Quotes, Vocab and Interesting observations renown scholars Flashcards
According to Dr. Ernest Becker’s book, “Denial of Death”, mankind has this super fear of death. Therefore all the civilizations from the beginning of time have invented their “Immortality Strategy”.
What did Philosopher/Anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach (b. 1804, d. 1872, Germany) have to say about religion not being from a God, but rather it is man-made?
Ludwig Feuerbach: Theology as Anthropology
The idea that religion is not something instituted by God, but rather is man-made, can be traced back to ancient Greece. It was not until the 18th Century, however, that it began to seem possible to finally prove what had previous been mere speculation. Ludwig Feuerbach, drawing on Hegelian philosophy, set out the idea that the process by which religion was invented was wish-fulfilment. God, according to Feuerbach, it’s projection is the strongest desires of humanity.
For Feuerbach, much of the appeal of Christianity lies in its promise of immortality. Human beings have many fears, but most of all we fear death. Christianity, in promising eternal life, offers to take this fear away from us. If we are willing to buy into religion, then we can escape from our fear, and live in blissful ignorance of our mortality. This accounts for the attractiveness of religion, the strength of its grip on human minds.
Of course, for this process to work we cannot consciously decide to adopt a religion as a means of escaping from our fears. No, the decision must be unconscious; it is the unconscious mind that drives us to religion.
To understand God, on this view, one must understand human psychology; as Feuerbach put it, “theology is anthropology”.
What is known as the Feuerbach Principle?
Feuerbach Principle: With the millions of Gods in today’s world, people think the God they grew up to worship is the correct and only real God and simply discount all the other Gods as make-believe. But to them, their God is the real God and their religion is the true religion!
Referring to Ludwig Feuerbach.
What did Nobel prize winner, Dr. Albert Schwitzer (b. 1875, d. 1965) say about Jesus of Nazareth never existing, and that he is only a Theological construct?
The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906) . The fact that Christianity started as a Jewish apocalyptic movement is evidenced by the teachings of the Historical Jesus concerning the end of days. Not only did he preach he would rise from the grave, but that he would also ascend to the Heaven and one day return to judge and rule over the world, saying that no one, including himself, knew the exact time of his return, but it would be before the end of his generation. Schweitzer verified the many New Testament references clearly explaining that 1st century Christians believed in the imminent fulfillment of the promise of the World’s ending, within the lifetime of Jesus’s original followers. He noted that in the gospel of Mark, Jesus speaks of a “tribulation”, with his coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (St Mark), and states when it will happen: “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (St Matthew, 24:34) (or, “have taken place” (Luke 21:32)) In The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Schweitzer observes the Bible contradicting the possibility of important events that never took place and never can take place as they are described;
Jesus specifically states that we are to “not seal up the words of the prophecy” and promises that some of his listeners as well as the high priest at his trial would be alive to see him return to the Earth.“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Saint Paul spoke of the “last times”: “Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none” (1 Corinthians 7:29); “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”(Hebrews 1:2); “There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28) (or, “until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (Mark 9:1); or, “till they see the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:27).) Schweitzer continues writing in The Quest of the Historical Jesus that it is totally unreasonable to think that “coming quickly”, “near”, and “soon” could mean hundreds of years, much less, thousands of years in the future. “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3) “And he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true’; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bondservants the things which must soon take place.”
“And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near” (Revelation 22:6, 7, 10, 12). “All these things shall come upon this generation” (Matthew 23:36). Schweitzer concludes that the 1st-century theology, originating in the lifetimes of those who first followed Jesus, is totally incompatible with modern Christian belief. In The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Schweitzer notes the passage “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3) Similarly in St Peter: “Christ .. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:20), and “But the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20). (Again, note N.T. Wright, ibid.) Schweitzer felt that St. Paul clearly believed in the immediacy of the “Second Coming of Jesus”, in stark contrast to modern organized Christianity.
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 is a figure designed by rationalism, endowed with life by liberalism, and clothed by modern theology in a historical garb. This image has not been destroyed from outside; it has fallen to pieces.
The Bible says the high priest and some of the disciples of Jesus will still be alive on Earth when his second coming arrives. What are the verses?
Ref: Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Jesus Mysteries.
