THE STORY OF JESUS CHRIST
Brian de
Kretser
(Investigator 147, 2012
November)
The belief that
Jesus
died on the cross is a fiction. He survived together with the two who
were crucified with him — Simon Magus and Judas.
This
information is to be
found in the books written by Barbara Thiering—
•
Jesus of the Apocalypse
•
Jesus
The Man
•
The
Book That Jesus Wrote
According to
Thiering—
•
J.C. was born on 1st March BC 7
•
J.C.'s brothers were James, Joses-Barnabas, Jude, Simon, James
•
J.C. is baptized by John the Baptist, March 8th Ad 29
•
J.C.'s "father" Joseph dies, March 1st AD23
•
J.C.'s betrothal to Mary Magdalene, June 6th AD 30
•
J.C.s wedding to Mary Magdalene, 23rd September AD 30
•
Arrest of Simon Magus (chief) and J.C. (second leader) March 20th AD 33
•
J.C. crucified with Simon Magus and Judas, March 20th AD 33. They were
not dead but Pilate was hoodwinked that they were and gave
permission to remove them from the cross
•
J.C.'s daughter, Tamar, was born 1st September AD 33
•
J.C. had sons — Jesus Justus born 1st June AD 37, Jesus III born April
10th AD 44 (when Jesus was 50
•
J.C.'s second marriage was to Lydia on 17th March AD 50. When J.C. was
56 years old he had a second daughter, by Lydia, born on
March 16th AD 51
•
Paul marries J.C.s daughter Tamar on 27th March AD 54.
•
At
60 years J.C. became a grandfather when a daughter was born to Paul and
Tamar on 1st September AD 54
•
AD
62: J.C. still alive and well, aged 69, and with Paul
•
J.C.'s brother, James, killed on orders of Ananus the Younger by stoning
•
AD
64: J.C. still alive; Peter and Paul were executed by Nero
•
The
last appearance of J.C. (according to the Book of Revelation) was his
presence at a council in Ephesus in AD 70 when he was 76.
•
J.C. not present in AD 73 in Rome at the wedding of his son, who was 36
years old. This would indicate that J.C. died some time between
AD 70 and AD 73 at the age of about 78 years.
Not bad for a man
who was
supposed to have died on the cross on 20th March AD 33!
J.C.'s
actual father is
said to be a Roman archer named Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera who was
nicknamed "The Panther". J.C. was often referred to as Ben Panthera
("Ben" meaning "son of"). Joseph had nothing to do with it,
neither did God.
Brian de Kretser
Darwin, N.T.
WHERE IS THE STORY OF JESUS?
(Investigator 148, 2013
January)
Anonymous
Mr De Kretser in
#147
quotes Sydney theologian Barbara Thiering on Jesus' marriage, births of
his children, and his activities decades after his crucifixion.
The
upshot of Thiering's
method is that the Gospels, when read literally, are largely wrong.
Thiering
and her book Jesus
The Man (1992) — in which she finds hidden meaning in the Dead Sea
Scrolls — were reported in South Australia's Sunday Mail as follows:
"Barbara
Thiering…said the virgin birth was a myth and Jesus survived the
crucifixion and went on to marry former prostitute Mary Magdalene and
father three children a girl and two boys…
Dr
Thiering believes in
God: "I see this as Christianity against the church; this is a recovery
of Christianity as it was."…
The
breakthrough came
in Thiering's interpretation of an acknowledgement last century that
the gospels contain a second meaning, hidden below the words. Thiering
sees in this an actual chronicle of events portraying the history of
Jesus." (June 7, 1992, p. 8)
Note that there
are no
historical records supporting Thiering's claims — her claims are based
on alleged "second meaning, hidden below the words." Her subsequent
book Jesus of the Apocalypse (1995), likewise, rewrites the
book of Revelation to expose alleged hidden meanings that no-one's ever
seen before.
