exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Try "Who Wrote the New Testament?" by Mack.
It is a scholarly book though, NOT a religious text, so you are going to be struck with science and facts rather than religious fervor.
Jesus the Palestinian was a Pharisee who ran 3 'Jesus Schools' that taught traditional practical knowledge - like where to put the well in relation to the community toilet when establishing a settlement. After the fall of Masada, the remnants of the 'christ cult' joined up with the 'Jesus schools' to survive the Roman crackdown.
Constantine and his mom censored and edited the New Testament to pretty much its present form while executing their book burning campaign to usher in the Dark Ages. There is a great passage in the text concerning how she walked through Jerusalem trailing monks and nuns, pointing out places that she figured were the sacred places mentioned in the religious texts. As she went on pointing these out, a monk or nun would stop and mark its location for future religious use.
So was the historical Jesus actually a "carpenter"? Lots of forests in Palestine were there? Lots of buildings made of wood? I haven't seen many of those there.Stone though, lots of it. That would then make it more probable that he was a mason then, wouldn't it?
Romans, like the Egyptians, kept very detailed written records or important events, like public executions. No record of Jesus the Palestinian being executed though. Also, conquered peoples were not Roman citizens and as such did not pay Roman taxes. There was no census taken of non Roman citizens as there was no need, though if there had been one it would have been recorded in official records, which it was not. :hmm:
Guess I shouldn't even mention that the actual people who built the pyramids were skilled Egyptian laborers who were paid for their work, lived, died and were buried in a special pyramid workers city at the work site. We have found their city and their bodies. No Jewish slave laborers to lead out of slavery while killing Pharaoh Ramses ll at the tender young age of 32 either. He made it to 93 by written historic records. Guess the Torah writers missed that bit, eh?
If I had to choose between the written Qumran texts, Roman & Egyptian records and a bunch of hand-me-down oral tradition heavily censored religious books put together by folks with an agenda to push, I would have to forgo the religious stuff in favor of the official records.
However, your' mileage may differ.![]()
Thanks for the tip. I'll look into this.