- Matt 16:28
- Matt 23:36
- Matt 24:34
- Mark 9:1
- Luke 9:27
- Luke 21:32
- Rev 1:3
Seven times in scripture. It has been 2,000 years. Get a clue!
Some salient points in “Forged” by Bart D. Ehrman
p. 23. People didn’t have surnames. Many, many were named common names John, Paul, Jude, Peter. Therefore their book was not a forgery but was homonymous Later people decided it must be John the apostle, for example, writing Revelations.
1/3 of NT books were authored anonymously then centuries later given an apostle’s name.
These are examples of “Pseudepigraphy”
[MN: I do not need to read this book, but it contains many of the 24 gospels removed from the canon. It has good info, but who would I share it with?]
P. 81 Only the very elite could read and fewer still could write. Today people learn reading and writing together. The entire world was 90% plus iliterate until the Industrial age.
Most ancient people who could read could not even copy writing! (much less the poor disciples of Jesus.
[MN: Galations states that Peter and John both are iliterate.]
Even Bart D. Ehrman can read Greek, Hebrew, French and German but cannot compose a simple sentence in any of them.
Quotes
“There is zero evidence for an afterlife.” PZ Meyers Skeptic
“Feelings are not facts.” Goliath Ep #8.
“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free!” John 8:32. This is the skeptics guideline to seek the truth, not buying into religious claims on their own merit.
“Religion is the largest psychological hoax the human race has ever seen!” BN
Quote: Ted Koppel “Unfaithfully yours” Jim and Tammy Bakker expose Dateline 20/20.
“Religion, sex, money. That kind of stuff. We have always been suckers for that kind of stuff, and we always will be.” – Ted Koppel
Theology Vocabulary
Midrash: N. Drash like trash. An example of Midrash is like they take something written in the Old Testament, rewrite using their modern feelings of what it relates to now, or showing that it fulfills a prophesy, then write it in the New Testament. It is basically a typology.Pseudepigrapha: N. The plural of pseudepigraphon. Sue Dah PIG rah fah. Usually used in the plural form. This word is a variation of the word Pseudonymous. Pseudepigrapha means someone wrote, for example in the Bible, a book but used a famous person’s name as the author instead of their own. This was very common in ancient days to give their writings enormous clout and super high status. “Most of Paul’s writings are pseudepigrapha as are all the gospels.”
Authenticity: N. Something that is not false or imitation: Real, actual. “The painting’s authenticity was verified by the expert.”
Apocryphal: ADJ. ah POCK rah full. Usually something that has widespread belief as true, yet it is false. Like fake news. Of doubtful authenticity; Spurious. apocryphal books of the Bible.
“History repeats itself but Theology repeats everything!
They make replicas!”
Names, stories, dates, events and miracles.
This is called synthesizing a God. They take a popular God from another land or time in history and replicate names, stories, dates, events and miracles. They rename the God. They repurpose the God’s attributes. They change the stories, ….. sometimes. They make their new synthesized God the most powerful God in the world, therefore he is the one true God.
This happened all throughout history and today in the Western civilization, it gave us Jesus!
Why are so many events in the Bible associated with the number 40?
e.g.:
- Jesus fasted for 40 days.
- Jesus walked the grounds for 40 days after he was risen.
- Moses was on the mountain talking to God for 40 days.
- Moses led the Jews for 40 years in the desert.
Back in ancient days everything was tied to the Zodiac. The Sun would take 40 days to travel from the Pisces, fish constellation to the Aquarius constellation. This was considered a supernatural number, therefore they used it all over the Bible stories.
Quotes:
“Insight of Religion.
Gods and religions are a psychological by-product of the human mind. Man by nature is full of fears. His largest fear has always been the fear of dying.
Hence every civilization in history has invented their ‘IMMORTALITY STRATEGY’ to escape the clutches of death. Using this ‘IMMORTALITY STRATEGY’, they live out their life in blissful ignorance surpressing reality. “ – BN January 28, 2018 [inspired by my studies]
“Rather than blurting it out and shocking the person. I find it better to present concerns that the whole thing doesn’t hold water, then let them find the leaks!” – Brian Greene, author of The fabric of the cosmos.
