Here a dream was born. A dream as old as this promised land. And here the Bible says the dream will become a reality. Here the Messiah will appear. Mysteries of the Bible s5e1: Messiah
The birthplace of not just one but a number of messiahs. ibid.
Did Jesus ask Judas to hand him over for trial so that scripture could be fulfilled? Mysteries of the Bible s5e3: Judas: The Ultimate Betrayal
He came out of the desert preaching redemption and repentance. Mysteries of the Bible s5e5: John the Baptist
He was venerated above all other prophets. ibid.
John the Baptist mysteriously disappears from the Biblical texts until he is an adult. ibid.
Was he considered a rival messiah? ibid.
His teachings were in the Apocalyptic tradition. ibid.
His cousin from Nazareth – Jesus. ibid.
What made the promise of a coming messiah so relevant at the time? ibid.
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane. Robert G Ingersoll
One does well to put gloves on when reading the New Testament. In the entire New Testament there is only one solitary figure one is obliged to respect: [Pontius] Pilate, the Roman Governor. Friedrich Nietzsche
You can’t be sure what materials are historical and what aren’t. This debate has been going on for two and a half centuries now. Professor Robert Eisenman
The [Christian] Gospel stories are no more historic than the Genesis creation accounts are scientific. They are filled with exaggerations, miracles and admitted propaganda. They were written during a context of time when myths were being born, exchanged, elaborated and corrupted, and they were written to an audience susceptible to such fables. They are cut from the same cloth as other religions and fables of the time. Taking all of this into account, it is rational to conclude that the New Testament Jesus is a myth. Dan Barker, Godless
The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as the Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed ... He will be a Jesus, who was Messiah, and lived as such, either on the ground of a literary fiction of the earliest Evangelist, or on the ground of a purely eschatological Messianic conception. In either case, He will not be a Jesus Christ to whom the religion of the present can ascribe, according to its long-cherished custom, its own thoughts and ideas, as it did with the Jesus of its own making ... It is not given to history to disengage that which is abiding and eternal in the being of Jesus from the historical forms in which it worked itself out, and to introduce it into our world as a living influence. Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus ch20 results
The story of Jesus wasn’t quite as unique as you might have thought. That the Hindu God Krishna also had a miraculous birth and was also attended by angels and shepherds. And that like Jesus, the Buddha also performed miracles, walking on water and feeding the five hundred. Dr Robert Beckford, The Hidden Story of Jesus
Krishna: there is also an immaculate conception and the birth is heralded by angels. ibid.
I was taught repeatedly that the Christian story of Jesus was totally unique. ibid.
More similarities I found between Krishna and Jesus. ibid.
According to tradition his [Buddha] mother Maya gave birth to him miraculously. Like Jesus he was also predicted to be a great man from birth, and wise men travelled to see him ... Like Jesus he was also tempted by a devil figure but resisted ... In their teachings both Jesus and Buddha provide a very practical guide to personal transformation that is remarkable similar. ibid.
It was Paul and his followers who created much of the Christianity we know today ... Much of the dogma that surrounds Jesus was created by Paul. ibid.
The rise of Mithras almost exactly parallels the rise of Jesus ... A saviour God who offered his followers a life after death – did Christianity steal these ideals? ibid.
One tradition claims Mithras even had a virgin birth. ibid.
They chose December 25th, the winter solstice, which also happens to be the birthday of Mithras. ibid.
The Roman god Mithras and the ancient Egyptian cult of Osiris are just too close to home to be dismissed so easily. ibid.
What are you left with? Jesus the Jew. ibid.
Christianity’s greatest ever lie – that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus on the Cross. This simple untruth laid the foundations for centuries of brutal and bloody anti-Semitism, ending with the Nazi-led holocaust of the Second World War. ibid.
There are some Jews who do believe in Jesus. ibid.
A fifth of the world’s population believe Jesus was not a Jew or a Christian but a Muslim. ibid.
The Koran mentions him too – thirty-six times. ibid.
In Islam Jesus is regarded as one of God’s prophets – a precursor to Muhammad. ibid.
Here in Kashmir there is a totally different story – one that claims that Jesus did not die on the cross but escaped to India. Where he continued his teaching, got married, had a son and lived to a ripe old age. And even that he was buried here. ibid.
Gandhi’s Jesus was the original charismatic teacher. ibid.
What really matters is Jesus’s message ... We can change the world for the better. ibid.
Is it really God’s word? Who wrote the Bible? Dr Robert Beckford, Who Wrote the Bible? Channel 4 2004
If the Bible is less literal, what is there to hold on to? ibid.
Archaeology tells a completely new story of Jesus origins – no big kingdom. ibid.
It’s a big of a muddle – the Creation story. ibid.
Four different sources? Then Moses can’t have written it [Pentateuch] at all. ibid.
The Bible is a big edited job ... Who re-wrote the Bible? ibid.
In 1947 there was an amazing discovery: a Bedouin shepherd stumbling upon some ancient scrolls concealed in a cave by the dead sea. ibid.
Why aren’t the Dead Sea Scrolls part of the Bible today? ibid.
Paul is responsible for more of the New Testament than anyone else ... Paul is a Jesus hustler. ibid.
The first writer – Mark – was relying on hearsay. ibid.
Dozens of Gospels and dozens of letters. ibid.
Some of them are heroes while others are evil villains. Dr Robert Beckford, The Secrets of the Twelve Disciples, Channel 4 2008
Paul’s story dominates the New Testament. ibid.
Jude, Simon and James – the Bible is strangely silent about them. ibid.
James was a key figure in the history of the early Church. In fact, he took charge of the Church after Jesus’ death. ibid.
They took the story of the greatest disciple, the prince of apostles – Peter – and used him to give the head of the church in Rome his power to rule one billion Catholics. ibid.
Rome: the secrets of the early movement are closely guarded. ibid.
The entire story of Peter and Rome appears to be shrouded in confusion, mystery and vested interest. ibid.
Could the Church in India be older than the one in Rome? ibid.
Archbishop Menezez had authority from the Pope in Rome to force the Thomas Christians to join the Catholic Church by whatever means. He wanted to break the link to Thomas so he ordered the church’s archive to be destroyed. ibid.
For the last two thousand years Judas has been Christianity’s bad disciple. ibid.
The Bible tells us almost nothing about Judas as a person. ibid.
The man [Judas] singled out by the Church as the ultimate example of a bad disciple could in fact be quite the opposite. ibid.
The complete lack of any female disciples. ibid.