Jesus and Christianity
On 7 Sep 2014, I spoke to the Edinburgh Secular Society about the life of Jesus and the origin of Christianity.
The main points of my talk were, firstly, to show that Jesus planned his life to try to fulfil the prophecies about the Messiah (as he saw them) and that resulted in him needing to arrange for his own arrest and crucifixion. He hoped to survive that ordeal, with the use of opium (to seem dead) and revive, so demonstrating resurrection, undermining the authority of the ruling Sadducees. But a coup-de-grace by the execution squad killed him and all hopes of success.
My second main point was to show that the belief that he had survived and been resurrected actually began when the disciples met an old shepherd in Galilee, mistaking him for their master.
Consequently, one can claim that Christianity began by mistake and is founded on Jesus' failed bid for supreme power.
I seem to be the only person making these claims.
The talk was videoed and you can see it here. The talk lasts 58 mins.
The main points of my talk were, firstly, to show that Jesus planned his life to try to fulfil the prophecies about the Messiah (as he saw them) and that resulted in him needing to arrange for his own arrest and crucifixion. He hoped to survive that ordeal, with the use of opium (to seem dead) and revive, so demonstrating resurrection, undermining the authority of the ruling Sadducees. But a coup-de-grace by the execution squad killed him and all hopes of success.
My second main point was to show that the belief that he had survived and been resurrected actually began when the disciples met an old shepherd in Galilee, mistaking him for their master.
Consequently, one can claim that Christianity began by mistake and is founded on Jesus' failed bid for supreme power.
I seem to be the only person making these claims.
The talk was videoed and you can see it here. The talk lasts 58 mins.
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