Thank you, MarchHare for the very kind words.
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Originally Posted by MarchHare
...I've seen it written that the commonly-accepted view that the Jewish leaders killed Christ while Pilate washed his hands of the matter was one that was fabricated shortly after the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as their religion. It would have been a hard sell to convince people that Jesus was there lord and saviour when he was executed by the Romans, so the story was altered to make the Jews, a convenient scapegoat, the true killers of Christ. This single act, of course, has sadly led to centuries of anti-semitism throughout history.  |
It is pretty impossible to hold to this theory in light of the fact that dozens of Gospel narratives that retain traditions of Jesus' opposition to the "religious Jews", and their vociferous plots to kill him appear in Christian literature as early as the second century. Long before the Constantinian revolution.
It is true and unfortunate that the anti-Jewish polemic present in the New Testament has been so grossly misapplied throughout history. Nevertheless, there is really nothing upon which to assume that the Temple establishment was anything but vehemently opposed to Jesus of Nazareth, and for very good reason. In fact, many scholars suggest that the "triumphal entry": when Jesus came to Jerusalem and climbed the Temple Mount—was an idealized account of an attempted "coupe" on his part. That Jesus went to the Temple intent on ridding it of the ruling Hasmonean House of Ciaphus. The Romans had no qualms about supporting the ruling priest's wished and sanctioning an execution of the Galilean prophet: Galileans were generally known as backwards, over-zealous troublemakers in the first place, and besides, the kind of following that Jesus was amassing and his incessant talk of a "Kingdom of God" would have been enough to convince them that he needed to be silenced. Messing with the "social and religious order" in ancient times was very, very serious business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
...As I've repeated numerous times throughout this thread, I find it perfectly acceptable to teach creationism privately in homes, churches, Sunday schools, and other places of worship -- just keep it out of the science curriculum in publicly-funded schools.
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Absolutely agree without any equivocation.