The
problem is that by
postulating hidden meanings we can make anything mean anything.
The
Bible Code
(2010) by Michel Drosnin, for example, finds a detailed description of
the "war on terror" hidden in the Hebrew lettering of the Bible!
President Obama is allegedly named in the Bible, "Raven Rock" his
bunker is also named, as well as other prominent people, terrorists,
Scud missiles, nuclear terrorism, al Qaeda, and many specific dates and
terror events foretold.
MR WILLIAMS
Back in Investigator
71 (March 2000) in my article The Bible: Tested, True, Triumphant
I replied to John H Williams who had backed Thiering:
Mr
Williams
cites the theologian Barbara Thiering. Refuting the latest critics is a
specialized job often needing detailed knowledge of ancient languages,
culture, literary customs, laws, etc. I don't do that. I'm a
"generalist" who compares Bible statements with discoveries in many
scientific disciplines. I seek the conclusions after the verbal
fireworks die down. However, a simple critical start on Thiering
might be Gwynne-Seary (1996) who argues: "Thiering's claims are a bad
joke."
Williams in #72
responded:
…he
predictably used a gross put-down by someone called Gwynne-Seary,
writing in the Fortean Times (1996), to dismiss decades of fine
scholarship and research as "a bad joke". Obviously, because someone
writes in a rather suspect journal criticising Ms T does not invalidate
some or many of her ideas. Naturally, one asks, ‘who is this
Gwynne-Seary, what's his belief system, what kind of axe is he
grinding? I recommend her books to Investigator readers as an antidote
to the gospel stories…
Thiering
is well used
to criticism and personal vilification. She's a Christian who believes
in God and so is regarded by the established church as one who has
betrayed them. Such is the vast power of their vested interest, they
maintain the demonstrably false dogma (untruths) of the virgin birth
and other miracles in the face of all the available objective evidence.
John Williams in
(#125)
changed his mind about Thiering and wrote: "I'm not invested in the
Yesu'a ben Panthera story, nor was I in presenting Barbara Thiering's
pesher theory, and offered it for comment and debate. I find it a
useful and ‘therapeutic' alternative to the supernatural version, about
which every Christian child is conditioned…"
"MY WIFE…"
Until
2012 there was not
a scrap of historical evidence indicating Jesus was married. The Da
Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown which has Jesus married to Mary
Magdalene is historical fiction based on speculation and imagination.
Then in
September 2012
Karen L King of Harvard made public a 4th century Coptic
manuscript-fragment which quotes Jesus as saying "My wife…"
The
fragment has 33 words
in 14 incomplete rows. King thinks there was a 2nd century original in
Greek which was translated into Coptic two centuries later. She makes
no claims about it being biography and says it "does not provide
evidence that the historical Jesus was married." (Erin McLaughlin—ABC
News September 18, 2012)
The rest
of the sentence
after "My wife…" is missing. Since we're left guessing the sentence
might have continued figuratively with "is everyone who follows me."
This would be similar to: "For whoever does the will of my Father in
heaven is my brother, and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:46-50)
But even
if "My wife…" is
literal the fragment is simply too late a
document to challenge the traditional view that Jesus died single. The
Gospels nowhere hint at Jesus being married despite marriage being the
common, acceptable and expected role for Jewish males.
RELY ON RELIABLE
METHODS
Numerous
theologians,
both amateur and professional, have in recent centuries presented
theories, some weird and wrong (like Jesus being a hallucinogenic
mushroom) and some more plausible but also dismissed. Barbara
Thiering's theology has likewise not gained respectability.
The
situation is what the
Bible warned about:
"We
must no
longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of
doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful
scheming." (Ephesians 4:14)
The investigative
methods
that survive and prove ever more of the Bible reliable are the obvious
ones — historical documentation, archaeological discoveries, and
scientific tests.
These
confirm that the
real story of Jesus is in the Bible and in its words — not "hidden
below the words".