A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
We know that this is from a series of texts that built on each other - many "facts" and feats attributed to Jesus were earlier attributed to Mithras and others.
The same "miracles" and other stuff get reused and applied to new prophets or supposed gods as they roll in.
Finally a shower thought that isn’t just trying to redefine words or concepts! Thank you!
Imagine the miracles today if he has to do it....turns water into 🍷 wine....yeah dude. That's a sweet microbrew! Oh wait, it's just cambucha but very fast!
I've always had this weird thought that religions sprout up when a grifter finds a fictional book buried somewhere that no ones heard off and builds a cult around it with themselves as the center piece.
Isn't that Scientology in a nutshell?
No, that's the Mormons.
Hanina ben Dosa was a first century Jewish miracle worker from Galilee. He was one of many who supposedly did a lot of the same things as Jesus, miracle healings, casting out demons, made it rain, etc, but wasn't an apocalyptic with a messianic complex.
Anyway.. there was a snake in town that had bit and hurt people. When he heard of it he went to the snakes hole and put his foot over it. The snake bit him and the snake died. The people came up with the first Chuck Norris meme. "Woe to anyone who is bitten by the snake, but woe to the snake that bites Hanina ben Dosa."
I rather think it's plausible Jesus was a figurehead with the (already by then well established) messianic archetype applied to him who was hyped up by some Judeans as propaganda to incite their people to try to cast off their Roman rule. But then the notion really got out of hand some time after the original context was lost.
Given the prior number of Jewish prophets and messiah claimants (not to mention Apollonius of Tyana who also readily leaps to mind) there were probably several attempts at this, but only one made it to this level of popularity.
Jesus could come back from the dead, but could death come back from Chuck Norris?
The thing is that while Jesus could walk on water, Chuck Norris could swim thru land. Which one is more impressive?
Probably the most entertaining part of Mortal Engines was a scene from the museum of history where they revealed the Minions to be some kind of revered ancient deity
I always thought of prophets as particularly charismatic mentally ill people. Jesus may not have set out to start a cult, but like, delusions of grandeur and distorted self-image in someone charismatic and intelligent usually ends in a cult. In his lifetime they were basically anarchist hippies (at least as recorded by the bible), but like all cults, today the center has rotted and it's just toxic brainwashing.
I think this leaves out human history. Older generations were easily swayed. I don't even think that is Jesus' fault. That's just a byproduct of his environment.
I see the bible as basically schizophrenic, Bronze Age, fan fiction.
It serves a purpose, but it’s unsuitable as the foundation of one’s world view, or to defer one’s morality to.
This sort of thing happens all the time, good intentions getting twisted over time.
Iirc the reason you’re not allowed to depict Muhammad, for example, was because Muhammad didn’t want pictures of to be used to worship him. He didn’t want to be deified basically.
Cut to today and his followers will literally kill anyone that even tries, even those outside of the religion, due to their worship of Muhammad, something that he clearly never would have wanted. It literally goes against the reason he had the rule in the first place.
The "prophet" Isaiah is a good example:
Isaiah 20:1-4
1 In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
2 At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
This is actually what i sorta believe. Thats jesus was just a smart guy amongst stupid people.
Like people be all dirty and getting the plague and hes like "bruh go wash youself in the river, you dirty as fuck, thats why you keep getting sick".
Then next minute they get better and theyre all like "omggggg the messiahhhh"
But a narcissistic one. He did believe he was the son of the fucking god lol.
But Jesus didn't write the bible, it was mostly written over a hundred years after the fact. I believe Mathew is the closest at 80 years and John was 300 years later. We have no way of knowing whether Jesus actually did say anything of the sort. The Nicean Council was mostly a political one so Constantine could solidify his power by utilizing the top heavy hierarchy of a fledgling branch of Christianity.
We only have the Nag Hammadi library because of "heretics" preserving it in secret.
Well who cares if you're not a believer?
The book is about a (super) narcissistic guy!
Wish it were easier to find dispassionate, objective historical analysis of how the Bible was assembled and written. If one searches for any such information the results are an inundation of pro-bible sites trying to retcon the writings to as close to the alleged existence of Jesus and his followers as they can.
Look up Kipp Davis on YouTube and anyone who has appeared in his videos, including Dan Mclelean, Digital Hammurabi and Jennifer Bird
I am about to make your motherfucking day, friend!
Her work seems to center on women in religion, at least with multiple references in the wiki write up indicating so.
Does she have a standalone comprehensive book on the historical origins of the Bible? Seems she has multiple pieces that focus on different aspects, and they seem very academic, but I didn’t see one that was more generalist.
——— (2003). Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-375-50156-2. OCLC 50913545. ———; King, Karen L. (2007). Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-03845-9. OCLC 85255593. ——— (1979). The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-394-50278-6. OCLC 1002324965.
Thank you. I will check these out.
Her books on the Nag Hammadi library go deep into the early foundations of Christianity even pre-council.
Thank you. I will absolutely check her works out.
E's not the messiah, e's a very naughty boy!!!
I say he is the messiah! I should know, I've followed a few!
John Cena had reached meme status