IMHO, the Gospels could never have been written by Jews, which points only to Greek and Romans. The Romans, such as Tacitus and many others, wrote much fictional things about Jews – e.g. Greek children were sacrificed in the temple, and that he witnessed this numerous times.

[Quote]

SikhSpectrum.com Quarterly Issue No.26, November 2006

Was Jesus & Christianity Invented by Rome?
Joe Atwill

——————————————————————————–

A fact often overlooked by historians is that Christianity’s origins are suspicious. During the entire era in which the religion purportedly emerged; another Jewish messianic movement, called the Sicarii, fought in Judea against imperial Rome. This militaristic movement interpreted –- quite logically — that the same prophecies that the Gospels claim envisioned Jesus, actually predicted the coming of a warrior Messiah who would lead the Jews against Rome. It is unlikely that such a movement would have permitted Jesus, a multicultural and pacifistic “son of David” (Jesus’ philosophy it should be remembered contradicted the original David who was a xenophobic warrior) to have wandered about the Judean countryside teaching his followers to “turn the other cheek” to Roman authority. Further, the Gospels’ literary style is much closer to the popular Greek and Roman romances of the day — that often featured a hero, empty tombs and resurrection scenes — than the ascetic style of writing used throughout the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Given the above, perhaps the most natural suspects for the creation of the Gospels would have been the Roman Caesars. Certainly the most likely of the Caesars would have been the Flavian dynasty, which lasted from 69 – 96 CE, the period when most scholars believe at least some of the Gospels were written. It consisted of three Caesars: Vespasian, and his two sons: Titus and Domitian. Flavius Josephus, a Jew who was an adopted member of the royal family was their official historian and wrote War of the Jews, the history of the family’s war against the Sicarii.

Though overlooked by virtually all of New Testament scholarship, this group should be regarded as the prime suspect for the creation of Christianity because they possessed all of the requirements to have done so. They had a strong financial motivation to replace the militaristic religion of the Sicarii that waged war against them with a pro Roman Messiah cult, they were known to have a staff of intellectuals with the expertise in Judaism and philosophy necessary to write the Gospels, and they possessed the knowledge and bureaucracy required to implement a religion (the Flavians created and maintained a number of religions other than Christianity). Moreover, this royal family was the absolute rulers over the territories where the first Christian congregations began and therefore determined which literature was permitted to circulate in the area.

Further, the Flavians should be considered as the creators of the Gospels simply because the victors write history. Many of Jesus’ “prophecies” are regarding the military victories of the Flavian family. These include the destruction of the Galilean fishing villages, Jerusalem being encircled with a wall, and the leveling of the Temple, which were all “brought to pass” by Titus Flavius during his military campaign through Judea, which concluded with his destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE. Titus was also parallel to the Jesus of the Gospels in that he was a “son of God” -– his father had been declared a “diuus” by the Roman Senate following his death — and he founded religions.

The Flavians are also linked to the origins of Christianity in that a number of royal family members were among the first Christians. In fact, the first Christians for whom there is any archeological evidence were members of the Flavian family. But this begs a question. Why was a cult that advocated poverty and meekness so attractive to a family that practiced neither?

The best known of the “Christian Flavians” was Pope Clement the first –- the Pope who is recorded in early church literature as having been ordained by the Apostle Peter. He is described within the Roman Catholic Encyclopedia as the first Pope about “whom anything definite is known,”[1] and was recorded by early church literature as being a member of the Flavian family. The notion that Pope Clement was a Flavian was recorded in the Acts of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, a fifth or sixth century work based upon even earlier traditions.

Titus’ niece, Flavia Domitilla, was another “Christian Flavian.” In the case of Flavia Domitilla there is extant evidence linking her to Christianity. The oldest Christian burial site in Rome has inscriptions naming her as its founder.

More:

sikhspectrum.c...
[/quote]

The reason we do not have a single relic or contemporary writings of the Gospels, despite that numerous apostles are sited, and that this was a period when writings was commonplace – is because it never happened. The D.S. scrolls put a nail in the coffin of the Gospels by the vaccum seen in this contemporary document, which mentions even minor events like the temple service manual, but nothing whatsoever of any stat of the Gospels. The other nail was that the Gospel does not mention the greatest event in its midst: the sacrifice of 1.2 Million Jews in Rome’s war: this is like a newspaper dated 10/11/01 not mentioning 9/11.

A better question is how old are ‘ARABS’. My research shows that the Arabs, as a definitive ethnic group or race, occured after Greece conquered Persia, namely 2,500 years ago. This means there is no direct connection of Arabs with Abraham and Ishmael – figures who were not Arabian [Mesopotamia was not arabic], and there is no evidence the Arabs ever followed the Abrahamic or Mosaic belief till islam emerged.

There is a reference dated 700 BCE, regarded the first mention of the term Arab [if heavily comprised with], which mentions a word Arabaii, with no follow-up thread to Arabs for 300 years. Even this shows the first mention, if accepted, is still 700 years after Ishmael lived. The term Arab was applied to this group generically, extended from the term Arabia. The Jews, Coptics, Kurds are far older races than the Arabs.

OK, it’s not an atheist book. But is is thoughtful.

There are some things people take on faith.

The argument has always been was Jesus the Christ (son of god) as he claimed. Any Court that would take on this one has nothing else to do. Add anyone who would try to take it to a Court.

My advice to Mr. Cascioli…die with dignity you old fool.