishing etc. The writers were interpreting the events of the first century. What do we know was going on in first century judea? War between Rome and the Jews. Not just military but theological war.

James The Least

Romans 1 (NRSV):

"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth...they are without excuse, for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God...they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools...God gave them up to degrading passions...they were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die -- yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them."

It is clear from the context that Paul is talking about Jews here.

aa5874

Everything you claimed about James are PRESUMPTIONS. Nothing in the Pauline writings about James is ATTESTED by any credible source.

It is just mind boggling how you can just ACCEPT writings that have been deduced to be Manipulated and to do so WITHOUT corroboration.

This is worst of methodology that there can be be.

No attestation, No corroboration, No Provenance--Nothing. It is hopelessly unreasonable to just accept known or believed to be manipulated sources as credible.

aa5874

It means absolutely NOTHING. It is a Big Red Herring. Examine the Gospels.

The supposed Jesus of Nazareth did NOTHING in Nazareth for his 30 years before being Baptized by John.---NOTHING.

Every Gospel and book that mention Jesus of Nazareth show that there is NO CORE to Jesus of Nazareth.

The author of gMatthew claimed Jesus lived in Nazareth to fulfill the words of the Prophets but NOTHING at all can be found.

There is ZERO core to Jesus of Nazareth--Jesus of Nazareth is based on NON-EXISTING prophecies.

The very Pauline letters SHOW that there was NO core to Jesus of Nazareth. They do NOT mention Jesus of Nazareth or Nazareth.

If the Pauline writings were early then Jesus of Nazareth was a LATE INVENTION.

Jesus of Nazareth is Fiction--never existed.

1. No prophecies that Jesus is from or will live in Nazareth.

2. No record of his supposed 30 years in Nazareth.

3. No mention of Jesus of Nazareth by the Pauline letters [Paul supposedly preached about Jesus for over 17 years]