FIRST THINGS FIRST, FROM THE
BEGINNING
John Stone
The Christian bible, their New Testament (NT), opens with the alleged birth of
the Christian baby-god, called Jesus, starting with Matthew 1:18. What makes this
very curious is that Mark is generally regarded by modern Christian bible
scholarship as the very first gospel written. Why then, is Matthew placed first
in the NT? [NOTE:
All scripture references are from the 398 year old standard 1611 King James Version.]
First a little background on Matthew, Mark and the only other virgin birth
writer, Luke. Matthew Slick, a Christian apologetics and research ministry
writes:
Matthew
“... Mark being considered by many to be the first written gospel ... Matthew
... may have used Mark as a map, adding and clarifying certain events as he
remembered them. But, this is not known for sure. The earliest quotation
of Matthew is found in Ignatius who died around 115 A.D.... Nevertheless, it is
generally believed that Matthew was written before A.D. 70 and as early as A.D.
50.1
Mark
“Mark was not an eyewitness to the events of Jesus’ life. He was a
disciple of Peter and undoubtedly it was Peter who informed Mark of the life of
Christ and guided him in writing the Gospel known by his name. “Papias claimed that Mark, the Evangelist, who had never
heard Christ, was the interpreter of Peter, and that he carefully gave an
account of everything he remembered from the preaching of Peter.”
Generally, Mark is said to be the earliest gospel with an authorship of between
A.D. 55 to A.D. 70.2
Luke
Luke was not an eyewitness of the life of Christ. He was a companion of
Paul who also was not an eyewitness of Christ’s life.3
Now, back to my
question; why then, is Matthew placed first in the NT? The answer is very
elementary;
Mark
does not contain a virgin-birth account!
Wow you say! Yes,
it is strange that the first gospel is totally silent about this supposedly
miraculous event. And even more so when you consider what the Catholics write
about this gospel called Mark.
“The Second
Gospel, like the other two synoptics, deals chiefly
with the Galilean ministry of Christ, and the events of the last week at
Whoa, not so fast
here, someone is pulling a slick one on unsuspecting and trusting Christians.
What? arranging the events in Jesus life,
but forgetting the very first event ― his birth. A big oops for Mark’s
chronology; let alone being inspired by the “holy ghost” as Christians claim.
Ask yourself, why did Mark completely ignore the birth story? One thing is
sure, Mark never celebrated Christmas!
So, now you know why the first gospel is placed second in the NT. The Christian
bible “has to”
open with the origin, virgin birth of their man/child-god. Further scrutiny
reveals that Mark does not mention Joseph, Jesus step-father; not even the word
“virgin” or “birth.” There is only one scant mention of Mary, in a round-about
way.
Is not
this
the carpenter, the
son of Mary,
the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? ... (Mark 6:3)
The son of Mary; like the brother of Juda,
big deal huh! That Mark doesn’t even see fit to mention the carpenter (Joseph,
Jesus’ father), is especially strange considering Matthew’s
claims Joseph had angelic visions about the immaculate conception. Let’s
see what Matthew wrote about Joseph:
“But while he
thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost.”
(Matthew 1:20)
And this Mark
didn’t mention? Ask yourself, why not? If you were writing a gospel, would you
have forgotten this?
Compounding the problem of Mark’s omission of a man/child-god birth is the
generally accepted Christian notion that Mark was recording what Peter
(supposedly a disciple) revealed to him of Jesus and his life. The Catholics
claim (the same as Matthew Slick above):
“St. Mark wrote a
work based
upon St. Peter’s preaching.” 5
So now you have
both Mark and Peter, neither knowing anything of a virgin birth; three wise
men; Herod’s slaughter and all the other hoopla surrounding this myth.
Oddly enough, the Christian’s man-god never wrote anything for posterity. And
now we find out the “holy ghost” did nothing to ensure the gospels were true.
Of the rest of the Christian NT, only Luke
has any account of the myth of the virgin and birth; and that differs entirely from Matthew’s
story. Then there is the no small matter of the deafening
silence by the rest of the NT books and authors. John? ─ Nothing! Paul, the author of
56% of the NT books ─ Nada, nil, zip, zilch! And so
on, through the rest of the NT ─ SILENCE!
One more small point, in all the red-letter quotes of Jesus in the NT, Jesus
himself, never mentions his conception or birth; nor did he even hint at it.
By now, one should
realize that the early Christians were only creating their religion from the
stories of mythological Gods of ancient Asia Minor ─ Assyria,
Attis: Born of the Virgin Nana on
December 25th. 6
Mithras:
Every year in
Buddha: Born
of the Virgin Maya on December 25th, announced by a star and attended by wise
men presenting gifts. At birth angles sing heavenly songs 8
Dionysus: Born
of a Virgin on December 25th, placed in a manger 9
Heracles: Born
at the winter solstice of a virgin who refrained from sex with her until her
God-begotten child was born. 10
Osiris: Born
of the virgin Isis-Meri on December 25th in a cave /
manger, with his birth announced by a star and attended by three wise men. 12
Zoroaster: Born
of a virgin. 13
The bottom line is
that this virgin birth, child-god story is just that ─ a story, fiction! And with
this deceitful start, the Christian theologians, clergy and subsequent
apologists rolled out their little book of lies, the New Testament. As is said
so often in the real world; “Caveat Emptor.”
As that great American sage, George Constanza, once
said: “Remember Jerry, it’s not a lie if you really believe it’s true.”
"Religion is the
masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they
shall think." Arthur
Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Footnotes:
1. Matthew J. Slick, “When
were the gospels written and by whom?;”[ http://www.carm.org/questions/gospels_written.htm
]
2. ibid
3. ibid
4. The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume IX, 1910, by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition [ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09674b.htm
]
5. ibid
6. The Pagan Origins of the
Christ Myth, [ http://home.earthlink.net/~pgwhacker/ChristianOrigins/
]
7. ibid
8. ibid
9. ibid
10. ibid
11. ibid
12. ibid
13. ibid
Copyright © 2001-2006 Christianity Revealed. All rights reserved.