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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Jesus did not exist. He was Horus who lived over 6,000 years ago, or even Zarathustra who lived 12,000 years ago.

His (their?) story was just re-edited to suit the Jews for their own plans.

[–]Antarchomachus[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Indeed! Most of these myths are syncretic. Virgin birth, the resurrection, christmas, easter, you name it. Most of the Sumerian/Akkadian pantheon was recast as angels and demons. In fact, when the Babylonians cast the Jews out, technically it meant the Babylonian god Marduk had slayed Yahweh, but in defiance, they rewrote the mythologies and essentially created monotheism.

Regardless of my personal theosophical beliefs, I find the history of religion to be a truly fascinating topic

[–]Vulptex 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

There were monotheists before the Babylon incident, but Ezra the scribe and the elites who were exiled to Babylon reinvented it to suit their own purposes, mainly increasing their power and wealth and purging the goyim from the "holy race". And one of the things they did was rewrite their version of God to make him more appealing to the pagans, which is why "God" in the Torah and some of the legend books is so radically different than in the prophets and most of the psalms and wisdom books, and the New Testament. Bear in mind that the Torah is probably the newest addition to the Old Testament besides Ezra-Nehemia, the ones who most likely wrote it. And they combined pretty much every tradition they could find to appease everyone, which is why the Torah contradicts itself all the time and repeats itself so much.

What's interesting is that until recently Jews and Christians actually admitted that Josiah and Ezra wrote the Law books. Their excuses were that Josiah "found" Deuteronomy in a temple after it had somehow been completely forgotten and lost everywhere else (around the time of Jeremiah, which has several complaints about scribes writing false books), and Ezra had to "rewrite" the rest of it because apparently some king burned it, as if they would only have one copy of such a holy text.

[–]Antarchomachus[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for expanding on that incident Vulptex, I was admittedly hazy on many of the details. There are indeed a lot of fascinating contradictions in the Old Testament, and I always enjoy learning more about the history behind this.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Now does it make sense why the scribes are criticized so much?

And these changes were not readily accepted by everyone. Christianity almost certainly grew from Jews who didn't, judging by its negative attitude toward the law and "the scribes and Pharisees". Even the infamously Judaizing Ebionites were against it, and internal evidence suggests even the gospel of Matthew was originally anti-Torah. This ironically makes Paul the only one who saw it as authoritative, and even he knew something was wrong, he just struggled to understand.

Uncovering all of this is supposed to make me an atheist but it only makes me believe it all the more.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

the Torah contradicts itself all the time and repeats itself so much

I am glad you also noticed this.

[–]Vulptex 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Jesus most certainly existed, since most of the things written about him would've been within the lifetimes of his followers. Plus, we would expect that if the Romans and the rest of the Jews knew something that damning about this new movement they absolutely hated, that they would say something about it. But there is no doubt among them of his existence, just condemnations.