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Downloaded from
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(person roaring)

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Official YIFY movies site:
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(dramatic piano music)

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(soothing piano music)

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- If you're one of the world's

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2.2 billion Christians

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wow, that's a lot of people.

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You probably think that
around 2,000 years ago

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here in the Nazareth mountains,

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in the Galilee region of modern Israel,

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a man known as Jesus Christ was born.

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You probably think of Him as the Messiah,

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the son of Yahweh, the God of the Jews.

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But, if you're one of the other

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5 billion people on the planet,

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you probably just think of Jesus

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as some kind of wise man

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who had a religious cult

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built up around him after his death.

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Or maybe you're one of those people

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who believe he never even really existed

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he's just some kind of literary myth,

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like a Hercules or King Arthur.

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But whichever camp you're in,

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I think we can all agree

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that Jesus is one of the most influential

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and intriguing figures
in all of world history.

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About 40 years ago,

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when I was a good little Catholic boy

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going to Sunday school,

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I was taught the story of Jesus.

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It went something like this.

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- [Narrator] About 2,000 years ago,

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a young married woman, still a virgin,

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was made pregnant by the God of the Jews.

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She gave birth to a baby in a barn.

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And three wise men found
Him by following a star

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so they could worship Him

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and give some gold and scented oils.

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When He grew up, Jesus
walked around Judea,

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telling thousands of people He was God

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and performing miracles,

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such as magically making
fish and bread appear,

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turning water into wine,

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and raising people from the dead.

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One night, He told his
friends to eat some bread,

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which was His flesh

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and drink some wine, which was His blood.

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Then, the Jewish authorities
who were angry with him,

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turned him over to the Romans

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who actually wanted to let Him go.

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But the Jews convinced
them to crucify Him.

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But then a few days later,

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He rose from the dead

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and told His friends

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that dying was secretly the plan all along

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because His death wiped
out the sins of the world.

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His friends wrote down what happened

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in a book and started a new religion.

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But then, the Romans
started persecuting them

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until one day, the Romans
changed their minds

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and decided to become Christians instead.

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At the end of the world,

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Jesus will return to judge
the living and the dead.

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- To be honest when I was a little kid,

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the story didn't make
a lot of sense to me.

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I remember thinking,

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so this dude has magical
powers, and he's invisible,

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and watching me when I sleep at night?

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It all seemed a little bit creepy.

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But as an adult, I started learning more

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about the history of early Christianity.

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As I read the Bible more carefully,

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and read the works of modern
New Testament scholars

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and ancient historians,

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I started to realize

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that the Sunday school
version of the Jesus story,

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was vastly different to the story

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as it appears in the Bible.

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The actual story is far more complicated,

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and far more interesting.

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So I thought I'd go out

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and interview a range of
world-renowned biblical scholars,

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and historians and academics.

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And ask them to help me tell the story,

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of how Christianity

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went from being some sort of
fringe Jewish personality cult,

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from the backwaters of the Roman empire,

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to a point where it was the
state religion of that empire,

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wielding enormous power over
the emperors themselves.

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So let's get back to the Sunday
school version of the story.

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What do scholars think about
how accurate that version is.

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- Research that was happening

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at the beginning of the 20th century.

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A German scholar Walter Bauer,

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came to the conclusion

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that in fact, that picture
is a very manufactured one.

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- And it's not like Jesus
was walking around Palestine

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saying, "Hi, I'm God.

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"I'm gonna die for your sins soon.

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"But until then, how about I tell you

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"a few good cracking
Sunday school stories,

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"and then afterwards you can
get down with worshiping me."

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That may be the basic view,

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but that's not quite what happened.

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- [Cameron] So how did it happen?

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How did that version become the story

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most of my Christian
friends seem to believe?

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- A lot of Christians don't
actually read the Bible.

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And if they do read the Bible,

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they don't read it historically.

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They don't read it thinking about,

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what the story is telling you

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about the origins of Christianity.

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- They look at this uplifting passage

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or that uplifting passage.

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They don't compare the
Gospels to one another.

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They don't look at the really weird stuff.

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So they feel like they know the Bible,

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but it's a very selective knowledge.

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It's a sort of greatest hits

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or the most uplifting,

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most seemingly relevant
stuff to the 21st century.

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- They're looking for a single verse

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that will inspire them for
their journey that day.

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And that's perfectly fine,

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there's no criticism of that.

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But the problem with that approach,

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is that you're not
actually reading the Bible

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as it's intended to be read.

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- Christians read bits,

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but do they read it systematically?

