Wednesday, 19 March 2014
The Inside Story: God and Jesus, what REALLY happened...
So much misinformation surrounds the lives of YHWH (God) and Jesus that it is hard to unravel what is true and what is hyperbole. Almost everyone seems to have a vested interest in propagating one story or another. But now, I bring you the full inside story—find out what really happened right here!
Early years
The exact date of YHWH's birth is disputed. Some put it at -∞ but this cannot be substantiated. The earliest records we have suggest he was born around 1,000 BCE or a little earlier.YHWH never disclosed who his parents were but he was likely the bastard son of El, head of the Canaanite pantheon. He was born into a large family of gods including Baal, Marqod and Dagon. There is some evidence that the Goddess Asherah was his consort.
YHWH's ambition
From his early life as a humble warrior god, YHWH was driven by ambition and was pathologically jealous of other gods. His grand ambition was to be fêted as no less than the unchallenged God of the entire universe. He created a strategy to make it happen.The first step in the strategy was to promulgate a new creation myth in which YHWH single-handedly created the entire universe and all living things in just six days. This was easily achieved. In those days creation myths were a dime a dozen, so no-one noticed, or cared, if a new one sprung up.
The second step was the covenant. The covenant was an agreement between YHWH and the war-like Israelites: YHWH would protect them provided they worshipped no other gods, obeyed certain commandments and promoted YHWH as the single god of all the heavens and Earth
The third step was to lead the Israelites in a series of wars of conquest of neighbouring tribes.
The strategy seems to have worked. By the start of the Common Era (CE) there is no trace of other gods on YHWH's turf. So ruthless was his attack that even his father and his consort had disappeared.
The challenge
This was when YHWH's greatest challenge emerged and it arose in the most unlikely way. An illiterate carpenter-turned-Rabbi began preaching around Palestine. Nothing unusual in this except this preacher, known as Jesus (Yesuah), was creating his own version of Holy Writ and was attracting both followers and hostility.YHWH had made the rule clear in scripture, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" but Jesus changed that to "turn the other cheek". Jesus made scripture his own by adding blasphemous changes whilst all the time professing his absolute loyalty to YHWH.
Then YHWH made a terrible mistake that would live to regret. YHWH could have had Jesus killed in his sleep but YHWH wanted him to suffer and he wanted a public display of suffering to deter others who might follow in Jesus' footsteps.
So YHWH conspired with the Roman authorities to have Jesus publicly executed—he insisted on a painful and lingering death by crucifixion. With the deed done, YHWH thought his troubles were over but, in reality, they were just beginning.
The surprise
YHWH did not expect what happened next. If he had been omniscient, he would have known but he wasn't—his omniscience was just a story; one of many spread by his supporters.After Jesus' death a hard-core of his followers continued to preach his message and they achieved some converts. They began to refer to him as Jesus Christ, a reference to their belief that he was the promised messiah. They even started calling themselves Christians.
But a huge and unexpected tipping point occurred when Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity shortly after the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 CE.
That changed everything. The Roman Empire was vastly powerful. It dominated Southern and Western Europe and much of North Africa. Once Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire the trickle of supporters became a flood. Being on the wrong side of Rome was a risk many people preferred to avoid and Constantine started pouring money into new churches whilst cutting funds to pagan temples.
Christianity was growing fast but it had got out of control. The church needed coordination and direction. Recognising this, Constantine ordered a Council to convene in Nicaea, Bithynia (now part of Turkey) in 325 CE to put the religion on a firm footing.
The Council of Nicaea lasted from May to July and they achieved a lot. They agreed the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. They agreed a uniform date for Easter and set out a tranche of canon law.
Finally, they made a decision that chilled YHWH to the bone. They decided that Jesus was the blood son of YHWH and, more than that, they said Jesus was God, co-eternal with and of the same substance as YHWH. Sharing the glory was never part of YHWH’s strategy.
Decline
YHWH was enraged but powerless. He still had the Jews but he couldn't ask the Jews attack the mighty Roman Empire. Vanquishing the Midianites were one thing—the Roman Empire another thing entirely.For the next 2,000 years, YHWH watched his dreams fall apart. Christianity grew to become the biggest religion on the planet whilst his Jewish followers were persecuted and diminished and many drifted into secularism.
Officially, Christians kept faith with YHWH but, in reality, they wrote him off. They thought about Jesus, they prayed to Jesus and they worshipped Jesus. In truth, YHWH had become an embarrassment with his made-up creation and flood stories, his murderous ways and barbaric laws. Jesus was more in line with the spirit of the age.
YHWH had learned a lesson. Gods have no power—they can inspire humans but, ultimately, it is the humble humans who wield the power. He watched as more than a billion humans ignored him and turned their adoration towards Jesus.
A ray of hope
YHWH was down but not out and all was not lost. Some 600 years after Jesus, a new religion was founded. It worshipped YHWH and was much more disciplined than the shaky Christians. It grew very quickly, initially by conquering nearby nations and imposing its religion on them. In due course, it created its own empire.This religion didn't bat an eyelid at the capital punishments YHWH loved so much but the Christians shied away from. And it had a burning desire to take over the world.
These are my kind of people, thought YHWH; changing my name to Allah is a small price to pay…
NOTE for fundamentalists: This history is speculation—it is based on historical information with added imagination. If you wish to comment, please use your imagination and not your Bible.
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Nildogma, the blogga
About Me
- Nildogma
- As a 20-year-old I was insatiably curious about the world and passionate about rejecting superstitions and all kinds of false beliefs. I still am today. Sometimes when people believe things that are not true, it make little or no difference but sometimes the consequences can be disastrous and deadly. Now, I do what I can to help people improve their thinking skills, especially in how they impinge on core beliefs, such as cultural values and religious beliefs. I have an active Facebook page for which I create memes and write articles almost daily. I also engage people in on-line debates. You can find me here: https://www.facebook.com/bill.flavell.1 I lecture at universities around the world and present or debate at public meetings. I also, draw on my management consultancy background to help freethought groups, almost anywhere in the world, to get organised, develop strategy and improve their media and presentation skills. If you would like me to present at your university or for your church group or freethought group, please contact me.
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Your wrong mate . Here's the detailed real story
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/212174871/What-is-this-thing-called-Go-o-d-That-s-Religion-explained-now-let-s-talk-Peace