Historical records The authors of the book The Jesus Conspiracy - TopicsExpress



          

Historical records The authors of the book The Jesus Conspiracy by Holger Kersten and Elmar R. Gruber, postulate that christ did not die on the cross but was actually rescued from his death. This theory is based on the findings of their painfully detailed scientific research and carbon dating tests. T he authors present powerful evidence that whoever was wrapped in the Shroud of Turin did not die. Kersten and Gruber proposed that the Catholic Church realized the devastating impact this theory, if true could have. After all, if the evidence suggested that Jesus had been wrapped in the shroud but did not die, the church would be left without a death, without an atoning sacrifice, without a resurrection and in short, the church would be left without a church. In the words, First Corinthians 15:14, And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God .... The authors claim the church responded by deliberately discrediting the shroud, even to the extent of falsifying carbon dating tests. The concept of a crucifixion switch isn’t entirely foreign to Christianity. Among early Christians, the Corinthians, the Basilidians, the Paulicians, the Cathari and the Carpocratians all believed Jesus Christs life was spared. The Basilidians believed that Simon of Cyrene was crucified in his place , which may not be an unreasonable suggestion, considering that Simon carried Jesus cross (see Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26). Typically, all of the dissenting sects mentioned above were judged to have been Gnostics and/ or heretics by the church, and were violently suppressed by a Trinitarian majority that systematically burned dissenters into oblivion for the first fifteen centuries of Catholic rule (the most recent roasting having taken place in Mexico in 1850 CE). To be fair, Gnostic ideology did have a place in many, if not most, or even all groups regarded as dissenters from orthodoxy. But then again, Gnosticism has a place in orthodoxy as well, for what is gnosis if not the belief that its initiates possess some esoteric but essential knowledge necessary for salvation, which can neither be explained nor justified? And what has this discussion thus far exposed, if not the lack of scriptural foundation for the canon of Trinitarian orthodoxy? Of the above groups, the Paulicians (whose name possibly, derived from their devotion to Paul of Samosata) hold special inter. Paul of Samosata reportedly took his teaching from Diodorus, head of the Nazarene Church in Antioch. His teachings in turn branched off the trunk of apostolic ideology through individuals such as Lucian (who in turn taught Arius), Eusebius of Nicomedia, and even Nestorius (whose influence expanded from Eastern Europe as far east as China and as far south as Abyssinia). The Paulician influence eventually spread to occupy most, if not all, of Europe and North Africa. Yet so complete was their annihilation by the Roman Catholic Church during the period of persecution, both they and their books were virtually completely destroyed. Only in the mid-nineteenth century was one of their sacred books, The Key of Truth, discovered in Armenia and translated. From this document, a view of their beliefs and practices can be appreciated. The Paulicians may invite condemnation for their dualistic ideology, acceptance of suicide and excess of asceticism. Notable is the peculiar Paulician concept of Jesus Christ having been a phantasm, and not a man. On the other hand, the Paulicians adhered to belief in divine unity, the virgin birth, baptism, and other creeds and practices that date from the apostolic age. Included in the list of their particulars is the apparent lack of an organized priesthood or hierarchy of clergy. The leaders married and had families. Their services were characterized by simplicity of worship and lack of sacraments: they didnt even use holy water. The Paulicians refused to adopt any visible object of worship-no relics, no images, not even the cross. They considered the use of images, whether two or three dimensional, to be idolatrous, foreign to the teachings of Jesus, and in violation of the second commandment. The doctrine of Incarnation appears to have been denied, as were the doctrines of original sin and the Trinity-all rejected on the basis of lacking scriptural foundation. The Paulicians denied the alleged crucifixion of Jesus, and consequently rejected the doctrines of the resurrection, atonement, and redemption of sins. They also shunned infant baptism as an innovation foreign to the teachings and practice of Jesus, and claimed it was worthless since children lack the capacity for mature faith and repentance. They boycotted Christmas on the grounds that it was an illegitimate holiday constructed as a concession to the pagans, who worshipped the rebirth of their Sun-god three days following the winter solstice, on December 25, at the annual festival of Sol Invictus (The Invincible Sun). They neither solicited nor accepted tithes, maintained a strict diet , stressed devotion to worship in all aspects of life and aspired to cleanliness of temper, thoughts, words, and work. A better model of the carpenter-King would be difficult to find, but for their creed, they were killed. Over a period of centuries the Paulicians were hounded wherever they were found. The Byzantine Empress Theodora reestablished image worship in Constantinople during the ninth century and, as Gibbon notes, Her inquisitors explored the cities and mountains of the Lesser Asia, and the flatterers of the empress have affirmed that, in a short reign, one hundred thousand Paulicians were extirpated by the sword, the gibbet, or the flames. 