The bible itself is a historical record, as is the writing of Josephus, among others. The noted Roman historian Tacitus mentions him.
However, you're getting things backwards. The 12 apostles were not Romans, they were Jews and Gentiles, but not culturally, Roman. They were only "Roman" in that the empire conquered their homelands. It would be like calling someone from Texas a Canadian if Canada annexed Texas. The only Roman citizen was Paul, who was not an apostle, who was a Jew and Roman citizen who converted. Much of what the Christian religion is today is on account of his writing. For instance, because of Paul, Christians are not obliged to follow Mosiac dietary laws or get circumcised.
By the time the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, the tenets and background of the faith were largely in place, thus you cannot say it was a joke created by Romans.
You're very amusing on this topic. I've debated whip sharp atheists and am willing to concede a lot is a matter of faith, but you're just wrong on the history here.
Peter means Pater, father. Think "at the potter's house". What does a potter do? Shape mud into urns, he gives form to the formless.
What does a child have? A father. The child needs a father to give form to his formless mind.
Church is a physical place meant to resemble the mind. You go into the church (mind) to pray and respect God (consciousness).
With the Temple of Solomon, there are two pillars outside the door you must pass thru to enter the temple, called Boaz and Jachin (but that's not important to the metaphor). These pillars are symbolic for going beyond the known realms of mankind in the old world (beyond physical/material world). You see, the pillars were a copy of the pillars at the Straight of Gibraltar, the pillars of Hercules, which marked the gateway to the vast ocean, an endless unknown territory. This is much like the mind. So you enter Solomon's Temple, passing thru the pillars, and it's symbolic of entering your mind where God is.
Jesus walks on water indeed. Like the analogy of Solomon's Temple and the Straight of Gibraltar, Jesus is exploring that unknown vast ocean of consciousness. He walks upon consciousness (water).
Their language was not as abstract as ours, so they spoke in very direct literal words, pulled from their surroundings, to express psychological things.
But then we read about their psychological things with our abstract language and interpret them literally, big mistake.
For example, they used words like "waters" to mean the subconscious, before a time when they had a specific word for subconscious that couldn't be confused with actual water. And then take it one step further, actually believing that a man named Jesus actually walked on water. It all seems to be metaphorical, and it is, but only to us, because of how the languages have evolved. Plato was into making analogies.
Some 2000 years ago, the Roman architect-engineer Vitruvius used an analogy to figure out how to build an excellent theatre. "As in the case of the waves formed in the water, so it is in the case of the voice," the architect wrote.
Voices are formed in the waves of subconscious that appear and disappear, briefly begging for your attention to allow them to rise to the conscious level.
One might say that the analogy of Jesus walking on water represents "being above the subconscious" (enlightened). He sits on the throne, as the King of his Church (mind). *Jesus is King."
Have a look at this image of an Ojibwe indian "surviving the flood that leaves most others behind":
It is about how consciousness evolves and our understandings change, leaving broken ways in the past.
Here is a funny thing.
You have the Tetragrammaton "YHVH", which is said to be the four letter name of God. It is pronounced many ways like Yaweh or Jehova.
Then in relation to the Tetragrammaton you have Metatron which states "my name is in him". The word Metatron can be found within the word Tetragrammaton.
Now maybe you know of a dude named Osiris. Have you also heard of Isis? My name is in him. The word Isis can be found within the word Osiris.
Tetragrammaton and Osiris represent God. Metatron and Isis represent Jesus. Isis is another way to pronounce Jesus. Metatron means Mithra's Throne. How many letters in the word Isis? Four. How many in King? Four. Jesus is King.
There has long been a debate about how literal to take passages of the bible. For instance, I'm not taking the story of Adam and Eve literally. However, biology tells us humanity did all spring from an Eve, and all one need believe as a Christian is that there were the first humans disobeyed God for it to be true in an allegorical sense. I don't presume to understand it all, nor that there aren't mistakes in the bible, there are.
As for being a former Morman, I get where you're coming from, as I was a lapsed Catholic for a decade or so until I had a spiritual awakening. It's given me the distance to appreciate the myriad problems with the church, let alone Christianity in general.
You see, though, you are taking things from the bible that are similar to things in other religions or cultures, from the time of the writing of parts of the bible, and assuming that the bible copies those things in creating a story, rather than that thing just coming from shared cultural aspects. For instance, Moses is put into a basket and pushed down a river. This thing shows up in other religions, that is, the baby in the basket down the river. But it was also a cultural thing in the region at the time, the same way it was common at one time in America to leave a baby on the rectory doorstep and how firehouses are safe places to drop off babies no questions asked today.
