Jesus and Mohammed were just another swindle. ( Archived) (19)

Indeed, I find I get along with red letter Christians very well. However, the "soldiers' That come from some of the heart land (see the documentary called "Jesus Camp" for details) scare the hell out of me. From what I can tell strictly off of the red letters, Jesus was a man of compassion that taught only intrinsic rewards will lead to a fulfilling life. Then I see the "solider" raising and begging for money by these huge evangelistic christian churches and I can only see a group of people that missed the point and a wolf preying on other's wallets.

No it isn't!!!!!!!!

*loads up ammunition and grenades to the teeth*

I will show you my god loves mankind more than any other!! He is way more forgiving then yours!!

*sharpens and fixes bayonet*

Once I am done with you you will clearly see how my God is more loving then yours!!!

Also true. The importance of the church did not come till the gospel John was written (about 80 years after Jesus' death). It is the oldest of the accepted new testament gospels, most quoted, and least likely (none are all that likely) to be written by an actual disciple.

However, that was a time where the followers of Jesus did not have any organization and where being martyred and persecuted. It would make sense to have a gospel that called the groups together under one roof as a survival technique at that time.

I suggest doin a study of how and when the gospels were written, and not just the ones that where added into the bible, but the 20 some others that were decided to be false some 300 years after Jesus died by the Ceasar Constitine. I think you will find allot of it makes a little more sense to why some things were added to the teachings of Jesus by external sources.

like what

Well, much like how eating pork was a sin in the old testament but magically became OK over time. Values and knowledge change. People learned how to cook pork and not get sick, and all of a sudden it is no longer an evil thing to do.

Remember, the bible that is popular today is one put together by the Romans 300 years after Jesus died. Christianity was more of a movement with many different groups with different views on who Jesus was. Constitine and a group of monks decided on what books to include in the bible and attempted to burn all the others that painted Jesus in a different picture. These discoveries of the lost gospels (20 or so in total, only 4 accepted into the bible) have been found. Known as the Nag Hammadi library were discovered in Egypt in 1945. These are some of the gospels that Constitine failed to destroy.

My point is, between Jesus' Death and the man made decision of what books where accepted as the current cannon of the new testament, different social values, pressures, and pieces that just didn't fit to put together a cohesive story caused many books written on Jesus' life (gospels) to be taken out of the final product of the bible.

For example, the book of John is the newest of the 4 accepted gospels. It is highly unlikely that the disciple John actually wrote it since it did not come out to around 90 AD. John would have to have been 140 years old in a time were people only lived to be around 50-55. No one really knows who did write it. However, John adds a much more grandiose Jesus than other gospels. It introduces the concept of hell, the importance of the church for salvation, and is much more stern on God's judgment and separating yourself away from "evil doers". Where Jesus' life was focused on directly helping "evil doers".

In contrast, the Gnostic gospels (some written around the same time as John) preached that Jesus made each individual unique so that individual would full fill a goal that God would want them to full fill in their life. That only by a direct relationship with God can you find guidance to what your life should be about. This is direct contrast with the book of John which says go to church or be damned. Again, in that time frame Christians were being killed by the Romans, and the loose association a Gnostic Christianity provided made those Christians easy targets, and the ones that survived were the ones that bonded together. At the time, the man that chiefed that ideology was named Irenaeus and was one of the key factors in the survival of Christian ideology.