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Well, systematically but not necessarily

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for historical reasons.

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Systematically to clarify their beliefs.

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- And they just sort of don't get to see,

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all the really strange stuff,

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all the contradictions,
all the discrepancies.

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- How do you go from being a religion,

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that celebrates somebody who
has died on a Roman cross,

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to a religion that celebrates that cross

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and takes that cross forward into battle?

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That's the story of
Christianity within 300 years.

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Going from a superstition
to being the state religion,

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that's absolutely extraordinary.

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And that is what the early
Roman historians called it,

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they called it a superstition.

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- But before we get
into the story of Jesus,

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I think we need to wind the
clock back a little bit,

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and talk about the world

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into which Christianity was born.

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(calm ancient music)

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A long time ago,

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there was a man known as Lord,
Liberator, Redeemer, Savior,

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simultaneously, fully
human and fully divine.

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The son of God and God.

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The bringer of peace and salvation,

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sent into the world in the form of a man

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to forgive the sins of the people.

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(lively orchestral music)

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♪ Hallelujah. ♪

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That's Augustus Caesar.

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If you ask most people
living in the Roman empire,

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right about the time Jesus was born,

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who the Son of God was,

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most of them would have
told you it was this guy.

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Augustus was the adopted son

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of the original JC, Julius Caesar.

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The great Roman general

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who was stabbed to death in 44 BCE.

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After he was assassinated,

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the Roman Senate declared

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that he ascended into the
heavens to become a god.

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And Augustus as his adopted son

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was therefore called?

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- Divi Filius, the son of the deified.

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It was new to Rome,

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because it was Augustus himself,

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who saw what he thought was the soul of,

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or a part of Caesars'
going up to the heavens.

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And that's why he can then claim

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that he is the son, the adopted son

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not the natural son, clearly,

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the son of a divinity.

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- [Cameron] Another title
bestowed upon Augustus was savior,

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because he ended a 100 years of civil war.

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- He brought peace, he
brought peace to Rome.

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He brought peace to the empire.

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- And then, according to tradition

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somewhere around the middle
of the reign of Augustus,

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Jesus was born.

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(lively orchestral music)

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So several decades before Jesus
even appears on the scene,

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Romans are pretty familiar with the idea

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that somebody can die and become a god,

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or be the son of a god

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and the savior of mankind.

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So who exactly was Jesus?

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Well, it kind of depends on who you ask.

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Some scholars believe he
was an apocalyptic preacher

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or a political troublemaker.

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Others think he was more of a wise sage,

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or a hippie pacifist who
preached love and brotherhood.

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It's a little bit strange

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that after 2,000 years,

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scholars still can't agree
on exactly who Jesus was.

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One thing they all do agree on though,

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Jesus was a Jew.

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(playful instrumental music)

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If you look at pictures of
Jesus in most churches today,

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you'll see a white guy
with long brown hair,

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neatly trimmed beard, blue eyes.

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But Christianity started out
as a Jewish personality cult,

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Jesus was a Jew.

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So he probably would
have looked more like,

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I don't know, DJ Khaled than Jared Leto.

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He would have been a dark-skinned,

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brown-eyed Palestinian.

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Let's put it this way,

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if Jesus returned and
tried to board a plane

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in the United States today

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he'd probably get taken

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into a little room and randomly
screened (siren ringing)

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And when I say Jesus was a Jew,

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I don't just mean ethnically a Jew,

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I mean a religious Jew.

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In fact, he was a very religious Jew,

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and so were most of the
early members of his sect.

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- Jesus is Torah observant,

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Peter is Torah observant,

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James is Torah observant,

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and Paul is Torah observant.

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- [Narrator] The Torah
is the first five books

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of the Hebrew Bible.

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What Christians call, the Old Testament.

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- Jesus and the guys who
ran his group after he died,

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Peter, the guy he left in charge,

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and James, who according to tradition

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was one of Jesus' brothers,

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were Jews, not Christians.

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And they weren't trying
to start a new religion.

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They weren't trying to reject Judaism,

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they were just trying to fix it.

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- Jesus was not only Torah observant,

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he actually made the law
stricter rather than looser.

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The law says, "Don't commit adultery,"

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Jesus says, "Don't think
about it," that's harder.

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The laws says, "Don't murder,"

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Jesus says, "Don't be angry."

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- Jesus was a first century
AD Galilean Jewish prophet.

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He was a prophet who believed

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that God was about to intervene

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decisively in human history.

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- And being a religious
Jew in the first century,

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must have been pretty depressing.

