EASTER EGGS IN ONE BASKET

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 15:14)

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 no one 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 deman 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, 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 would have certainly recorded the details of this earth shattering event. But the silence is deafening!

Christians have a religion based upon ONE event ―the “resurrection”―which no contemporary historian ever wrote about. Strange, perhaps the historians were also blind to the truth as Christian apologists claim the Jews are. It appears everyone is blind to the truth except the Christian who cannot see past his nose.

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. Besides, each author of the Christian bible has a different version of events, and each denomination of the Christian faith has still another take of the same NT stories. Everyone has their own “spin” of what happened.

On the other hand, Judaism is based upon millions of people hearing God’s words at Mt. Sinai (as told in the Christian version of the OT), and hearing God telling them “To Remember This Event.” If this event never happened, the next two or three generations would have said; “remember? remember what event?” And soon the hoax would have been seen, but instead, every generation asked around, and found out that yes, everyone was told the same events in detail―the same details.

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 at:

[ http://jdstone.org/cr/pages/s_liar.html ]

2. See the article “Jesus and the New Testament or ‘The Memoirs of the Tooth Fairy?’” on the Christianity Revealed site at [http://jdstone.org/cr/files/jesusandthenewtestament-memoirsofthetoothfairy.html ]

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