EASTER EGGS IN ONE BASKET
Hugh Fogelman
The Christian pulpit makes the claim
that Christianity raises and falls on ONE event―Jesus’ resurrection.
The New Testament (NT) itself made the
same claim in the writings of Paul; who said to his listeners:
“If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is
also vain” (I Corinthians
Christian television advertisements
mention the “Glory of Easter”– Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection
from the grave. Really? Who witnessed it? Paul, the self-confessed liar1 said 500 people witnessed
it,
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day...6
"After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom
the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen" (1 Corinthians 15:4&6)
Funny, but not a single Christian
author/writer interviewed even one of these 500 people. No one wrote anything
about this grand event. We have no idea where it supposedly happened. You would
certainly think something of this large scale―500 people assembled to see
a dead man meet and greet/walk and talk―would have commanded more that
only Paul’s nine words.
According to the gospel writers, the
people doubted Jesus’ claims and wanted proof. The proof which Jesus supposedly
told them would be like Jonah, that he, Jesus, would arise in 3 days.
Logically, the next event would be to show these rabbis “here I am, just like I
told you.” But instead, the NT story says that Jesus only went to his
believers. This logic is the same as “preaching to the choir.”
In today’s world, we understand how
mass-hysteria works. People will swear they saw a statue of Mary cry blood.
They claim to see images of Mary or Jesus in cloud formations, mold on bread,
reflections in windows and paint on fences. Maybe this is how Paul claims he
saw Jesus – since Jesus was dead and long gone when Paul came on the scene:
And last of all he
was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. (I Corinthians 15:8)
These sightings (and Paul’s too) are
very strange because no one knows what Jesus or Mary looked like, if they
existed at all.2 Yes, it is all about
mass-hysteria/brain-washing.
Since the entire religion of Christianity rests on this ONE
event, Christians should demand that some outside sources must also tell of
this so-called resurrection to make this claim at least some what believable .
Christians try to point out that there is proof of Jesus’ existence (not
resurrection) outside of the NT.
Attempting to make
their case for a historical Jesus, some innocent Christians point to the
writings of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian (37 BCE- c100 CE), and claim
that he wrote about Jesus. Unfortunately, they are unaware that scholars and
honest theologians admit the so-called references to Jesus were later
insertions in Josephus’ works; in other words―a forgery! (See The Silence of Josephus, by
J.M. Robertson) Most importantly, and overlooked by Christians, is what Josephus
DID NOT write. If this resurrection was such a big deal―witnessed by five
hundred assembled people―Josephus, or someone on earth, would have
certainly recorded the details of this earth shattering event. But the silence
is deafening!
Other than the “unknown” authors of the New Testament stories, no Christian
has ever been identified to have witnessed the greatest event in history. The
New Testament never instructs the so-called Christian resurrection witnesses to
teach this event to the next generation. This can be seen by the silence of the
Early Church Fathers in 325 CE at the Council of Nicaea. When Eusebius rewrote
the Christian bible, all he did was to make the authors say this and that of
what Eusebius thought might have taken place. Everyone has their own “spin” of
what happened.
FOOTNOTES:
1. See the following New
Testament scriptures: Romans 3.7; 1 Corinthians 9.19-23; 2 Corinthians 11.8;
and 2 Corinthians 12.15-16). Also see the articles: "Paul, the Politician, a Liar" and "Paul Admits To Lying & Fraud"
on the "PAUL: LIAR" Menu on the Christianity Revealed site:
2. See the article “Jesus and the New Testament or ‘The Memoirs of the Tooth Fairy?’” on
the Christianity Revealed site.
Copyright © 2004, Hugh Fogelman. All rights reserved.