When the urgency strikes you, you better not lose your nerve.
Today is St. Patrick's day.
Fun Fun, except for the cops everywhere.... hahah.
So lately I've been rather amused by my religious studies class as we are currently learning about Christianity. For any of you who really know me, have probably heard me bitch a few times about this particular religion, but I really didn't mean any offense by it. People are gonna believe what they want to believe, I just want to understand why they put their beliefs in this particular area.
This is what I mean when I say that Christianity is confusing.
The stories of Matthew and Luke are the only two stories in the bible that address the birth of Jesus. That's fine, but the fact that these two stories are completely different just furthers my belief that this religion is the most confusing. These books are back to back in the bible. Here are the stories:
Matthew: Matthew says that Jesus was born in the days of Herod The Great, the king of Judea. Herod died in 4 BCE, Matthew maintains that Jesus was born in 6 BCE. He goes on to say that Mary and David's home was in Bethlehem, they didn't travel there, and that Maji came to visit. (Maji are wise men from the Zoroastrian faith, they typically were astrologers) These Maji brought Jesus, David and Mary the three gifts associated with the three wise men. The Maji had come because they had consulted the stars and found that a great king was to be born in the west. Not knowing exactly where to find this great king, the Maji stopped and asked King Herod if he knew where to find him (for surely he kept tabs on his people) and King Herod consulted his wise men and through deliberation (brought on by a historical account) they decided that it must be in Bethlehem. Herod told the wise men to find this baby and come back and tell him where he was, so he could be part of the "joyous occasion". However, Herod wanted his sons to rule, and was planning on killing this baby. The wise men once again consulted the stars once they found baby Jesus and saw that King Herod meant no good, so they took a different route home. This provoked King Herod to go on an Infanticide, where he kills all of the babies in his kingdom aged 2 or younger, hoping to eradicate Jesus. However, David had decided to go to Egypt and thus the baby was safe. An interesting side note is that Matthew is the ONLY book in the bible that talks about Infanticide, and no where in history does it talk of infanticide at this specific time. The Romans were particularly good at keeping tabs on the kingdom of Judea at that time, and while infanticides are recorded all throughout Roman history, there is no record of this one.
Luke: Luke says that Jesus was born in the days of Quirinius' reign as governer of Syria. His office began in 6 CE which is 10 years after King Herod's death. (It is presumed that Luke meant Jesus to be born the year Quirinius took office.) Luke states that David and Mary did NOT live in Bethlehem but instead traveled there when the Romans took a census and asked all men to return to their place of birth with their families. This is where we run into a problem historically. The Romans kept very neat records of cesus' all throughout their history, and never once do they mention asking men to return home. And the point of Roman census' was to determine where people were (so that they could control a possible uprising if they saw one coming)and not to mention, there was a lot of the Roman population that were originally born outside of their kingdom. Anyhow, so Mary gives birth in Bethlehem (WHICH IS THE ONLY MATCHING POINT IN THESE TWO STORIES) and not Maji, but Shepards come to visit the baby. No gifts were mentioned. And that's where Luke ends. For if Jesus wasn't born in the reign of King Herod, there was no infanticide.
The only thing other point that we can derive from these stories which is not only matching, (Bethlehem as the place of birth being the ONLY one) but also historically accurate is that Jesus was born during the reign of Augustus who ruled from 27 BCE to 14 CE.
So where do we get our year one? How did we decide when Jesus was born? It took Augustus asking a religious monk when Jesus was born. Dionysius Exguus decided that he was going to take the difference and split it in half. Matthew said 6 BCE. Luke said 6 CE. So he cut it in half, but the Romans did not know of the number zero yet. So they deemed it year one. So Jesus, thanks to Dionysius, was born in 1 CE. under the rule of Augustus. Jesus was 2000 years old in 2001.
So to me, this is a pretty good example of why I don't get Christianity. And honestly, while I'm not belittling anyone who does have faith in it, and more than likely understands it more than I do, I do not understand how it has amassed 2 BILLION followers worldwide. It is the largest world religion. While Judaism runs parallel WITH CROSSOVER in the Christian faith, and only has 14 MILLION followers world wide. I just studied Judaism in depth before this religion. Granted 6 Million were eradicated during the holocaust, but I'm really suprised at this.
Oh yeah, there's one more story about the birth of Jesus. It is contained in a book that is not in the bible, but rather a book that should have been, but lies in the Vatican Library. It states that Jesus was born in the Jordanian Desert. But that's the book of James.
So yeah, while I do not claim any religion, and I'm not religious, I think I drive people nuts with my severe interest in all religion. But I'm psychologically and historically interested in such. Why do people place faith in any religion, and what in it makes some people crazy. On top of that, where and when did all of this happen?????
Sorry guys...
xo.
Oh yeah, Happy Fucking St. Patrick's Day. (A Catholic holiday, Americanized by green beer and green clothing.) Wear green clothing if your catholic, and orange if your protestant. I hope Jim and Meredith still want to hang out. And Veronica too!
