The 22 Psalm was written about 900 years before Christ and it chronicles his crucifixion down to the roman soldiers gambling for his clothes.Don't know if that is proof for everyone ,but it is proof enough for me.Christ even qoutes the 22 psalm has he was dieing. On the subject of cults, acouple of pretty mainstream religious beliefs come to mind. 1] the one sign christ said he would give to prove he was the messiah..three days and three nights{72 hours} before he would be resurrected.Most mainstream churches teach good friday to sunday morning ,which is only a day and a half{ 36 hours tops}.he was actually crucified on a wednesday,body placed in tomb before sundown.Next day was the high sabbath day of the passover{they rested}.Friday ,they purchsed the oils and spices to prepare his body.Saturday ,they rested again ...regular weekly sabbath.Mary checked the tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week{sunday}while it was still dark.Did she witness a sunrise resurrection? NO..By checking it in the morning ,she was going to miss his resurrection by about 8 hours...he would have arisen three days and three nights from wednesday just before sundown,which would have been saturday,just before sundown. I have seen a few churches get this right,although some of their other teachings border on ridiculous. Herbert w Armstong's worldwide church of god comes to mind. 2}the rapture theory ... I saw a poll of christians who believe in the Rapture...54 % do... This is a teaching started in 1830 by a mentally ill woman named Margaret Macdonald in Glasgow,Scotland.She began to have dreams and visions and people started to gather around her town.2 preachers {John Nelson Darby and Edward Irving} latched on to the dreams of this woman and began to teach it as the gospel...At any moment Christ could return and wisk his believers out of here. They use a couple of verses from 1 thess ch 4 ...and matthew ch 24 taken entirely out of context to uphold this theory. Teachers of this bs now include Swaggart ,Oral Roberts ,Robert Tilton,John Hagee,Jesse Duplantis ,Benny Hinn ,Joyce Meyer,etc ,etc
Yesterday, in Garland (a suburb of Dallas), two guys who owned a Christian music recording studio were murdered. Last night, the wife of one of the guys was interviewed, and in a twangy, Evangelical voice said, "My only hope is that my husband meets his killer in heaven, so he can shake his hand and forgive him." She wasn't crying, she said this matter-of-factly. I figured she was going to say, "My only hope is that the killer is brought to justice." Nope. She spouted off something that I guess she thought she "should" say as a Christian. My problem with that line of bullchit is: her husband and the father of her two young children just died at the hands of an evil man, and she comes out with this "forgiveness" in heaven nonsense. It struck a nerve with me, and I was reminded of this thread. She seemed in a trance, which is understandable, under the circumstances, but did she really MEAN what she said, or did she say that because her church might EXPECT her to?
Seems to go against our natural reaction, and perhaps it does. Regardless of her sincerity, it signifies a belief that the physical world is one to be endured. Death is a release from the pain/suffering/temptation/trial of the physical world and not viewed as a bad thing. You can find this theme echoed in other religions. Hard to step in her shoes and think that way for me, as much as I would like to forgive someone. But I can't deny that I have met people that were like this. I suppose some may seem brainwashed, but the people I know like this don't appear to be. Someday we may know if it matters...or not.
Why would he do that? Why not reveal his mysteries to each and every person on the planet in the same fashion? It reminds me of one of my favorite grafitti poems and response. [initial poem] How odd Of God To choose The Jews [response] But not as odd as those that choose A Jewish God Yet spurn the Jews Ooooh, we've been here before. Papal infallibility. Holy men. Holy books. Let's not go there again, just yet . . . These do not date from the era of Jesus and are religious texts, not "historical evidence". I do not question the existence of Jesus, he probably existed, just that there is not any historical evidence. It's another one of those faith things.
The Qumran texts do not mention Jesus, nor do any contemporary Roman texts, even though the Romans were meticulous record-keepers.
This is beyond my ability to understand. He gave the world an outlet to salvation. Why he mediated our salvation through a people and did not communicate it to each person is not something I understand. Not where I was intending to go. You asked about the nature of the Holy Spirit and its purpose. That's all I gave you. I don't think you looked at the source I submitted very well. The quotes are from works of the late first and early second century and were histories written by historians. You asked for historical evidence the man existed, so that is what you got.
