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Was Jesus a magician? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I enjoyed the conceit in Messiah

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[–] 1egg4u@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I always had this pet theory that Jesus was more like a group of dudes who had a similar message and that the guy existed and was executed by romans (thats as far as we got from roman records iirc is a guy who fit the bill existed and was executed) but that the jesus stories from the new testament were an amalgamation of different street preachers or philosophers and were incorporated into religion

But my heart also wants to believe he was a dude who was really fuckin good at pulling coins from behind someones ear

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

The clouding of historical vs mythological is interesting. I wonder if theres a bio of Jesus purely based off actual evidence and records that can be substantiated.

[–] Infrapink@thebrainbin.org 1 points 14 minutes ago

Substantiation is difficult because we're talking about a late Judaean prophet, but https://historyforatheists.com/2018/12/jesus-apocalyptic-prophet/ piece explores Jesus in the context of Roman-occupied Judah, when there were many preachers predicting the end of the world and the salvation of the Jews; Jesus' movement outlasted his death.

Esoterica has an hour-long video on the historical Jesus, built on primary sources: link

[–] 1egg4u@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

I actually stupidly chose Jesus as a historical figure to write a proper primary sources only paper thinking there would be a breadth of info on the guy... and found out the hard way that from a historically factual standpoint all we've got is he probably existed, was baptized, and was executed. Straight up all weve got is what roman records gave us and ~~one painting~~ that might not even be right I think it was like a few depictions and some stories that corroborated

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Painting?

[–] 1egg4u@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 hours ago

I might have fucked that one up, all I can remember with certainty was there were enough sources that could be cross referenced to include the baptism of a man named jesus by john the baptist and there being mention of like a visual depiction that could be taken as a reliable second source but this was a first year history of religion paper I struggled a lot with so Id take it all with a big grain of salt

All I really remember for sure was historians can (sorta) agree he was baptised by probably john the baptist

[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, if he existed he was probably an apocalyptic prophet. Although his followers certainly were "magicians", as they created a mystery cult that endures to this day.

The mysteries included the sacraments that we still associate with Christianity: baptism and communion. These reenactments of various symbolic acts that the deity performed reflect the commitment of the adherent and grant them some kind of boon— in this case everlasting life in heaven.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I doubt people "go to hell" without doing it tho. What about a tribe on an undiscovered island who just went about doing their thing practicing their own native religion.

Are they judged on how well they adhered to their version like how judges sometimes apply the law of another country when its implicated in an international case or something? The whole thing makes no sense

[–] Bismyth@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, he was a freelance ritual specialist.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Branding is everything

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sleight of hand magician or Merlin magician?

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

You de🌈ide