Christ Myth – Jericho Brisance

Taking Easter Seriously, an Infographic

March 28, 2021 by Matt 8 Comments

It is that time of year again, and so I am reposting the popular “Taking Easter Seriously” infographic.

Many Christians read the Easter stories year upon year, as I did for several decades, yet we never compare them in detail. As a consequence, we often do not realize that they are not telling the same story. There are indeed contradictions in the texts, but it is very important to move beyond “mere contradiction” — the issues with the gospels are far more extensive than that. Comparison against the historical record and assessing the gospels for trends of legend development are probably far more crucial. As with many non-believers, I left Christianity specifically because of the Bible, and because I considered and examined its content very seriously indeed.

Perhaps it is time for more Christians to take the Bible and our Easter stories seriously.

[Click Image for Full Size Version (PNG), Use Ctrl+ and Ctrl- to adjust zoom.] or [PDF Version ] or [Greek Version]

I am indebted to scholars like Bart Ehrman, Marcus Borg, Richard Carrier, and many others, without whom I would no doubt continue in my own past failures to take Easter seriously. And as always, I look to improve the accuracy of my work wherever possible. Please reply with any factual errors found, and I will correct appropriately. Thanks.

Also See: Infographic for New Testament Timeline

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[In other words, feel free to pass along, distribute, etc., just don’t repackage it and sell it. Thanks!]

References: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Multimedia, Religion Tagged With: Apologetic, Bart Ehrman, Bible Contradictions, Christ Myth, Christianity, Crucifixion, Easter, Easter Contradictions, Easter Infographic, Good Friday, Gospels, Historicity, Inerrancy, Inerrantist, Infallibility, Infographic, Jesus, Marcus Borg, Myth, Mythology, New Testament, Resurrection, Richard Carrier, Robert Price

Taking Easter Seriously – Revised & Enhanced

April 2, 2015 by Matt 40 Comments

It is that time of year again, and so I am reposting the popular “Taking Easter Seriously” infographic. This 2015 version includes slight enhancements and corrections to the prior version.

Many Christians read the Easter stories year upon year, as I did for several decades, yet we never compare them in detail. As a consequence, we often do not realize that they are not telling the same story. There are indeed contradictions in the texts, but it is very important to move beyond “mere contradiction” — the issues with our gospels are far more extensive than that. Comparison against the historical record and assessing the gospels for trends of legend development are probably far more crucial. As with many non-believers, I left Christianity specifically because of the Bible, and because I considered and examined its content very seriously indeed.

Perhaps it is time for more Christians to take the Bible and our Easter stories seriously.

[Click Image for Full Size Version (PNG), Use Ctrl+ and Ctrl- to adjust zoom.] or [PDF Version ] or [Greek Version]

I am indebted to scholars like Bart Ehrman, Marcus Borg, & Richard Carrier, without whom I would no doubt continue in my own past failures to take Easter seriously. And as always, I look to improve the accuracy of my work wherever possible. Please reply with any factual errors found, and I will correct appropriately. Thanks.

Also See: Infographic for New Testament Timeline

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[In other words, feel free to pass along, distribute, etc., just don’t repackage it and sell it. Thanks!]

References: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Religion Tagged With: Apologetic, Bart Ehrman, Bible Contradictions, Christ Myth, Christianity, Crucifixion, Easter, Easter Contradictions, Easter Infographic, Good Friday, Gospels, Historicity, Inerrancy, Inerrantist, Infallibility, Infographic, Jesus, Marcus Borg, Myth, Mythology, New Testament, Resurrection, Richard Carrier, Robert Price

Infographic: Taking Easter Seriously

April 18, 2014 by Matt 215 Comments

Many Christians read the Easter stories year upon year, as I did for several decades, yet we never compare them in detail. As a consequence, we often do not realize that they are not telling the same story. There are indeed contradictions in the texts, but it is very important to move beyond “mere contradiction” – the issues with our gospels are far more extensive than that. Comparison against the historical record and assessing the gospels for trends of legend development are probably far more crucial. As with many non-believers, I left Christianity specifically because of the Bible, and because I considered and examined its content very seriously indeed.

Perhaps it is time for more Christians to take the Bible and our Easter stories seriously.

[Click Image for Full Size Version. Use Ctrl+ and Ctrl- to adjust zoom.]

As always, I look to improve the accuracy of my work wherever possible. Please reply with any factual errors found, and I will correct appropriately. Thanks.

Also See: Infographic for New Testament Timeline

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[In other words, feel free to pass along, distribute, etc., just don’t repackage it and sell it. Thanks!]

References: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Multimedia, Resources Tagged With: Apologetic, Bible Contradictions, Christ Myth, Christianity, Crucifixion, Easter, Easter Contradictions, Easter Infographic, Good Friday, Gospels, Historicity, Inerrancy, Inerrantist, Infallibility, Infographic, Jesus, Myth, Mythology, New Testament, Resurrection

Dangled Over a Flame: Jews and Jesus Among Pagan Gods

September 28, 2013 by Matt 16 Comments

Justin Martyr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Justin Martyr provides an interesting look at apologetics in the century following Jesus’ life. His First Apology was dated to between 147 and 161 AD. Greek and Roman god worship was alive and well, and Christianity was trying to grow from the same cultural earth as these various competing religions.

To make his case, Martyr compares Christian claims about Jesus to the existent mythology of the culture. It must be noted that the pagan themes and beliefs pre-existed Christianity. They were antecedent, and Christian doctrine blossomed against this backdrop.

Martyr makes it clear that the pagans already had themes that appear in Christianity, for he makes the argument in several ways that “we propound nothing different from what you believe”, and he addresses several key areas:

The Word
Sonship
Divine Conception
Suffering and Death
Resurrection and Ascension

Martyr’s leading argument (all emphasis following mine):

And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Books, Quotations Tagged With: Christ Myth, Historical Jesus, Justin Martyr, New Testament

Taking Easter Seriously, an Infographic

Taking Easter Seriously – Revised & Enhanced

Infographic: Taking Easter Seriously

Dangled Over a Flame: Jews and Jesus Among Pagan Gods

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