Posted: Jan 10, 2017 12:49 am
DavidMcC wrote:
This whole thread is missing the point. It is a historical fact that there were many little religious sects around in Roman-occupied Palestine, some of them aimed at resisting the Romans, so the early Christians would have been one of them..
duvduv wrote:...an entire industry exists to support the idea of Christianity in the first or second century in Judea, when not a shred of evidence exists that such a sect even existed then.
DavidMcC wrote:
No. The real "so what?" is that one of the many sects exising in Palestine during the Roman occupation was one that ended up being exploited by emperor Augustus (who modified it, of course). Surely, you are not denying that such sects existed?
duvduv wrote:No evidence exists for the existence of any Christian communities in Judea. Period. Of course none exists for Galatia, Thessalonika, etc. either.
DavidMcC wrote:
They probably weren't called "Christians" (even in Aramaic), but you surely aren't denying that there were religious sects around that attempted to resist Roman occupation, and that one of these spread during subsequent years (eg, to Ireland, which had the first Christian monks, AFAIK).
DavidMcC wrote:
... Anyhow, where and how DO you claim that Christianity arose? You seem to be simply saying that history is bunk, period.
David, you're the one making the claim that "the early Christians would have been one of" "many little religious sects around in Roman-occupied Palestine" "that ended up being exploited by emperor Augustus".
The burden of proof is an ethic: "they who aver must prove". Over to you.