Uh yup!! That’s a category five inside joke.
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Whew! This is a mighty long thread, and I haven’t seen this much of a wall of text about a “mythical Christian solar god” since I accidentally visited /r/atheism on Reddit.
Anyway, I hope this helps, everyone.
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Believe it or not, I wrote the first reply! But I decided not to post it. About a quarter to a third of my posts get deleted if I think they re-read poorly.
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Congratulations on your wise choice. BTW, I think The Work Outing might be my favorite episode of any TV show ever.
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You make some intriguing and interesting points. Religion may be mythical, but one thing that is factual is the Roman Empire’s use of crucifixion and scourging as a form of brutal and sadistic capital punishment.
Death by Roman Crucifixion
Death by Roman crucifixion was a result of the whole body weight being supported by the stretched arms. When nailed to the cross there was a massive strain put on the wrists, arms and shoulders often resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and elbow joints. The rib cage was constrained in a fixed position, which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and impossible to take a full breath. The victim would continually try to draw himself up by his feet to allow for inflation of the lungs enduring terrible pain in his feet and legs. The pain in the feet and legs became unbearable and the victim was forced to trade breathing for pain. The length of time required to die from crucifixion could range from hours to a number of days.
Roman Crucifixion - The Cause of Death
The main cause of death by Roman crucifixion was due to asphyxiation. Asphyxiation results from lack of exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide due to respiratory failure or disturbance, resulting in insufficient brain oxygen, which leads to unconsciousness and death. The execution method of Roman Crucifixion could produce death from a number of other causes, including physical shock caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion shock from the process of being nailed to the cross, dehydration or exhaustion.
Roman Crucifixion - The Method and Process of Roman Crucifixion
The practice of scourging appears to have formed a part of this, as with of other capital punishments among the Romans. The Romans used a whip for scourging called a flagrum, which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. The skin of the back was ripped to the bone from scourging
The first 4:32 seconds of the following video is an interesting lesson and demonstration into the types of crucifixions that took place in Rome–the rest of the video descends into the myth of Jesus and his crucifixion.
Crucifixion Facts
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While it may not be watertight by any means, I do find the attempts to portray Jesus as the fulfilment of prophesy very interesting. It’s not like the Jewish scriptures are much better by themselves, in any case. The Christian story manages both to echo the Jewish scriptures and subvert Jewish belief, focusing on areas that portray Jews as not as special as they thought and opening this belief up to people of other nations who do not need to be subservient to Jewish law (which is something that is seen at many points in Jewish scriptures, despite the focus on Jews as a special people). John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul all have fairly dismissive things to say about religious Jews and their expectations of acceptance by God. The Easter week narrative is particularly full of meaning, and seems to revel in dashing Jewish nationalists’ hopes of an improvement in their status and their expectations of a messiah who would be more in line with the Maccabees. There’s really not much vindication of Jewish belief to be found in Christian scriptures, more like that Jews have used up their last chance and are being cut off as God’s people. Of course there are big problems with the Christian interpretation of Jewish prophesy, but I’m really not convinced that this is the only (or even main) reason it would be unpopular among Jews.
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This thread is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever written or will write, we’re gonna write over and over and over again.
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We’re talking about the North kingdom, right? Because the South Kingdom didn’t have nearly as much mixology.
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So, the question is whether or not we’re talking about the historical Jesus, or another historical person of the same name?
Like the claim that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays, it was another person named Shakespeare.
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Didn’t Jesus write Shakespeare?
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The myth of the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that sits in the midst of the Garden of Eden, is a well read and known myth contained in the book of "Genesis’ in the Christian Bible and Tanakh of Judaism.
God orders Adam and Eve to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Both Adam and Eve are nude in the Garden of Eden. Eve, then Adam eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and at that moment each understands good and evil.
In Genesis 3:22 God is talking to other celestial beings or angels in heaven when he states: “Behold, the man is become as one of us,”
God then sends forth Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life and living forever.
There is an older African-Kemetic/Anu myth where a clothed man eats from a Tree of Life located in a Great Lake in the midst of "The Field of Offerings’ where the gods live.
The clothed man in the African-Kemetic/Anu myth eats of the Tree of Life and lives forever like the gods.
Genesis 2:9
9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:6-7, 11-12
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Genesis 3:22-23
22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
The Doctrine of Eternal Life: Papyrus of Ani
He is clothed in the finest raiment, like unto raiment of those who sit on the throne of living right and truth. He thirsts not, nor hungers, nor is sad; he eats the bread of Ra and drinks what he drinks daily, and his bread also is that which is the word of Keb [Geb], and that which comes forth from the mouths of the gods. He eats what the gods eat, he drinks what they drink.… Not only does he eat and drink of their food, but he wears the apparel which they wear.… He goeth to the Great Lake in the midst of the Field of Offerings whereon the great gods sit; and these great and never failing gods give unto him [to eat] of the “Tree of Life” of which they themselves do eat that he likewise may live.… The bread which he eats never decays, and his beer never grows stale. He eats of the “bread of eternity” and drinks of the “beer of everlastingness.”
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I’ve just lost my place in this thread. Where should I start reading from?
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“The Doctrine of Eternal Life” is the title that Budge gives to that section where he discusses Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs. What he and you are quoting from is a set of Pyramid Texts, as evidenced by his sourcing it to a journal, not the Papyrus of Ani.
Regardless, other than the usual complaint about overuse of Budge, you won’t get much from me here as you’re on far firmer grounds with regards to mainstream scholarship than usual. The idea of a tree of life is common in Near Eastern mythologies, and the suggestion that Jewish scribes took inspiration for it from another religion isn’t exactly a controversial one. (Though usually it’s the bits in Proverbs that get compared to Egyptian sources.)
So instead I’m leaving some appropriate Happy Mutant music:
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from as far away as possible?
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The ancient world had a thing for the mythic symbolism of sacred trees.
The Iranian/Sassanid representations with ibexes on either side of the sacred tree are often very lovely:
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You’ll have to start over at post 1. No skipping. Also, try to read it all in one sitting for maximum enjoyment.
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