From: epowers@mccoy (POWERS)
Subject: Re: Was Jesus the Anti-Christ?
Organization: New Mexico State University
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 09:39:26 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.171908.7582@bradford.ac.uk> L.Newnham@bradford.ac.uk  
(Leonard Newnham) writes:
> William Twentyman (cscope@camelot.bradley.edu) writes:
> >
> > Matthew 12:22-28
> 
> >     Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and  
mute,
> >   and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.  All the 
> >   people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
> >     But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by
> >   Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out  
demons."
> >     Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided
> >   against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided
> >   against itself will not stand.  If Satan drives out Satan, he is  
divided
> >   against himself.  How then can his kingdom stand?  And if I drive  
out 
> >   demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?  So  
then,
> >   they will be your judges.  But if I drive out demons by the Spirit  
of
> >   God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.
> 
> > This passage poses two possibilities, either Jesus was an agent of  
God, or
> > Satan.  Jesus's quote clearly implies that he is an agent of God, but  
what
> > if the reverse were true?  If Jesus were an agent of Satan, he could  
simply
> > appear to be divided against evil.  This would result in people  
believing
> > he was an agent of God and actually draw people away from God.  If  
Satan
> > were more interested in gathering souls than in leaving a few demons  
around
> > to torment people, he would be making an enormous profit.
> 
> > This has been one of my biggest problems with Christianity, the  
possibility
> > that it was a ploy by Satan to draw people away from God.  Can anyone  
see
> > any flaws in my logic?  Anything I may have missed?
> 
> Yes.  It's clearly a lot of nonsense written by superstitious people
> in a superstitious age.  Take any blind mute man to a medical doctor 
> and ask him the cause.  Few would take seriously any suggestion of 
> demonic possession.  Take out the mumbo-jumbo from this story and 
> there is not much left.  Get a grip, this is the twentieth century!

	Everything is so clear to you, Leonard, even without thinking! I  
need to send you my thesis questions someday so you can save me the  
trouble of actually doing any research on them!  (Or maybe you'll just  
tell me "take this problem to any evolutionary biologist and ask them the  
cause").  :-)
	If yours was a serious question, William, I think I might have an  
answer, or at least, something more to think about.  If Jesus' teachings  
were meant to deceive, especially all the stuff about "I am God", there  
should be some element of deception in at least some of the rest of his  
teachings, too.  The sermon on the mount should contain something.  Let us  
know what you find.
					Erik Powers
				      
> 
> BTW How many angels can dance on the end of a pin?

	BTW, you would soon die without the myriads of microorganisms  
covering both your insides and outsides.  So tell me, are you really a  
single organism?  Or how many microbes does it take to make a bunny?

> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Leonard               e-mail:  L.Newnham@bradford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.atheism