To sum up, modern critical methods fail to support the Christ myth theory. But there had also been a rapid growth of legend round pagan figures like Alexander the Great and yet nobody regards him as wholly mythical and ficticious. That there was a growth of legend around Jesus cannot be denied, and it arose very quickly. But we do not deny that an event ever took place just because some pagan historians such as, for example, Livy and Polybius, happen to have described it in differing terms. Certainly, there are all those discrepancies between one Gospel and another. if we apply to the New Testament, as we should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned. "even though we don't know for sure whether such a historical figure existed"Ī quote from atheist historian Michael Grant" I think we have come to a point in time where the ‘cultural Christian’ is all too happy to shed that image for one that now has “rights”. In the NT, the Christian is repeatedly depicted as a bond servant or “slave”. Interestingly enough, if Christians believed their own Bible they would know that even God doesn't want our symbols (or the so-called "sacrifices" of the things we WANT to give) without the substance (real motivations of our hearts), either. (not that there are not sincere Christians, of course – and not that each person, secular or otherwise, still isn’t responsible for his individual response to truth) Secularists are plainly tired of mere symbolism and minimal substance from Christians. No exaggeration intended here but if the words "secularist" or leftist were listed in the dictionary, I'm convinced that his picture (he's well known) would be there to surmise what it means to be on the left. I think that I began to understand why this problem has evolved to what it has become after some discussions last year with an acquaintance from the east coast. MP: "That is why so many fundamentalist Christians become particularly vocal during this time of the year (scrap that, they are always particularly vocal), and want us to go back to the "real reason" for celebration - according to them, the birth of Jesus Christ." Not that this should be your goal: after all, it is the season to be jolly. The Romans said "Io, Saturnalia," which means "Ho, praise to Saturn." Just remember that the Latin "Io" is pronounced "Yo" and you'll get a delicious southern-sounding greeting guaranteed to drive your fundamentalist neighbor insane. It was therefore refreshing to see an article by John Tierney in the New York Times where he humorously summarizes the hybrid origins of Christmas as it is celebrated today, from the Christian take over of the ancient Roman fertility festival of Saturnalia (in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture, and celebrated with orgies and banquets), to the importing of the Christmas tree from Nordic European traditions (the Yule solstice festival).Īs for what the proper holiday greeting should be, Tierney prefers to go back to the Roman version of the festival. That is why so many fundamentalist Christians become particularly vocal during this time of the year (scrap that, they are always particularly vocal), and want us to go back to the "real reason" for celebration - according to them, the birth of Jesus Christ (even though we don't know for sure whether such a historical figure existed, and we sure as hell know nothing about his birthday). Around this time of the year, everybody wishes to remind us of "the real reason for the season." The problem is that "reality" here depends not only on one's ideological commitments, but also on a frank look at the historical record.Ĭhristmas today is, as a matter of fact, mostly about three things: being together with your family (and try to avoid fights), eating a lot (which seems to be linked to the above mentioned fights), and - of course - shopping until dropping.
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