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Hi tow,
You will only accept personal testimony?
We have the writings of his close disciples.
Can you believe or do you need to put your hand in the wounds?Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Quote (Nick Hassan @ Jan. 03 2008,16:56) Hi tow,
You will only accept personal testimony?No, I will accept testimony of the Tanakh saying that the King Messiah will be killed, sent to heaven for at least 1900 years, and then return some day. That will be sufficient.
Quote We have the writings of his close disciples.
Can you believe or do you need to put your hand in the wounds?They did not write those. The people who wrote the gospels were anonymous and wrote 30-70 years after Jesus died.
Quote Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.
You mean “blessed are those who accept fiction as reality”.Hi tow,
Just as well you are here to show the way then?
Though the darkness you offer does not compare with the light we carry.
And you have no idea about direction having thrown away one map and torn the other and refused the light of ChristInteresting read: http://www.theskepticalreview.com/tsrmag/4zoroa94.html
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The similarities don't end with eschatology either. A lot of the tradition and sacramental ritual of Christianity, particularly Catholicism, traces back to Zoroastrian precursors. The Zoroastrian faithful would mark their foreheads with ash before approaching the sacred fire, a gesture that resembles Ash Wednesday tradition. Part of their purification before participating in ritual was the confession of sins, categorized (as Catholics do) as consisting of thought, word, or deed. Zoroastrians also had a Eucharistic ritual, the Haoma ritual, in which the god Haoma, or rather his presence, was sacrificed in a plant. The worshipers would drink the juice in expectation of eventual immortality. Finally, Zoroastrians celebrated All Souls' Day, reflecting, like the Catholics, a belief in intercession by and for the dead. We should also note that the story of the Magi, who were said to have visited the newborn Jesus, resembles an earlier story of Magi who looked for a star foretelling the birth of a Savior, in this case Mithras. Magi were not kings but Zoroastrian astrologers, and the birthday of Mithras on December 25th was deliberately appropriated by the church to be that of their Christ, whose actual date of birth is unknown and undocumented.Christianity may also have borrowed the story of the temptation in the desert, since an earlier legend placed Zarathustra himself in that situation. The principal demon (Ahriman) promised Zarathustra earthly power if he would forsake the worship of the supreme God. Ahriman, like Satan when tempting Jesus, failed.
A final interesting parallel is the three days that Jesus spent in the grave. This concept may have been derived from a Zoroastrian belief that the soul remains in the body for three days before departing. Three days would have established death yet left his soul in a position to reanimate his body. As a Messiah, Jesus functioned purely along Zoroastrian lines. While purportedly of the Davidic line, he offered only redemption from sin, rather than national salvation for the Jews. He was a world savior rather than a Jewish Messiah. Jews did not recognize him as their Messiah, and in a real sense he wasn't. Their Messianic expectations, which preceded any foreign influence, went unfulfilled; in fact, their nation was ultimately destroyed. Neither did Jesus effect a final triumph over Evil. This has been reserved for a second coming in conjunction with the last judgment and the rewards and punishments of either Heaven or Hell.
===========================================Quote (Nick Hassan @ Jan. 03 2008,18:54) Hi tow,
Just as well you are here to show the way then?
Though the darkness you offer does not compare with the light we carry.
And you have no idea about direction having thrown away one map and torn the other and refused the light of Christ
Your light needs batteries. Or perhaps a new flashlight altogether.Hi tow,
You should not confuse the folly of the harlot with Christ.
He has overcome the devil though the completed victory is not seen yet
He did not come as a political saviour 2000 years ago but will rule the earth when he returns.Here is some more from http://altreligion.about.com/library/faqs/bl_zoroastrianism.htm
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Zoroastrians believe that time is divided into three ages, those of creation, the current era of mixed good and evil, and the coming era, when Ahura-Mazda will triumph, evildoers will be punished, and the good will go to heaven. It is an apocalyptic religion, like Christianity. However, unlike most Christian views of hell, Zoroastrians believe it to be a temporary abode, where sinners are cleansed by fire. (much like the Catholic concept of purgatory.)The impending appearance of the Sayoshant, or savior, is expected to usher in the final judgement of man, resurrect the faithful, and defeat evil for eternity. This savior is expected of the line of Zoroaster, and to be born of a virgin.
==================================Quote (Nick Hassan @ Jan. 03 2008,19:16) Hi tow,
Just as well we do not follow them.
Is satan not the smartest imitator?
So Satan imitated Christ way before Christ came along? Yes, yes, that makes sense.Seems Satan is still more powerful than your god.
Hi tow,
Well he had the power and kingdoms of earth in his hands
and he still mainipulates those who think they are too clever for the way of Christ.
Better to be poor and simple and ignorant as then there is the hope of new transforming life.Hi tow,
That would leave you high and dry.
No you and I need every word from the mouth of God.
Let the NT reveal the OTOr in your case let the OT be used only when it can obliquely lead to a belief in Jesus. The rest of the time it is old and worn out, to be discarded and replaced by the new.
New wine is better right Nick?
Enjoy your Boone's Farms Strawberry Hill.
“The early converts knew that they might at any time be called upon to undergo death for their religion. . . . Every early writer advocating Christianity, by the fact of his advocacy, braved the civil power, and rendered himself liable to a similar fate. When faith is a matter of life and death, men do not lightly take up with the first creed which happens to hit their fancy; nor do they place themselves openly in the ranks of a persecuted sect, unless they have well weighed the claims of the religion which it professes, and convinced themselves of its being the truth. It is clear that the early converts had means of ascertaining the historic accuracy of the Christian narrative very much beyond ourselves; they could examine and cross-question the witnesses—compare their several accounts—inquire how their statements were met by their adversaries—consult Heathen documents of the time—thoroughly and completely sift the evidence. . . . All this together—and it must be remembered that the evidence is cumulative—constitutes a body of proof such as is seldom producible with respect to any events belonging to remote times; and establishes beyond all reasonable doubt the truth of the Christian Story. In no single respect . . . has that story a mythic character. It is a single story, told without variation, whereas myths are fluctuating and multiform; it is blended inextricably with the civil history of the times, which it every where represents with extraordinary accuracy, whereas myths distort or supersede civil history; it is full of prosaic detail, which myths studiously eschew; it abounds with practical instruction of the plainest and simplest kind, whereas myths teach by allegory. . . . Simple earnestness, fidelity, painstaking accuracy, pure love of truth, are the most patent characteristics of the New Testament writers, who evidently deal with facts, not with fancies . . . They write ‘that we may know the certainty of those things’ which were ‘most surely believed’ in their day.”
The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records, pages 225, 227-8.
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