Fun Fun, except for the cops everywhere.... hahah.
So lately I've been rather amused by my religious studies class as we are currently learning about Christianity. For any of you who really know me, have probably heard me bitch a few times about this particular religion, but I really didn't mean any offense by it. People are gonna believe what they want to believe, I just want to understand why they put their beliefs in this particular area.
This is what I mean when I say that Christianity is confusing.
The stories of Matthew and Luke are the only two stories in the bible that address the birth of Jesus. That's fine, but the fact that these two stories are completely different just furthers my belief that this religion is the most confusing. These books are back to back in the bible. Here are the stories:
Matthew: Matthew says that Jesus was born in the days of Herod The Great, the king of Judea. Herod died in 4 BCE, Matthew maintains that Jesus was born in 6 BCE. He goes on to say that Mary and David's home was in Bethlehem, they didn't travel there, and that Maji came to visit. (Maji are wise men from the Zoroastrian faith, they typically were astrologers) These Maji brought Jesus, David and Mary the three gifts associated with the three wise men. The Maji had come because they had consulted the stars and found that a great king was to be born in the west. Not knowing exactly where to find this great king, the Maji stopped and asked King Herod if he knew where to find him (for surely he kept tabs on his people) and King Herod consulted his wise men and through deliberation (brought on by a historical account) they decided that it must be in Bethlehem. Herod told the wise men to find this baby and come back and tell him where he was, so he could be part of the "joyous occasion". However, Herod wanted his sons to rule, and was planning on killing this baby. The wise men once again consulted the stars once they found baby Jesus and saw that King Herod meant no good, so they took a different route home. This provoked King Herod to go on an Infanticide, where he kills all of the babies in his kingdom aged 2 or younger, hoping to eradicate Jesus. However, David had decided to go to Egypt and thus the baby was safe. An interesting side note is that Matthew is the ONLY book in the bible that talks about Infanticide, and no where in history does it talk of infanticide at this specific time. The Romans were particularly good at keeping tabs on the kingdom of Judea at that time, and while infanticides are recorded all throughout Roman history, there is no record of this one.
Luke: Luke says that Jesus was born in the days of Quirinius' reign as governer of Syria. His office began in 6 CE which is 10 years after King Herod's death. (It is presumed that Luke meant Jesus to be born the year Quirinius took office.) Luke states that David and Mary did NOT live in Bethlehem but instead traveled there when the Romans took a census and asked all men to return to their place of birth with their families. This is where we run into a problem historically. The Romans kept very neat records of cesus' all throughout their history, and never once do they mention asking men to return home. And the point of Roman census' was to determine where people were (so that they could control a possible uprising if they saw one coming)and not to mention, there was a lot of the Roman population that were originally born outside of their kingdom. Anyhow, so Mary gives birth in Bethlehem (WHICH IS THE ONLY MATCHING POINT IN THESE TWO STORIES) and not Maji, but Shepards come to visit the baby. No gifts were mentioned. And that's where Luke ends. For if Jesus wasn't born in the reign of King Herod, there was no infanticide.
The only thing other point that we can derive from these stories which is not only matching, (Bethlehem as the place of birth being the ONLY one) but also historically accurate is that Jesus was born during the reign of Augustus who ruled from 27 BCE to 14 CE.
So where do we get our year one? How did we decide when Jesus was born? It took Augustus asking a religious monk when Jesus was born. Dionysius Exguus decided that he was going to take the difference and split it in half. Matthew said 6 BCE. Luke said 6 CE. So he cut it in half, but the Romans did not know of the number zero yet. So they deemed it year one. So Jesus, thanks to Dionysius, was born in 1 CE. under the rule of Augustus. Jesus was 2000 years old in 2001.
So to me, this is a pretty good example of why I don't get Christianity. And honestly, while I'm not belittling anyone who does have faith in it, and more than likely understands it more than I do, I do not understand how it has amassed 2 BILLION followers worldwide. It is the largest world religion. While Judaism runs parallel WITH CROSSOVER in the Christian faith, and only has 14 MILLION followers world wide. I just studied Judaism in depth before this religion. Granted 6 Million were eradicated during the holocaust, but I'm really suprised at this.
Oh yeah, there's one more story about the birth of Jesus. It is contained in a book that is not in the bible, but rather a book that should have been, but lies in the Vatican Library. It states that Jesus was born in the Jordanian Desert. But that's the book of James.
So yeah, while I do not claim any religion, and I'm not religious, I think I drive people nuts with my severe interest in all religion. But I'm psychologically and historically interested in such. Why do people place faith in any religion, and what in it makes some people crazy. On top of that, where and when did all of this happen?????
Sorry guys...
xo.
Oh yeah, Happy Fucking St. Patrick's Day. (A Catholic holiday, Americanized by green beer and green clothing.) Wear green clothing if your catholic, and orange if your protestant. I hope Jim and Meredith still want to hang out. And Veronica too!