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For hundreds of years,

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Jewish prophets had promised
that their God, Yahweh,

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really thought they were
pretty, pretty special.

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They were his favorite tribe.

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He had their back,

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and he was gonna make
sure they ruled the world.

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But for some reason,
Yahweh hadn't delivered.

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Century after century,

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the Jews had been invaded and conquered.

266
00:11:22.350 --> 00:11:25.850
In fact, just a few years
after Jesus was born,

267
00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:30.810
his homeland had finally become
an official Roman province.

268
00:11:30.810 --> 00:11:31.940
- Jewish people could see

269
00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.350
that things were not
going particularly well,

270
00:11:34.350 --> 00:11:36.170
things were not flourishing.

271
00:11:36.170 --> 00:11:39.030
They were subject to external powers,

272
00:11:39.030 --> 00:11:42.450
whether they'd be the great
kings, the solicit kings,

273
00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:45.200
or whether it be the Romans later on.

274
00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.090
- Instead of coming to the conclusion,

275
00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:49.620
that their prophets were wrong,

276
00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:52.690
or that Yahweh had lied to them,

277
00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:56.160
the Jews just decided they
must have disappointed Him

278
00:11:56.160 --> 00:12:01.100
and He was ignoring them or
not answering their prayers.

279
00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:04.890
So anyway, the Jews decided
they had to be better,

280
00:12:04.890 --> 00:12:09.488
and make Yahweh happy
with them again, but how?

281
00:12:09.488 --> 00:12:13.238
(playful instrumental music)

282
00:12:14.969 --> 00:12:17.260
- The most important thing to know,

283
00:12:17.260 --> 00:12:19.830
is that there was no agreed standard,

284
00:12:19.830 --> 00:12:22.780
of what being a good Jew
was in the first century.

285
00:12:22.780 --> 00:12:24.240
- Just like there are hundreds

286
00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:27.660
of different versions
of Christianity today,

287
00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:30.370
and they all think that
they are the right one.

288
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We know that in the first century,

289
00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:35.760
there were lots of different
versions of Judaism as well.

290
00:12:35.760 --> 00:12:37.840
And they were all trying to figure out

291
00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:40.040
the magic trick to get them back,

292
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into Yahweh's good book.

293
00:12:42.530 --> 00:12:44.370
- This is a situation

294
00:12:44.370 --> 00:12:46.730
that is eventually going
to be rectified by God.

295
00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:48.930
Destroy the Roman oppressors,

296
00:12:48.930 --> 00:12:52.170
think end of "Raiders of
the Lost Ark" for instance,

297
00:12:52.170 --> 00:12:55.236
where the fire comes down
and burns up all the Nazis.

298
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That's probably the view

299
00:12:56.840 --> 00:12:59.230
that a decent number of Jews had.

300
00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:01.670
- Now, some Jews living
in the first century,

301
00:13:01.670 --> 00:13:05.940
believe that God was going
to send someone to save them.

302
00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:08.453
They called that person, the Messiah.

303
00:13:08.453 --> 00:13:11.036
(gentle music)

304
00:13:14.210 --> 00:13:17.470
- So how do you know who's a Messiah?

305
00:13:17.470 --> 00:13:19.730
Different people will give
you different answers,

306
00:13:19.730 --> 00:13:22.519
and there were different
messianic candidates to follow.

307
00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:24.830
(pages fluttering)

308
00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:28.230
- Oh, I'm just looking
for the official guide

309
00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:30.410
to knowing who the chosen one is.

310
00:13:30.410 --> 00:13:33.950
I'm sure it's gotta be in here
somewhere (pages fluttering)

311
00:13:33.950 --> 00:13:36.300
- There's no messianic
checklist in Judaism,

312
00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:38.090
as if, you make sure
your mother is a virgin

313
00:13:38.090 --> 00:13:39.230
when you're conceived,

314
00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:41.560
walk on water, raise the dead,

315
00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:42.950
die a sacrificial death

316
00:13:42.950 --> 00:13:45.440
come back after three days, and ascend.

317
00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.100
Some Jews were expecting a shepherd,

318
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others were expecting the Angel Michael,

319
00:13:50.870 --> 00:13:53.210
still others were expecting a priest,

320
00:13:53.210 --> 00:13:55.050
and still others, a warrior.

321
00:13:55.050 --> 00:13:57.810
Some people thought John
the Baptist was the Messiah,

322
00:13:57.810 --> 00:14:01.360
and he doesn't fit any of those
categories (book slamming)

323
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:02.738
- When you use the term Messiah,

324
00:14:02.738 --> 00:14:05.050
Messiah is fine, it means anointed,

325
00:14:05.050 --> 00:14:07.760
it means that God has
anointed this person with oil.

