Uh Jesus didn't convert to anything. Christian means follower of Christ. He was still a Jew when he died, was resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Toss that at the bible thumpers.

A Jewish father raised his son in the ways of his people. When his son grew up, he converted to Christianity. The father was upset and went to talk to his Rabbi. The Rabbi told the father about the Rabbi's son, who was brought up in the the ways of his people but, when he grew up, also converted to Christianity. The father was astonished and asked the Rabbi, "What did you do?". The Rabbi said, "I went straight to God himself..." The father was excited for some words of wisdom. "So, what did God tell you?" The Rabbi goes, "God said, 'Let me tell you about my son...'"

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

come on man....you drinking already?

Only the holy wine of transubstantiation

nice

It's weird how it works the other way too. I would consider myself agnostic at best, but along with my wife I do listen to services from a very large, very popular, non-denominational church. Why? Because I do believe they have valuable life lessons that can be extracted and it gives us good discussion topics. However, from what I have experienced thus far, they pretty much ignore the Old Testament.

Hmm. I thought the Jews had no law to put him to death? Isn't that why the Romans ordered his crucifixion? Do you think those same anti-Semites hate Italians too? Oh the irony of a Pope in Rome.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Well Pilate asked what they wanted and the response was "Crucify Him."

Probably not because without Constantine there is no modern Church.

Also you know what they say about if you have to explain a joke....)


Every joke can be ruined if you turn it into a technical discussion.

Pontius Pilate literally washed his hands of the affair so the story goes.

Of course, the cynic would say given that the Christians had to live in the Roman Empire it was better to pin the wrap on those Jews that rejected Jesus than the authorities.

I think that's fair. Apparently, God is very accommodating to this notion, as you can see that Joseph (Mary's betrothed) had similar concerns. An angel of the LORD appeared to Joseph to address these concerns. (Mt 1:20-21, below)

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

Not that I'm gay, but I'd fuck him. Better than Brad Pitt.

Is he still gay? (Present tense.)

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Google "Christian identity" if you really want to go down that rabbit hole. TLDR, to them, he wasn't Jewish. It's as crazy as fuck, but if you can believe that a guy rose from the dead, you just might believe anything.

Ok Mr. Spock (or Greta Thunberg).

So long as it's not a nationality.

Totally, Ned Flanders, repressed as he is, is proof.

Mary put some special mushrooms in the spaghetti.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Confession is at 3:00

Plan accordingly

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

There is a [modernized] prayer to St. Joseph where he is named "Foster Father to Our Lord"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

The Jewish Aristocracy saw him as the threat and pulled the trigger

The grassroots Hebrew population were pretty cool with him , as he brought to light some things they were getting fucked over by ["wait? I gotta buy something to go into a Temple, when I can just pray to God by myself, or with my Rabbi, and we're all cool? Fuck that"]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

So, St. John addresses himself as "the One Jesus Loved" yet everyone says "Jesus fucked Mary Magdalene"

Clearly, He was Bi

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Where do you get your info? It wasn't like Gallup existed in his time. For all we know Brian had more followers.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Many years ago, I read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

A work of COMPLETE fiction it follows Jesus [know as his Hebrew name, Joshua ... yeah, wrap that around for a minute] as He decides to track down the Three Wise Men to figure our why they came to visit him when he was born



When you think of it, Jesus's teachings of "be excellent to each other" were not new, they just didn't align with the Sanhedrin's ideal of "be excellent to only your own"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Why illogical? Virgin birth....is that logical?

My favorite read on this has to do with the tale of the Roman soldier Pantera. There's a story he had sex with Mary. Given the Romans were occupiers and Mary was a poor member of the colonized class, Pantera essentially raped her. Since she hadn't consummated a marriage, on one technical hand she was a virgin, but on another hand her pregnancy would have still meant she was shunned and looked down on. Joseph steps in and shows her mercy and love in a society that would have labeled her an outcast.

Who knows if it's true or not. It's not like the Bible is a collection of perfect texts. It's riddled with inconsistency, error, and without any complete original manuscripts.

But this tale does have a narrative ark consistent with the rest of Scriptures, at least from the way early Christians read it (until the time Constantine bastardized the religion for convenient political purposes) -- that being a divine figure in search of humans, standing up for the downtrodden and disenfranchised, seeking justice against those who persecuted, envisioning a world where militant grace was the norm, building a kingdom on that, recognizing the divine in all. "Some trust in chariots, but we our Lord," "justice rolls down like a river," "turning swords into plows," practices of jubilee, the entire book of James as a treatise against the wealthy who took advantage of the poor & withheld wages from day laborers, Revelation as a coded political treatise & rant against an oppressive warring regime.

Given that the US church is literally part of today's empire, there's so much beauty we miss in these ancient texts, even if they're not "true" in a literal way but instead in a soulful way.