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This is by Bill Oreilly.  I did not know much about this but sounds logical.

So let's focus on Christianity. Jesus lived in Nazareth. Town is still there. Little town, backwater. Back then, more than 2,000 years ago, nobody really paid attention to Nazareth. He was raised in a very humble family. All right. His father, Joseph, was a stone cutter. Now I was taught in Catholic school that Jesus was a carpenter. Well, that would have been impossible because there were few trees in Judea. They didn't have any wood. All right. In fact, the cross that Jesus was executed on, nailed to, was used many times before and after his death because the Romans didn't have wood to make crosses every time they executed somebody. Interesting, right? So people lived in stone dwelling small. And Joseph was a stone cutter. He passed the labor down to Jesus. OK. Now at about age 30, Jesus abandoned his craft and began to preach. Now you have to understand the times. Being a messiah was an industry in what is now Israel. All right. It was an industry. There were 300 messiahs running around telling everybody they were the chosen one. They were God. Why? Because people gave them food and alms and shelter, and it was a job. Now, the most powerful preacher was John the Baptist, who was beheaded by the Jewish authorities. OK, because he was too powerful, and he attacked Herod for marrying his brother's wife. And that was the end of John the Baptist. Before the Baptist was incarcerated and then subsequently executed, he introduced his followers to Jesus. All right. They didn't know anything about Jesus. Because Jesus was a guy who was, who was preaching, but he didn't have large people following him. He was like the other 300 messiahs. They had a few people who would listen, but most people had to work from sun-up to sundown just to eat. They didn't have time to be listening to people running around. OK?

 

So Jesus then took on a mission, and he went from town, to town, to town, in a very small area. He never went out of Judea. OK? And in the beginning, not many people listened. And then a few more started to listen. And then maybe 100 or 200 started to listen. At that point, the temple authorities in Jerusalem started to pay attention. OK. He was on their radar screen because he was a cousin of John the Baptist, Jesus. All right. So they sent spies to follow Jesus around. Those spies wrote down what Jesus said and what happened. And they sent those written records back to the temple in Jerusalem, and they were recorded. Why? Because the temple authorities wanted to execute Jesus. He was a threat to them. At the same time, the crowds got bigger and bigger and bigger. And the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilot said, what the deuce is going on? Now Pilot didn't care about the Jews or what they did. He was there for one purpose only - to keep the peace and grab as much tax money as he could to send it back to Augustus Caesar in Rome. That was his only job. But he didn't want any insurrection. He didn't want riots. He didn't want anyone causing trouble. So Pilot decided to send spies to follow Jesus as well. Now you have two threads of spies that are keeping an eye on the Nazarene. I didn't use the word Christ, which means redeemer, once in Killing Jesus, because that's a religious connotation.

 

OK. So now Jesus is walking around and he's doing his speak, and he was a fabulous speaker by all accounts, but nobody could hear him. He didn't have a microphone. So you see all these movies where Jesus is standing on the mountain. And there are thousands of people there. They couldn't hear him. They could see him because he usually was in an elevated position. And he was, went out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat to preach, but people couldn't hear him. Now his disciples, his followers, they spread the word about what he was saying, but people couldn't really hear Jesus themselves. However, they still kept coming, and the spies dispatches kept going back to the temple, and to Pilot. Those dispatches, summations of them, is where we got our information for Killing Jesus. You see? Now in those dispatches were mentions of miracles. That Jesus was curing leprosy and epilepsy and all kinds of other things. But there weren't any documented doctors, physicians or any of that to attest to any of the healings. Well, we didn't put them in Killing Jesus. We knew that they were being mentioned, that Pilot heard about them, and that the Sanhedrin, those are the Jewish authorities, heard about them. But they weren't verified, however - and this is the key to the Talking Points Memo today - why would thousands of people show up to see a preacher if they couldn't hear him and it was just about verbiage? Why? There had to be something else. Had to be. And that was the healings, the alleged healings. That everybody - the word got out. And the people who were healed, some of them went around and said, hey, you ought to check this guy out. That's what drove the fame of the Nazarene. There were no newspapers, no media, none of that. It was all what they call today organic.

 

So use your mind even if you're an atheist. OK, use your, use your logic. It would be - none of these other 300 messiahs got anybody to follow them around. The Baptist was the most popular, and he had scores of people, not thousands. OK. And remember at the time, if you didn't work, you didn't eat. So it was a commitment to go and listen to somebody who is speaking the word. Now, Jesus did speak the word. He did give homilies, sermons, and they were written down by scribes. And that's what showed up in the New Testament. OK. His words. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's the key to him. And love God. All right. And he's God's son, who came down, came down, I mean, we don't know what heaven is, but who showed up on Earth to spread this new doctrine.

 

OK. So now I know that in my industry, the media industry, most people who work in the industry are - do I want to use the word pagans? I don't know what I want - but they look down on me, because I am a believer. I know it. I've always known it. They're just snarky and smug and they know better. And you know, you know, you've seen them, you know, all around. Hollywood, ridiculous, ridiculous, OK. They revel in their disbelief. Instead of being humble about it, and say, you know, maybe I'm wrong, we could certainly, if you look at the human body, I gave you that Talking Points few months ago about my eye and the intricacies of it. I was just under water last week. If you look at the nature underwater and how it, I mean, this is all that came from a meteorite? Uh-Huh?

