Jesus is coming back...Quick, look busy!

I started, and have been heavily involved with, a discussion concerning the return of Jesus (or lack thereof) on a forum I am co-moderating.

Some good issues have been raised and I have actually learned a lot as the discussion had unfolded. There was a lot about Preterism that was new to me.   

Have a look at the discussion here.

Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?

On March 28, 2006, Dr. Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California, and Dr. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, debated the status of the Christian claim to Jesus' resurrection from the perspective of historical data. The debate was sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross and the Campus Christian Fellowship.

Click here to access the debate transcript in .pdf form

Reading: The Battle for God

I read this book while still calling myself a Xian but also seeing fundamentalism and Evangelicalism as things that restricted me and that I wanted to be free of. I think I suspected shaking fundamentalism was the first step toward being totally free of the faith, but I had to take things one step at a time. To be honest, I would recommend anything by Karen Armstrong. She has a style of writing that draws me in. Reading her books is like sitting at the feet of someone wise and informed.

Amazon.com review: About 40 years ago popular opinion assumed that religion would become a weaker force and people would certainly become less zealous as the world became more modern and morals more relaxed. But the opposite has proven true, according to theologian and author Karen Armstrong, who documents how fundamentalism has taken root and grown in many of the world's major religions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Even Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism have developed fundamentalist factions. Reacting to a technologically driven world with liberal Western values, fundamentalists have not only increased in numbers, they have become more desperate, claims Armstrong, who points to the Oklahoma City bombing, violent anti-abortion crusades, and the assassination of President Yitzak Rabin as evidence of dangerous extremes. Yet she also acknowledges the irony of how fundamentalism and Western materialism seem to urge each other on to greater excesses. To "prevent an escalation of the conflict, we must try and understand the pain and perception of the other side," she pleads. With her gift for clear, engaging writing and her integrity as a thorough researcher, Armstrong delivers a powerful discussion of a globally heated issue. Part history lesson, part wake-up call, and mostly a plea for healing, Armstrong's writing continues to offer a religious mirror and a cultural vision. --Gail Hudson --

The Pagan Origins of the Jesus-Myth

When I was still a Christian, there was a series of anti-Catholic books around most of which drew their material from a 19th century book called, The Two Babylons. Written from a place of Protestant belief, it's basic premise was that Catholicism was actually an amalgamation of Paganism and Christianity to the point that Catholicism is more Pagan than Christian. Anyway, these books all argued that their branch of Protestantism was the true, pure form of Christianity and Catholics should be rejected as pagans.

Most groups who subscribe to Hislop's book tend to be Christian extremists or blatant cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Worldwide Church of God and my own favourite, the Revival Centres. This made me skeptical of the book of course and I later discovered that a lot of that material was based on poor scholarship, myths and half-truths.

Anyway, it seems that there may be some kernel of truth in all this after all, but not in the way that those who subscribe to the book might have expected.

There is no doubt that many Pagan practices were amalgamated into the practices of the Church but we were always taught that it crept in slowly and much later than the time of Jesus and the Apostles. But it appears that Paganism's influence of Christianity goes back further than and even predates Christianity. In other words, the Christian story itself (Jesus, the Apostles) has pagan origins.

As one website put it:

• By the time of Jesus of Nazareth, as for centuries before, the Mediterranean world roiled with a happy diversity of creeds and rituals. Details varied according to location and culture, but the general outlines of these faiths were astonishingly similar. Roughly speaking the ancients' gods:Were commemorated by Eucharistic meals.

1. Were born on or very near our Christmas Day
2. Were born of a Virgin-Mother
3. Were born in a Cave or Underground Chamber.
4. Led a life of toil for Mankind.
5. Were called by the names of Light-bringer, Healer, Mediator, Savior, Deliverer.
6. Were however vanquished by the Powers of Darkness.
7. And descended into Hell or the Underworld.
8. Rose again from the dead, and became the pioneers of mankind to the Heavenly world.
9. Founded Communions of Saints, and Churches into which disciples were received by Baptism. source
   

So it seems that there are many stories that mirror the Jesus story but that pre-date the Jesus story. Better said, there ain't nothin' original about the Jesus story.

A favourite amongst critics of Christianity is Mithras (or Mithra) the Persian, later Roman, god-man who bears the most striking resemblance to Jesus.

Originally Persian Before Rome. When the Christ myth was new Mithras and Mithraism were already ancient. Worshiped for centuries as God's Messenger of Truth, Mithras was long revered by the Persians (Zoroastrianism) and the Indians (see the Vedic literature). Dating Mithras in Rome. Plutarch (Pompey, 24, 7) and Servilius (Georgics, 4, 127) say Pompey imported Mithraism into Rome after defeating the Cilician pirates around 70 BC. Mithras appears epigraphically in the circles of the Roman emperor in the first century AD -- around the time the canonical Christian Gospels were written (Corpus Incscriptionum Latinarum, 6, 732), and statues of the God were present by 101 AD (Corpus Incscriptionum Latinarum, 6, 718). As with Attis, Christian apologist Justin (1 Apologia, 66, 4) denounces the devil for having sent a God so similar to Jesus -- yet preceding him.

Sadly there's a lot we don't know about this faith that comforted million of souls. Early Christians established the dominance of their religion by exterminating Mithras' faithful, razing His temples, burning His sacred texts. We do know this: With twelve disciples he traveled far and wide as a teacher and illuminator of men. He was buried in a tomb from which he rose again from the dead -- an event celebrated yearly with much rejoicing. Every year in Rome, in the middle of winter, the Son of God was born one more, putting an end to darkness. Every year at first minute of December 25th the temple of Mithras was lit with candles, priests in in white garments celebrated the birth of the Son of God and boys burned incense. Mithras was born in a cave, on December 25th, of a virgin mother. He came from heaven to be born as a man, to redeem men from their sin. He was know as "Savior," "Son of God," "Redeemer," and "Lamb of God." His followers kept the Sabbath holy, eating sacramental meals in remembrance of Him. The sacred meal of bread and water, or bread and wine, was symbolic of the body and blood of the sacred bull. Baptism in the blood of the bull (taurobolum) -- early Baptism "washed in the blood of the Lamb" -- late Baptism by water [recorded by the Christian author Tertullian] Mithraic rituals brought about the transformation and Salvation of His adherents -- an ascent of the soul of the adherent into the realm of the divine. From the wall of a Mithraic temple in Rome: "And thou hast saved us by shedding the eternal blood." The great Mithraic festivals celebrated his birth (at the winter solstice) and his death and resurrection (at the spring solstice)

source

Further reading:
How Jesus Got a Life
Pagan Christs
Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth