Please note that these comments are not Scientology but based on my University studies and other material including life experiences.
Christianity exists on many levels. Most of the New Testament is the writings of Paul and therefore it could be called Paulianity. Paul was an oppressor of the early Church until he fell of his horse and became a follower of Christ. (Acts 9:3–4) Hence my little joke about Xenophon falling off his donkey and becoming a Scientologist.
It seems that the early Christian fathers wanted to incorporate things that would help it be accepted by others.
In the time of Jesus there were cults for instance that sacrificed a bull over the top of someone in a pit so they could experience redemption from the blood. I think this got incorporated into the cult of Christianity just like other material even going back to the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
The Bible is not the work of God but men and has been added to, chopped and changed almost the whole time. The Gospel of Thomas is an interesting alternative that was edited out.
http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html
By the way Scientology describes itself as "gnostic". The Gospel of St John is considered to be the oldest, upto 120 years after the death of Christ, and is gnostic. The earliest gospel is 70 years after the death of Christ. Thats after the destruction of Jerusalem and not by an eyewitness.
"For instance, in Matthew (2:23) the Gospels talk about Nazareth. While the area has been inhabited for thousands of years, the actual town of Nazareth didn't exist until after 70 A.D."
from
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_the_first_Gospel_Written
Even then the oldest intact version is far younger by centuries, 400 ad.
This wikipedia article discusses various changes made to different versions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark
You cannot at any rate believe ancient documents word for word, they are often written as coming from someone else with no clarifications. Lets go earlier similar. The old Testament tells the story of Daniel which is set in Babylon, but was actually written as resistance to the rule of the Seleucids, the Syrian branch of the remnants of the empire created by Alexander the Great. The Ptolemies had earlier run Israel and were tolerant. Its not history, just a moral tale.
There are several different Gods (Jehovah Elohim) in the early part of the Bible, reflecting different traditions of tribes which were combined. This probably occurred in the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 23) Let me give you an alternative version, Josiah determines possibly with the support of the Priesthood to re shape Israel and writes the first five books of the Bible, probably from extant sources but with the twist of the messianic duty of Israel. Other things were probably added in in this time such as the exodus for which there is no historical evidence, and how could hundreds of thousands of people live for years in an environmental wasteland?
I mean how reasonable is it that there is this book just lying there in the Temple that no one ever read and was conveniently "found"? Then King Josiah starts off on a murderous rampage slaughtering all non Jewish religious leaders, torturing them horribly (Xenophon in an earlier life?) Anyhow Josiah wasn't invincible and was killed in battle a few years later on. A really good book on this is "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman. All three religions that came from the Book have at different times in history had violent intolerant phases. This strikes me as the basic on the chain, prior to Josiah the Jewish people were tolerant and multicultural. They were then put on a course of difference from others that has caused them grief for centuries since. One really needs to be able to interchange with others.
Some of the tools for decoding the sources of the Bible include study of the language and also criticism of the text, for instance my comment about the cameo appearance of the three wise men which everybody seems to love but which makes no substantial difference to the outcome of the plot.
Anyhow scholarship has probably moved on a bit since my University days in the '70s. I've followed it a little bit since then but there is probably more that could be said.
Having said that, yes Ron makes a comment about R6 and the crucifixion. Thats interesting and something to take on board. As far as I am concerned it is just one of many aspects to the story, and I do find there is theta in Christianity done right.