 

But let's get back to Jesus. So Jesus of Nazareth, who had nothing at all. Nothing. Becomes the most famous person who ever lived on the planet. You think that was just happenstance, really? Do you? Do you think that thousands of people showed up 2,000 years ago to follow this man? And then when he went into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, there was almost a riot, a good riot. People wanted to touch him and get close to him. That's when he was, fate was sealed. It was when the Jewish authorities in the Sanhedrin saw that, they wanted him dead. Now, the people who were doing that, who were praising Jesus were Jews. They were Jews. So this anti-Semitic ridiculous thing about the Jews Killing Jesus, that's never been close historically, OK? It was the evil people who ran the temple. And then Pilot gave in to them. Pilot didn't want any of this because he feared - it wasn't that Pilot was a good guy - he feared if Romans crucified Jesus, and only Romans could crucify. No one else on the planet under the, under the thumb of Rome could crucify. Only them. He feared if he crucified Jesus, there would be a rebellion. So that's why they didn't want to do it. But finally, he was forced to do it. And Jesus was not crucified at 3 P.M. He was crucified before daybreak because Pilot didn't want anybody to see it. Now all of this is in Killing Jesus, but you should know that the historical thread came from the spies, and what they reported back to the Jewish authorities and the Roman authorities. This was the most fascinating project that I ever was involved in, Killing Jesus. Second is Killing the Killers, and I'll tell you more about that as we get closer to release date. But this, I mean, I am a Christian. But I suspended my theology to write this book. And what we came across, it was like, whoa. And what I told you is true. So in Holy Week, I wanted to reiterate that. If you find the Talking Points worthy, please tell your friends. We will post it individually on BillOReilly.com throughout the whole weekend, the Easter weekend, and I just want to tell you that.

Unfortunately I've come to have such a negative opinion of Bill O'Reilly that I give little credence to his work. His writing this story seems like a convenient way of promoting one of his dozen Killing Series Books. Link

This is not to say that people won't find his historical perspective entertaining. And by stripping out the religiosity it would seem non productive to debate him with bible scriptures.

"All right. His father, Joseph, was a stone cutter. Now I was taught in Catholic school that Jesus was a carpenter. Well, that would have been impossible because there were few trees in Judea." 

That is an interesting tidbit. A point argued by historians. The word in the Greek text that is translated "carpenter" is "tekton." Teckton in English translate to words like architect, or chief builder.

"Scholarly dictionaries identify tekton as 'one who uses various material (wood, stone, and metal) in building' and 'one who makes, produces' and 'one who constructs, builder, carpenter.'"

"The native tongue of Jesus and Jews living in Israel at that time was Aramaic. Yet the New Testament has come down to us in Greek, since it was sort of a universal language at the time. Monson points out that Jesus probably said the Aramaic (and Hebrew) word haras, rather than tekton, and haras has a wider meaning, being "a general term for a builder or craftsman." Link

So, Yahshua (Jesus) was a craftsman. I don't think that changes much in the teachings and the message.

Let Bill's reading spark thought and inspiration to have a Happy Easter Day.

I think maybe you missed his point.  Jesus who was really no one special living a peasant life became the most famous person in the world. Does it really matter what Jesus's trade was? Oreilly just mentioned this because he was surprised to learn this as well, I was taught Jesus was a carpenter, Oreilly didn't say it for a debate or to find fault with.  This was his Easter Address, wasn't to sell his books... I know Orielly himself did not go and do research for his book Killing Jesus but his information is probably pretty accurate and informative. 

If I'm going to read up on the history of Jesus, why in hades would I choose the repulsive Mr. O'Reilly?

Quote from: Hobby on Apr 17, 2022, 03:43 PMI think maybe you missed his point.  Jesus who was really no one special living a peasant life became the most famous person in the world. Does it really matter what Jesus's trade was? Oreilly just mentioned this because he was surprised to learn this as well, I was taught Jesus was a carpenter, Oreilly didn't say it for a debate or to find fault with.  This was his Easter Address, wasn't to sell his books... I know Orielly himself did not go and do research for his book Killing Jesus but his information is probably pretty accurate and informative. 

I understand what he is trying to say. That is why I said it would be non productive to point the error of some of his assumptions with bible scripture.
Not only living a peasant life, he was born in a stable with the animals, so the story goes.

Like I said, "so, he was a craftsman. I don't think that changes much in the teachings and the message." I only mentioned it because it was the first thing he mentioned.  I chose not to go through his entire piece giving alternative interpretations.

Please forgive me if I don't share your faith in the writings/motives of Bill O'Reilly.

Quote from: bats on Apr 17, 2022, 04:19 PMIf I'm going to read up on the history of Jesus, why in hades would I choose the repulsive Mr. O'Reilly?

Don't really care what you do.  At least Orielly has an excuse for being repulsive!

I'm sorry, as with most hypocrites, even as he decries being put down for his beliefs, he is doing the same to others. You want to make a point of being put upon, stop throwing rocks of your own...