OFF: read your bibles

[Eric Siegerman]

On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 01:36:24AM -0500, DASLUD at AOL.COM wrote:
> quite a bit of the new testament was written to appease the occupying Romans.

More specifically, to appeal to potential Roman (and other
gentile) converts.  The Roman *authorities* were still feeding
them to the lions -- not much scope for appeasement there.

> the first xians were a radical jewish spinoff _cult_; the "messiah" was
> anticipated, long before the birth and subsequent execution of one "joshua
> ben joseph", who was not the first "messiah" to claim to be that "messiah"
> (king), and not the first to be executed as such, just the first to be
> _accepted_ as such, by those who accepted it.

I'm not sure he was even that; he might just be the only messiah
whose cult managed to survive.

It did so mostly because a Johnny-come-lately empire-builder
named St. Paul coopted/corrupted it.  "You don't have to be
Jewish; anyone can join."  Soon the gentiles outnumbered the Jews
by a huge margin, allowing Paul to grab control from the
remaining apostles, by the simple expedient of declaring "you
aren't the REAL followers of Christ; WE are".

That's my cynical take on it at any rate ... and it brings this
back on topic, in an odd sort of way; sounds a bit like the
Dave/Nik wars, doesn't it? :-)

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        erics at telepres.com
|  |  /
The world has been attacked.  The world must respond ... [but] we must
be guided by a commitment to do what works in the long run, not by what
makes us feel better in the short run.
        - Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada