CRAIG'S LIST #6 of 10. Have you looked into Joseph Atwill's book "Caesar's Messiah?"

We advertise on CL to share our Testimonies. An example: “From a door knocking Jehovah’s Witness to a Christian. Willing to share my testimony." Someone from Moses Lake, WA emailed back: "I also left JWs and now follow the teachings put forth in a book, “Caesars Messiah,” by Joseph Atwill. Have you ever read this book?”

MY ANSWER. I have actually looked into Caesar’s Messiah—here is what I found.

Atwill’s conspiracy levied against the Christian faith is the suggestion that Jesus never existed at all. This concept is contrary to historical records, scholarship, and reason.

Atwill’s process in his book involves comparing Roman historical records, such as those of Josephus to the Gospels. The parallels found in those works, he claims, are evidence that they are all the product of the same general authorship. In this case, Atwill says the real gospel author was the Roman government, which spoofed Jewish religious beliefs in order to create a more palatable religion for the masses.

Even a brief look at historical facts makes the premise of Caesar’s Messiah implausible. Christianity, according to historical records, was not well received by the Roman Empire. In fact, it was brutally persecuted in the decades after the writing of the Gospels and was illegal until three centuries after Christ’s crucifixion. Christians were jailed and executed during that era specifically because their religion contradicted Roman religious requirements. From a practical standpoint, it makes no sense for a government to invent a religion that inspired people to defy that same government. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 12:25, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand."

Historically, the Roman Jesus conspiracy is also weak because it assumes that Christian beliefs originated with the writing of the four Gospels. And yet, even secular scholars date fundamental Christian belief and practice to well before the authorship of the Gospels. History does as well—Christians were being politically attacked for their faith decades before the Gospels were written. This is a major weakness of Atwill: the assumption that all early Christians were either deluded or gullible.

In examining the details of Atwill’s arguments, one finds the comparisons he attempts to make are outrageously overdrawn. The tiniest similarity or vaguely related idea is inflated into proof that these are, in fact, the same story or idea written by the same person. On the other hand, major points of disproof, contrary evidence, and scholarly analysis from other sources are almost completely ignored.

Briefly stated, the evidence indicating that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person, executed by the Romans, and worshiped immediately afterwards by a group of people who believed they had seen Him raised from the dead is beyond dispute. History tells us in no uncertain terms that the Christian faith originated, grew, and spread in direct defiance of the Roman Empire and was in no sense compatible with the Latin worldview or approach to government. Suggestions that Rome concocted an intricate, centuries-long prank in order to mold violent Jews into passive Christians are historically false. I have written a blog called "The Big Lie" which zeros in on the WT's Big Lie which is here.

Also, Joseph Atwill is not a NT scholar or historian. Do a Google search: Joseph Atwill bio. See for yourself the total lack of any kind of training in a field related to his book.

Craig's List #7 is here.