326
00:14:07.760 --> 00:14:09.040
But when you're talking about Messiah,

327
00:14:09.040 --> 00:14:10.970
you're really talking about somebody

328
00:14:10.970 --> 00:14:13.010
who is a king, in the line of

329
00:14:13.010 --> 00:14:16.180
the greatest of all the
Jewish kings, King David.

330
00:14:16.180 --> 00:14:18.090
And lots of Jews believed that,

331
00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:19.770
a King David-like figure,

332
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would establish himself in Jerusalem,

333
00:14:22.450 --> 00:14:25.760
and he would transform Israel.

334
00:14:25.760 --> 00:14:28.400
- Restore the kingdom
politically was part of that.

335
00:14:28.400 --> 00:14:30.480
Bring the people back from exile,

336
00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.433
set up the homeland again,

337
00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:37.720
restore their independence,
drive out the foreign invader.

338
00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:39.250
- [Cameron] Some Jews thought the Messiah

339
00:14:39.250 --> 00:14:40.820
was gonna be a great warrior

340
00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:43.700
to lead them to a military victory.

341
00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:47.120
Others thought he might
be a charismatic preacher,

342
00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.520
who would convince the entire world

343
00:14:49.520 --> 00:14:50.973
to believe in Yahweh.

344
00:14:51.820 --> 00:14:56.010
Others, they didn't think
about the Messiah much at all.

345
00:14:56.010 --> 00:14:58.620
- Not all Jews wanted a Messiah.

346
00:14:58.620 --> 00:14:59.940
Because normally if someone's going around

347
00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:01.130
calling themselves a Messiah,

348
00:15:01.130 --> 00:15:02.430
it's gonna lead to war,

349
00:15:02.430 --> 00:15:06.150
war means death, famine,
bloodshed, that type of thing.

350
00:15:06.150 --> 00:15:08.110
So not everyone wanted a Messiah,

351
00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:09.670
not everyone even believed in one.

352
00:15:09.670 --> 00:15:12.580
- So there's a variety of expectations.

353
00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:13.660
Certainly the dominant one,

354
00:15:13.660 --> 00:15:16.630
is this political military figure.

355
00:15:16.630 --> 00:15:18.503
- So why is this important?

356
00:15:18.503 --> 00:15:20.770
Well, when Jesus is dragged

357
00:15:20.770 --> 00:15:25.270
before the Roman Governor
of Judea, Pontius Pilate,

358
00:15:25.270 --> 00:15:27.020
the charges laid against him,

359
00:15:27.020 --> 00:15:30.890
are that he's claiming to
be the Christos, the Christ.

360
00:15:30.890 --> 00:15:33.840
Which is just the Greek word for Messiah.

361
00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:38.720
In other words, he's claiming
to be the King of the Jews.

362
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.777
- [Narrator] Mark 15:2,
"Pilate asked Jesus,

363
00:15:41.777 --> 00:15:44.440
"Are you the King of the Jews?"

364
00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:47.810
- Judea at the time was ruled by Rome.

365
00:15:47.810 --> 00:15:50.390
They didn't have a king of their own.

366
00:15:50.390 --> 00:15:52.420
They had a governor who reported

367
00:15:52.420 --> 00:15:56.070
to the Roman Emperor, Tiberius Caesar.

368
00:15:56.070 --> 00:15:57.340
Claiming to be the Messiah,

369
00:15:57.340 --> 00:16:00.650
was an act of political
rebellion against Rome.

370
00:16:00.650 --> 00:16:02.630
A modern equivalent would be,

371
00:16:02.630 --> 00:16:07.630
declaring you're the rightful
King of the United States.

372
00:16:08.010 --> 00:16:09.140
Now the important thing to understand

373
00:16:09.140 --> 00:16:11.530
about the Jewish concept of a Messiah,

374
00:16:11.530 --> 00:16:14.020
was that he wasn't supposed to be divine,

375
00:16:14.020 --> 00:16:16.470
and he wasn't gonna have magical powers,

376
00:16:16.470 --> 00:16:19.390
he was just gonna be a regular man.

377
00:16:19.390 --> 00:16:21.870
- They did sometimes
talk about the Messiah

378
00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:22.920
as the son of God,

379
00:16:22.920 --> 00:16:25.170
but not in the later Christian sense.

