Seriously, I don't get what the big deal is about the new discovery of the Hebrew inscriptions on a stone. Here's the story from today's NYT. Excerpt:
A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.
Perhaps I'm dim, but I don't see what the big deal is. Here's the gist, from a scholar quoted in the story:
"This should shake our basic view of Christianity," he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. "Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.
But there are elements in the Jesus story -- and in other stories in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) -- that have analogues in other traditions. If this new discovery proves to be exactly what some think it is, so what? How does that falsify the resurrection of Jesus? It certainly makes it easier to believe that the Jesus cultists, so to speak, made it all up. But couldn't you say the same thing about the messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible -- that Jesus's followers, knowing about the prophecies as part of the Jewish tradition, adapted the story of their Lord's life and death and resurrection to fit those prophecies? I mean, if you're determined to disbelieve, there are plenty of reasons to disbelieve. And if you're determined to believe, material evidence doesn't much matter, does it?
My reaction to this latest news is, "Ho hum." But maybe I fail to grasp its true significance. What say you?
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I AM ANOTHER BELIEVER, GRATEFUL EACH DAY THAT MY SAVIOR DID RISE AND DOES MAKE EVERY DAY A BLESSING!!!!!
I believe " He said it I believe it and thats good enough for me. Jesus rose from the grave was seen by a lote of people and lives forever believe as you want if I'm wrong I've lost nothing If I'm right you've lost everything
Jesus is not a retelling of Mithras or any other pagan god.
That became famous because of the DaVinci code, however no real scholars believed that. On the internet there are tons of bogus websites that people believe to be real.
Always check the source. Scholars do not see the connection.
Mithras was not born of a virgin, but out of the side of a rock wall.
He did not walk on water, he was a fierce warrior & military commander.
He did not have 12 disciples, he had 2.
Mithras killed a bull, died & went to heaven.... how is that atonement for sins or similar to Jesus at all?
The Mithras comparison to Jesus has been invented after the fact & if one truly researches finds that the attributes given to Mithras by people of this theory are not found in ancient records or good research.
The best argument I can offer to academics who don't want to accept the historical evidence of Jesus is the argument of a man far smarter and better read than myself. Read Josh McDowell's Evidence for Christianity. It is a fascinating book that made me realize that one's intellect cannot and should not be divorced from their acceptance of Christianity. Believers and non-believers will be impressed by McDowell's work.
This is not new information, the documentary Zeitgeist (which is online and on youtube) covers this.
Both Osiris and Dionysus (who was "the Vine" long before the evangelists placed the words "I am the Vine" in Jesus' lips) had communion sacraments identical to Yeshua's with wine and bread. Both were dying and resurrecting Men Gods.
I think the reason why this is all coming to light now (as well as the Tablets of Amarna, where we learned that Eve was originally the Hurrian Goddess and Mother of all Living, whom the Jews appropriated and turned into the Mother of all humans. She is a recycled myth) is because of the 2012 gate where there will be a new mythical cycle that will begin: but the old one must crumble first.
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