214 (Gibbon Edward, Esq. Vol.6, Chapter LIV, p.242.) The Paulicians eventually were driven from Armenia to Thrace, and on to Bulgaria. From there they spread to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovinia, then north to Germany, west to France and south into Italy. By sea they found routes to Venice, Sicily and Southern France. The rapid expansion of Paulician theology, which seems to have been revived in the Cathari (meaning the Pure) in or around the eleventh century, became a serious threat to the Catholic Church, and was condemned at the Councils of Orleans in 1022, of Lombard in 1165, and of Verona in 1184. St. Bernard of Clairvaux described the Cathari thusly: If you interrogate them, nothing can be more Christian; as to their conversation, nothing can be less reprehensible, and what they speak they prove by deeds. As for the morals of the heretic, he cheats no one, he oppresses no one, he strikes no one; his cheeks are pale with fasting, he eats not the bread of idleness, his hands labour for his livelihood. 215 (Lea, Henry Charles.1958. A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages. New York: Russell & Russell. Vol. I, P.101.) Nonetheless, the church condemned the Cathari, not for their ethics and sincerity, but for their theology. Not until the Medieval inquisition of the thirteenth century was the church able to act upon their condemnation, but then, opening floodgates on the host of several centuries, they applied the full force of their hatred with a vengeance sufficient to establish their authority and destroy their enemies. The loss of the Paulicians, Cathari, and the various other “heretic” Christian sects testifies to the terrible efficacy of the religious cleansing of the Medieval Inquisition and subsequent periods of persecution. F. C. Conybeare comments, It was no empty vow of their elect ones, “ to be baptized with the baptism of Christ, to take on themselves scourgings, imprisonments, tortures, reproaches, crosses, blows, tribulation, and all temptations of the world. Theirs the tears, theirs the blood shed during more than ten centuries of fierce persecution in the East; and if we reckon of their number, as well we may, the early puritans of Europe, then the tale of wicked deeds wrought by the persecuting churches reaches dimensions which appall the mind. And as it was all done, nominally out of reverence for, but really in mockery of, the Prince of Peace, it is hard to say of the Inquisitors that they knew not what they did. 216 (Conybeare, Fred. C., M.A. 1898. The Key of Truth. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Preface, p.xi.) That the Catholic Church was so effective in eliminating their opposition is of no surprise to those who study their methodology. Their degree of savagery did not even spare their own people, at times sacrificing members of the orthodoxy to insure complete elimination of the Unitarians. For example, the mixed population of Catholics and Unitarians of the people of Beziers, in the South of France, were attacked mercilessly. In his History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Henry Charles Lea brings the full horror of the invaders overzealousness into sharp focus: From infancy in arms to tottering age, not one was spared- seven thousand, it is said, were slaughtered in the Church of Mary Magdalen to which they had fled for asylum- and the total number of slain is set down by the legates at nearly twenty thousand .. A fervent Cistercian contemporary informs us that when Arnaud was asked whether the Catholics should be spared, he feared the heretics would escape by feigning orthodoxy, and fiercely replied, Kill them all, for God knows his own! In the mad car- nage and pillage the town was set on fire, and the sun of that awful July day closed on a mass of smouldering ruins and blackened corpses-a holocaust to a deity of mercy and love Whom the Cathari might well be pardoned for regarding as the Principle of Evil. 217 (Lea, Henry Charles. Vol. I, p.154.) The inquisitors use of torture was equally horrific, for it did end at confession. Once they procured a confession, they began torture anew, to extract names of associates until the last drop of information was squeezed from the mangled husk of what had once been a human being. Once accused, the pitiful defendant was guaranteed to suffer. Torture yielded the required confession-if not out of truth, then out of the victims desperation to bring an end to the pain. Horrifically, protestations of innocence and even the oath of orthodoxy did not bring relief, for suspects professing orthodox belief were committed to a test of faith, and here the church demonstrated the full measure of its creativity. Trials by water and fire were popularized and sanctioned by Catholic Church for the testing of faith by way of Judicium Dei-Judgement of God, a concept based upon superstition. It was believed the purity of water would not accept a guilty body into its midst, so floaters were judged guilty and executed, sinkers were considered innocent, and if rescued before drowning, spared. It was believed that earthly fire, like the flames of Hell, would not harm those who were (in their view) the faithful Christians bearing the promise of paradise. The hot iron test was the most commonly employed, as it was simple readily available. In this test, the accused was required to carry a red-hot piece of iron for a certain number of steps, usually nine. Judgment was offered either at the time of the test (those burned were judged guilty) or several days later (those whose wounds were healing were declared innocent, whereas those whose wounds became infected were deemed guilty). Other variations existed, such as determining whether a person suffered a burn when an arm was immersed up to the elbow in boiling water or boiling oil. Lest a person presume such insane methods were rarely employed, the Council of Rheims in 1157 ordered trials by ordeal to satisfy all cases of suspected heresy? 