Amergin:

I agree he may have been a wise and charismatic preacher with an advanced moral message.

So what are we doing with this thread Amergin? Where do you want to go with it... Seems you agree there could likely have been a historcial Jesus..

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Clement wrote:

She used that name to avoid direct contact with radical Christians, but was outed recently, and so goes by her name, Murdock.

Hmmm.. that's interesting. I mean avoiding contact with radical Christians..where does that come from?

Do you know where she went to school?

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Yeah, from a couple places. Some people take their religion in a very very personal way. If you want, go to her web site and look under "Emails that I loved". She shares the good, bad and ugly. Sure there's lots of "I'll pray for you" type negative letters, but there are some pretty nasty ones as well. Apparently, one apologist, J. P. Holding, went beyond just emails, found out her name and address, and encouraged others to express their views about her in a more direct manner, which, sadly, included her young child. She had to move because of the incident because she felt her child's safety was at risk. She doesn't go much into the details beyond that.


This is her bio posted at her web site:

My first contact with her book I think it was the Christ conspiracy was at an New Age bookstore oh about ten years ago or so I figured she at the time was playing up to the New Age crowd which is fine if she wanted it that way... but it didn't strike me as being that credible. The "Archarya" bit I mean and why the Archarya "S"? Is she connected to some sort of Astrotheology Church?

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

[quote=Amergin] I realise that about 16 other god-men died and resurrected before Jesus,,,

Hi Amergin .

Who are these god-men and where is it written ? I would like to see this .

Acharya means "teacher" in some eastern language, I forget which. We all have theories and personal ideas that deviate from the norm. But, it's deviations from the norm that lead to innovation and discovery. Conventionality usually fleshes the good ones out. True, not all unconventionality bears fruit, indeed less than more.

The "Astrotheology Church" isn't really a Church, it's more of an enthusiast's group. In other words, it's people interested in decoding the thought patterns of the ancients which used astrotheology to create the culture of their civilizations, relying heavily on archeoastronomy. Calling it a "church" is more of an attempt at depreciating humor than the establishment of an actual religious group. One of her main rants is against religious organization, so calling her group a "church" is her way of poking fun at the seriousness of any organized religion. From what I gather, she is very much into the spiritual nature of humans, just not the mind control aspect that seems to dominate religions.

-TC

Well that's interesting Travis... Thanks for the response.

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

I wanted to tackle issues rarely discussed on forums about the real meaning of Jesus.

Jesus was and is a controversial person. He is like King Arthur and Prester John
He may be fictional in biography and Yeshua was a common name.
He may have been a real person but proof is lacking.
He may be a composite of Hinara ben Dosi, Honi, and Yeshua ben Pacheria
He was not a god, and the gospels show this. His apotheosis is Pagan.

Jesus was a great man if he actually existed. He preached a moral message, a compassionate command, care for the poor and sick, distrust of rich exploiting bad people. Even if he is fully fictional, his authors did a marvelous job of projecting his message through the mythical hero of his story.

The apotheosis of Jesus into a Pagan God, distracted from his gospel message and led to exploitation, power, and mind control by greedy rulers. The Church became rich and powerful exploiting the common people whose dreadful oppression and suffering was sold to them as gaining heaven. This was Marx's "opiate of the people" famous phrase.

A true reform of Christianity from a world economic corporation ruling through fear and the worship of a manufactured God into a positive religion based on Jesus' teachings in the gospels. Whether Jesus was a real human being or fictional is not important. His message was important, not his deification, his worship, or the fear of an Evil Jesus in the Book of Revelation.

The Book of Revelation was just another Fear Tactic used by the Church and its political allies to cow the lower classes into economic and political slavery. The Reformation was like the Communist Revolution, initial good intentions led to absolute power, corruption, and more oppression. Like the US Republican Party, the Party of Corporate Power and Christian Extremism, again the people are viewed as commodities and resources who must be held in control by fear and an end times Warrior Jesus leading an army of Death Angels with its Zombie infantry.

If Jesus was real, and he was Jewish, he would condemn the Book of Revelations as blasphemy.

Amergin

__________________
Militant Agnostic: I don't know, and neither do you. There is no evidence of God so belief is optional.

I think the only valid manuscript to study Jesus is the Gospel. All other documents are interpretations and more often misinterpretations of the gospels. I think her book makes questionable assumptions but does raise some interesting speculation. I am a Non-Theist but raised in a Christian society. It was the Gospels which I studied intently that convinced me that Jesus was not God. That led to my conclusion; perhaps there is no God. That was not based on my scientific education which came later. The Bible made me an Atheist regarding the Trinity God, and an Agnostic about some other kind of god.

Amergin

__________________
Militant Agnostic: I don't know, and neither do you. There is no evidence of God so belief is optional.

[quote=mooomooo]
THE WORLD'S SIXTEEN CRUCIFIED SAVIORS, Christianity Before Christ, Kersey Graves, Adventures Unlimited Press, sixth edition, Kempton, Illinois 60946, USA. 2001

Adventures Unlimited Press Bookstore: Books on Conspiracy, UFO's, Holy Grail, Templar Studies, Mayans, Olmecs & 2012

Amergin

__________________
Militant Agnostic: I don't know, and neither do you. There is no evidence of God so belief is optional.