Project Reason is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. The foundation draws on the talents of prominent and creative thinkers in a wide range of disciplines to encourage critical thinking and erode the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world.
Archeological evidence tells us that Neanderthal people lived in Europe for more than 300,000 years. Our own species existed more than 100,000 years ago and reached fully modern behavior more than 50,000 years ago.
Since we had all our wits about us 50,000 years ago, painting beautiful pictures on cave walls for example, why did God wait 48,000 years before sending Jesus?
If you’re going to wait that long anyway, and if you really want everyone to know the truth of the matter, why not wait until Jesus’ audience had cell phones and could record all his teachings and miracles for posterity? Why leave such an important history to hearsay?
Possible Reasons for the Delay:
1. Jesus was busy on other planets where the inhabitants already had cell phone camera-recorders.
2. God didn’t want people to know who Jesus’ father really was.
3. When Jesus emerged intact from his tomb video cameras would not have detected his image and this would have compromised the most important part of the story.
Can you think of other reasons why God waited so long before sending Jesus?
4.
5.
compromisevb3 : to expose to discredit or mischief (Webster)
Since your OP acknowledges that God did, in fact, send Jesus, I commend you for coming to this conclusion. Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that God sent Jesus “when the fullness of time had come.” This means that all the conditions were right and the best possible results and consequences would have been produced by his coming. A non-exclusive list of reasons might include some of the following:
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
2. Jewish legalism had run its course, making the people of God ready to receive an alternative;
3. The old polytheistic religions of the Roman Empire were ready to crumble with the advent of Christianity;
4. The Pax Romana, Lex Romana, and Vie Romana insured that the proper infrastructure was in place to allow the new faith to propagate successfully;
5. The previous spread of the Greek language provided a lingua franca for verbal transmission of the story.
Since your OP acknowledges that God did, in fact, send Jesus, I commend you for coming to this conclusion. Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that God sent Jesus “when the fullness of time had come.” This means that all the conditions were right and the best possible results and consequences would have been produced by his coming. A non-exclusive list of reasons might include some of the following:
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
2. Jewish legalism had run its course, making the people of God ready to receive an alternative;
3. The old polytheistic religions of the Roman Empire were ready to crumble with the advent of Christianity;
4. The Pax Romana, Lex Romana, and Vie Romana insured that the proper infrastructure was in place to allow the new faith to propagate successfully;
5. The previous spread of the Greek language provided a lingua franca for verbal transmission of the story.
Those are a few of the reasons.
6. And God determined that his only begotten son had to be horribly tortured to death by the Romans in order to get the whole ball rolling, so the timing was important as you say.
6. And God determined that his only begotten son had to be horribly tortured to death by the Romans in order to get the whole ball rolling, so the timing was important as you say.
Or, that simply could have been a natural consequence of being born in Roman times and being rejected by the leadership of the Jews and Romans. Don’t blame God for our nastiness. We can choose between good and evil. If we had simply accepted him for who he was, there would have been no crucifixion.
This one place where my theology is unorthodox. The crucifixion was not a requirement of God. It was man’s response to Jesus. Just like man’s response to Lincoln, Gandhi, MLK, and the Kennedy’s was to kill them. It was interpreted through Jewish lenses as a sacrifice for sin, but when viewed in the abstract apart from its Jewish milieu, it is simply a brutal act that had some unforeseen redemptive qualities. The idea of a good person being martyred has a tendency to inspire people to do better.
Since your OP acknowledges that God did, in fact, send Jesus, I commend you for coming to this conclusion.
I can’t help you with your question, unsmoked, because of what Ecurb wrote above. Admitting Ecurb’s god exists means you need to play by Ecurb’s rules. Have fun.
God didn’t need his Jesus form, he communicated/interacted directly with people before that. But over time that came passe, other gods had flesh&blood; reps on the Earth so to compete god created his Jesus form.
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
He didn’t appear to “mankind” he appeared to rural Jews in a backwater of a large empire with plenty of more advanced societies. For that matter, how were the Jews of 2000 years ago more advanced in any way than the Classical Greeks?
Does little good to question things that are childishly absurd in the first place.
For some people who were born into Christianity, who have begun to think for themselves, who are interested in science, reason, and reality, questions like this may help them to see the childish absurdity of virgin births, walking dead, nonsense and superstition tangled into their fear of death and wish to do good instead of evil.
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
He didn’t appear to “mankind” he appeared to rural Jews in a backwater of a large empire with plenty of more advanced societies. For that matter, how were the Jews of 2000 years ago more advanced in any way than the Classical Greeks?
They weren’t, but the knowledge of the Classical Greeks had filtered throughout the old world at that point, which was part of the preparation. Jesus came to the Jews, but his message was transmitted to the world in the Greek language, and this was accomplished rather rapidly.
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
He didn’t appear to “mankind” he appeared to rural Jews in a backwater of a large empire with plenty of more advanced societies. For that matter, how were the Jews of 2000 years ago more advanced in any way than the Classical Greeks?
By the way, bigred, I see you have quoted me in your signature line. I think you owe me royalties.
1. Mankind had progressed enough biologically, socially, psychologically, religiously and intellectually enough to be capable of comprehending the meaning of the Christ;
He didn’t appear to “mankind” he appeared to rural Jews in a backwater of a large empire with plenty of more advanced societies. For that matter, how were the Jews of 2000 years ago more advanced in any way than the Classical Greeks?
They weren’t, but the knowledge of the Classical Greeks had filtered throughout the old world at that point, which was part of the preparation. Jesus came to the Jews, but his message was transmitted to the world in the Greek language, and this was accomplished rather rapidly.
Not if you consider the ~2000 years of often violent inter-doctrinal strife and hatred that can be documented after the purported revelation.
Not if you consider the ~2000 years of often violent inter-doctrinal strife and hatred that can be documented after the purported revelation.
But that would have happened even if Jesus had come in 1975. I think the idea is that the earliest it would have been capable of being received is when it happened. It was never going to be perfect, given that he was dealing with humanity.
Since your OP acknowledges that God did, in fact, send Jesus, I commend you for coming to this conclusion.
I can’t help you with your question, unsmoked, because of what Ecurb wrote above. Admitting Ecurb’s god exists means you need to play by Ecurb’s rules. Have fun.
You’re leaving me alone to face the Monk? There’s bound to be some compelling reasons why God waited 48,000 years, or 98,000 years, before sending Jesus. Like I was saying, if you’re going to wait for writing to develop, why not wait a little longer until practically everyone has a cellphone recorder? It’s not like things have been really, really rosy since Jesus was here. If God had waited for cellphone technology all 7,000,000,000 of us would be Christians now, watching Jesus saving Galveston from Hurricane Bob on the CBS evening news - Bob making a hard right and accidentally wiping out Port Arthur? No matter - the Port Arthurians had it coming.
Not that I’m missing your point. I can hear my satire bouncing off Ecurb like pebbles off Superman - the power, the invulnerability of make-believe.
Like I was saying, if you’re going to wait for writing to develop, why not wait a little longer until practically everyone has a cellphone recorder? It’s not like things have been really, really rosy since Jesus was here.
What makes you think he hasn’t been back already? I imagine if Jesus did come today he would be run out of town again, mostly by his believers because he would look like an illegal immigrant and Ecurb would watch him put on a bus back to Mexico.