218 (ibid., p.306) Now, why all this discussion about what are now little-known and dead sects? Well, the intent is neither to glorify them beyond the merits of their ideology, nor to evoke sympathy for their cause, but rather to draw attention to the alternate Christian ideologies that have become obscure in the shadow of prevailing Trinitarianism. The Corinthians, the Basilidians, the Paulicians, the Cathari, and the Carpocratians may be little known today, but they were dynamic Christian ideologies that shared a significant place in history. But history, as the saying goes, is written by the victors. Moreover, writes Ehrman, the victors in the struggles to establish Christian orthodoxy not only won their theological battles, they also rewrote the history of the conflict ... 219 (Ehrman, Bart D.2003. Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament. Oxford University Press.p.2.) The Catholic Church attempted to systematically erase the memory of all other sects and scriptures contrary to their own, and at this, they were largely successful. Given their vicious methodology, we should not be surprised. Additionally, historical attempts to vilify all other religions or Christian sects prejudiced the minds of the populace. So successful were these efforts that the records and holy books of those who appear to have been closest to the teachings of the apostolic fathers have been largely lost . Similarly, those closest to embodying the practices and creed of the prophet Jesus have come to be regarded as heretics, simply because they did not embrace the evolved doctrines of the Trinitarian victors. In other words, they were condemned for nonconformity with views which, though lacking scriptural authority, were selected by men of position and propagated for reasons of political expediency. One of the curious elements of Trinitarian history lies in the fact that in all its travels throughout the Christian world, it had to be forced upon a previously Unitarian people. The Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Vandals, the Arians, Donatists, and Paulicians-all had to be muscled aside prior to the imposition of Trinitarian rule. Even in England and Ireland there is suspicion that, contrary to official historical accounts , a good percentage of the population were staunch Unitarian Christian prior to receiving Trinitarian encouragement. Whereas Unitarians attempted to spread faith through example and invitation, the Catholic Church spread Trinitarian faith by shearing the populace with the sharp blades of compulsion and elimination. Reviewing unprejudiced historical accounts, a large population of the religious throughout the known world voiced their opposition to Trinitarian Christianity, and those who denied Jesus Christs crucifixion and death were not necessarily a minority. Many would argue that from a gut level it makes more sense for God to have punished Judas for his treachery than to have tortured Jesus for his innocence. Christian Historians say it was pole not cross as follows: telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/7849852/Jesus-did-not-die-on- cross-says-scholar.html The person hanging on the pole/cross who was crucified was Jesus king of the jews and NOT JESUS BARABAS (SON OF THE FATHER). dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289136/Jesus-died-cross- Christian-scholar-claims.html BBC Documentary which says Jesus (Son of Mary ) survived crucifiction youtube/watch?v=DJ8THyxGECQ&feature=related History Channel Documentary ‘Banned from the Bible’ says Jesus was standing aside from the cross laughing at the attempt to kill the son of Mary. youtube/watch?v=nhiBqVgpHls&feature=related Earliest manuscript for Testimonium Flavianum is an Arabic Manuscript from the tenth century. They do not have any Manuscript before Eusebius time, nor is it mentioned by any Church father before 3rd Century. Josephus Books were not stored by Jews, but Christian fathers, who copied, deleted, added stuff that should not be there. Read details here : discover-the- truth/2013/10/28/examining-jewish-sources-on-jesus-crucifixion- genuine-or-forgery/ The person on the cross was an ungodly man and he blasphemed and said My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? check here youtube/watch?v=kDnyLE_v5rY&feature=related Eli Eli Lima Sabaktani ----Analysis So dear brothers and sisters, in actuality Jesus whom all Christians know and love as son of the father was released at the outset of this crucifiction story recorded in the bible. Now the question is who is behind forcing you all very deceptively to believe that Jesus (Son of the father) was crucified. It was Paul who deceived and lied about Jesus teachings and he tried to hijack the Original teachings of Jesus son of Mary. Find out more about Paul the deceiver and liar the teacher of Wickedness neurotherapy-of-christian- brain.blogspot/2012/05/jesus-vs-paul-abdul-fatir.html. It was James who was the teacher of righteousness on whom Paul barked like dogs and hatranawangelian infact and Paul barked against the other gospel which James was teaching which was the original teachings of Jesus (PBUH). read here muslimanswersfiles.files.wordpress/2013/04/draft-article- james-the-caliph-of-christ.pdf . neurotherapy-of-christian- brain.blogspot.ae/2012/05/james-caliph-of-christ.html Now you know that Quran (The last testament) confirms what was in the bible OT & NT that Jesus (Son of Maryam) was never killed nor crucified rather infact he was saved by Allah and Allah raised him up unto himself i.e. direct ascension . So Why you don’t accept the religion of all the Prophets and messengers of ALLAH i.e Islam/Salam/Shalom/Peace. What is stopping you from embracing Islam
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 05:24:15 +0000

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