The bible itself is a historical record, as is the writing of Josephus, among others. The noted Roman historian Tacitus mentions him.
However, you're getting things backwards. The 12 apostles were not Romans, they were Jews and Gentiles, but not culturally, Roman. They were only "Roman" in that the empire conquered their homelands. It would be like calling someone from Texas a Canadian if Canada annexed Texas. The only Roman citizen was Paul, who was not an apostle, who was a Jew and Roman citizen who converted. Much of what the Christian religion is today is on account of his writing. For instance, because of Paul, Christians are not obliged to follow Mosiac dietary laws or get circumcised.
By the time the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, the tenets and background of the faith were largely in place, thus you cannot say it was a joke created by Romans.
You're very amusing on this topic. I've debated whip sharp atheists and am willing to concede a lot is a matter of faith, but you're just wrong on the history here.
What does a church have? A father.
Peter means Pater, father. Think "at the potter's house". What does a potter do? Shape mud into urns, he gives form to the formless.
What does a child have? A father. The child needs a father to give form to his formless mind.
Church is a physical place meant to resemble the mind. You go into the church (mind) to pray and respect God (consciousness).
With the Temple of Solomon, there are two pillars outside the door you must pass thru to enter the temple, called Boaz and Jachin (but that's not important to the metaphor). These pillars are symbolic for going beyond the known realms of mankind in the old world (beyond physical/material world). You see, the pillars were a copy of the pillars at the Straight of Gibraltar, the pillars of Hercules, which marked the gateway to the vast ocean, an endless unknown territory. This is much like the mind. So you enter Solomon's Temple, passing thru the pillars, and it's symbolic of entering your mind where God is.
Jesus walks on water indeed. Like the analogy of Solomon's Temple and the Straight of Gibraltar, Jesus is exploring that unknown vast ocean of consciousness. He walks upon consciousness (water).
Yeah, here's why I think that is.
Their language was not as abstract as ours, so they spoke in very direct literal words, pulled from their surroundings, to express psychological things.
But then we read about their psychological things with our abstract language and interpret them literally, big mistake.
For example, they used words like "waters" to mean the subconscious, before a time when they had a specific word for subconscious that couldn't be confused with actual water. And then take it one step further, actually believing that a man named Jesus actually walked on water. It all seems to be metaphorical, and it is, but only to us, because of how the languages have evolved. Plato was into making analogies.
Voices are formed in the waves of subconscious that appear and disappear, briefly begging for your attention to allow them to rise to the conscious level.
One might say that the analogy of Jesus walking on water represents "being above the subconscious" (enlightened). He sits on the throne, as the King of his Church (mind). *Jesus is King."
Have a look at this image of an Ojibwe indian "surviving the flood that leaves most others behind":
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/a-flood-of-myths-and-stories/
It is about how consciousness evolves and our understandings change, leaving broken ways in the past.
Here is a funny thing.
You have the Tetragrammaton "YHVH", which is said to be the four letter name of God. It is pronounced many ways like Yaweh or Jehova.
Then in relation to the Tetragrammaton you have Metatron which states "my name is in him". The word Metatron can be found within the word Tetragrammaton.
Now maybe you know of a dude named Osiris. Have you also heard of Isis? My name is in him. The word Isis can be found within the word Osiris.
Tetragrammaton and Osiris represent God. Metatron and Isis represent Jesus. Isis is another way to pronounce Jesus. Metatron means Mithra's Throne. How many letters in the word Isis? Four. How many in King? Four. Jesus is King.
There has long been a debate about how literal to take passages of the bible. For instance, I'm not taking the story of Adam and Eve literally. However, biology tells us humanity did all spring from an Eve, and all one need believe as a Christian is that there were the first humans disobeyed God for it to be true in an allegorical sense. I don't presume to understand it all, nor that there aren't mistakes in the bible, there are.
As for being a former Morman, I get where you're coming from, as I was a lapsed Catholic for a decade or so until I had a spiritual awakening. It's given me the distance to appreciate the myriad problems with the church, let alone Christianity in general.
You see, though, you are taking things from the bible that are similar to things in other religions or cultures, from the time of the writing of parts of the bible, and assuming that the bible copies those things in creating a story, rather than that thing just coming from shared cultural aspects. For instance, Moses is put into a basket and pushed down a river. This thing shows up in other religions, that is, the baby in the basket down the river. But it was also a cultural thing in the region at the time, the same way it was common at one time in America to leave a baby on the rectory doorstep and how firehouses are safe places to drop off babies no questions asked today.