The Fabrication of the Christian Nativity Story. Biblical inconsistencies are smoothed out and covered up so well by theologians that many Christians believe that the Bible tells a reliable and consistent story.
Was Mary really a Virgin? The Virgin Birth is mentioned in New Testament passages, but there are grounds for regarding these mentions as unreliable additions, a fact well known to all theologians, but not generally passed on to the faithful.
Different Christian denominations have different understandings of Mary's virginity. Orthodox Churches refer to her as aeiparthenos (ever-virgin). Roman Catholics and some others state specifically that she remained virgo intacta throughout her life, even during the birth of Jesus*. Others believe that she remained a virgin throughout her life in the sense that she never engaged in sexual intercourse with a man. The Non-Christian Cross. The True Meaning of Lent. The True Meaning of Lent Source: The Real Truth The smell of baked haddock wafts through a parish as local families attend a church-sponsored Friday night dinner together.
Heaps of coleslaw, macaroni salad and mashed potatoes fill diners’ plates, yet no trace of meat products such as beef are to be found. The Lenten season has begun. Unlike New Year’s, Christmas, Halloween, St. Easter – Its Ancient Origins. Easter – Its Ancient Origins Personal from David C.
Pack, Publisher/Editor-In-Chief March 2, 2007 Easter is a worldwide tradition involving many customs that people believe to be Christian. What is the origin of Lent and sunrise services? Most people follow along as they have been taught, assuming that what they believe and do is right. Is Easter Biblical? Is Easter Biblical?
By F. Jaco Viljoen Millions believe this popular festival is connected to Christ’s Resurrection, but do passages within God’s Word prove otherwise? Source: Getty Images/Stockdisc A boy leaps out of bed, filled with excitement. The True Origin of Christmas. The True Origin of Christmas By David C.
Pack Where did Christmas originate? From the Bible or paganism? What is the real origin of Santa Claus—mistletoe—Christmas trees—holly wreaths—and the custom of exchanging gifts? Every year after Thanksgiving, most people's thoughts turn to Christmas. Christmas is thought by most to be a wonderful time, focusing the participants on giving, family togetherness, beautiful music and decorations, feasting on special foods and singing Christmas carols throughout the neighborhood (as my family did every year). Bart Ehrman's 'Misquoting Jesus' Bart Ehrman is both an interesting person and an engaging lecturer.
He speaks well, he writes well, he obviously has a gift for what he does. I like Bart though I find his spiritual pilgimage troubling, and as an alumnus of UNC I am sad to see him as the successor to Bernard Boyd at Carolina. Boyd had such a positive spiritual impact on many persons including myself while at Carolina. In fact I have been told some 5,000 persons went into some kind of ministry as a result of Boyd's decades of teaching the Bible at Carolina. I am however glad Bart is honest about his pilgrimage. His most recent book, "Misquoting Jesus" has now made it to the NY Times bestseller list. Dan Wallace, whom many of you will know if you know the NET Bible or www.bible.org. has now reviewed Ehrman's book which he has graciously agreed to allow me to reprint here.
---------------Review ofBart D. Prof. Bart Ehrman - Misquoting Jesus. Bart D. Ehrman - After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers. Bart Ehrman - The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon. Bart Ehrman - The New Testament - A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Bart Ehrman - The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot. Bart D. Ehrman - Forged: Writing In The Name Of... "Saint Peter" – Fabricated Apostolic commander-in-chief. In reaction to the runaway success of Marcion’s Pauline Christianity, scribes in Rome concocted a sacred history to bolster their own claim to singular authority.
Forged Documents and Papal Power. (A Former Catholic Nun) www.CatholicConcerns.com June 2002 What we now call popes were originally bishops of Rome (one bishop among brother bishops from other cities).
Then they became popes, with power over the entire Church. Then they became so powerful that they were able to depose kings and emperors. Im just going to briefly summarize some information about these forgeries. One of the most famous forgeries is the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, which were written around 845 A.D. The Catholic Encyclopedia admits that these are forgeries. In addition to documents which were total forgeries, genuine documents were altered.
Donation of Constantine. A 13th-century fresco of Sylvester and Constantine, showing the purported Donation.
Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome The Donation of Constantine (Latin, Donatio Constantini) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. Composed probably in the 8th century, it was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy.[1] Lorenzo Valla, an Italian Catholic priest and Renaissance humanist, is credited with first exposing the forgery with solid philological arguments in 1439–1440,[2] although the document's authenticity had been repeatedly contested since 1001.[1] In many manuscripts, including the oldest one, the document bears the title Constitutum domini Constantini imperatoris.[3] Content[edit] Medieval use and reception[edit] Investigation[edit] Origin[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit]
Discourse. Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth by John G.Jackson. POCM Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth. The Criminal History of the Papacy - In 3 parts. The Criminal History of the Papacy Part 1 of 3 Extracted from Nexus Magazine Volume 14, Number 1 (December 2006 - January 2007) Most Catholics go through life and never hear a word of reproach for any pope or member of the clergy. The Catholic historian and Archbishop of New York, John Cardinal Farley (d. c. 1916), subtly admitted that the, "old legends of their dissolute lives may be partly true... that they didn't sternly insist upon sexual virtue and injustice was a general license of the papal court, but it is probable that moral improvement was at the vanguard of their thinking" (Catholic Encyclopedia, Pecci ed., 1897, iii, p. 207).