380
00:16:25.170 --> 00:16:26.180
They meant son of God,

381
00:16:26.180 --> 00:16:28.130
in the sense of good Israelite,

382
00:16:28.130 --> 00:16:30.410
because all Israelites are sons of God

383
00:16:30.410 --> 00:16:32.220
in the adopted sense.

384
00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:34.220
- Anointed by God, special to God,

385
00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:36.930
but like their kings David, Solomon,

386
00:16:36.930 --> 00:16:40.660
and the other good
kings, yeah, fully human.

387
00:16:40.660 --> 00:16:43.900
- Somebody that God has
placed on the throne,

388
00:16:43.900 --> 00:16:45.920
to rule in his stead.

389
00:16:45.920 --> 00:16:47.220
But it doesn't really mean,

390
00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:48.300
somebody who has,

391
00:16:48.300 --> 00:16:49.980
from all time been sitting

392
00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:51.610
at the right hand of God, the Father.

393
00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:53.080
It's a different concept from that,

394
00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:54.040
it's much more Jewish,

395
00:16:54.040 --> 00:16:55.670
and it's much more grounded than that.

396
00:16:55.670 --> 00:16:57.724
- The Son of God,

397
00:16:57.724 --> 00:17:00.580
would only have been used,

398
00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:04.995
I think in a metaphorical sense,

399
00:17:04.995 --> 00:17:08.400
not in the way that we come to expect

400
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:09.450
with Christian doctrine.

401
00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:13.210
- The early Christians took
that and ran with it further.

402
00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:14.510
- It really does remind me

403
00:17:14.510 --> 00:17:16.240
of how Augustus Caesar,

404
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:19.620
was anointed to be the adopted son

405
00:17:19.620 --> 00:17:22.030
of his father, Julius Caesar,

406
00:17:22.030 --> 00:17:24.900
and therefore became the son of god.

407
00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:28.200
Here's an interesting
thing about Jesus' name.

408
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:30.600
In Hebrew, his name was Yeshua,

409
00:17:30.600 --> 00:17:35.600
which basically translates
as God saves or savior.

410
00:17:35.770 --> 00:17:38.907
And as we've already seen,
Christ means Messiah,

411
00:17:38.907 --> 00:17:41.990
and the Messiah was
supposed to be the Savior.

412
00:17:41.990 --> 00:17:43.950
So Jesus, the Christ,

413
00:17:43.950 --> 00:17:47.210
translates as Savior, the Savior.

414
00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:50.560
According to the Jewish
historian Josephus,

415
00:17:50.560 --> 00:17:52.640
there were actually quite a few guys

416
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.300
who people thought might be the Messiah,

417
00:17:55.300 --> 00:17:56.980
walking around Judea,

418
00:17:56.980 --> 00:18:01.020
roughly around about
the same time as Jesus.

419
00:18:01.020 --> 00:18:04.610
None of them succeeded, they all failed.

420
00:18:04.610 --> 00:18:06.620
They were all killed,

421
00:18:06.620 --> 00:18:09.030
and can you really be the Messiah

422
00:18:09.030 --> 00:18:11.020
if you don't achieve anything?

423
00:18:11.020 --> 00:18:12.810
- Which is why the vast majority of Jews

424
00:18:12.810 --> 00:18:15.520
in the middle of the first
century don't follow Jesus.

425
00:18:15.520 --> 00:18:20.040
- Because a Messiah was not
supposed to die on a cross,

426
00:18:20.040 --> 00:18:21.660
executed by the Romans,

427
00:18:21.660 --> 00:18:22.770
because this is somebody

428
00:18:22.770 --> 00:18:27.010
who's supposed to lead a
successful military victory.

429
00:18:27.010 --> 00:18:31.560
If you just get executed
as a revolutionary,

430
00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:34.280
in the eyes of most
Jews that rules you out.

431
00:18:34.280 --> 00:18:36.110
- [Cameron] Can't possibly be the Messiah.

432
00:18:36.110 --> 00:18:39.743
- Can't be the Messiah in
that precise understanding.

433
00:18:40.840 --> 00:18:42.620
So what they, they re-interpret,

434
00:18:42.620 --> 00:18:45.987
they re-invent the meaning of the word.

435
00:18:45.987 --> 00:18:49.570
(funny instrumental music)

436
00:18:51.260 --> 00:18:55.210
- A crucified Messiah was
kind of like fried ice cream.

437
00:18:55.210 --> 00:18:56.680
It's an oxymoron, it's a paradox,

438
00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:58.670
and the Messiah doesn't get crucified.

439
00:18:58.670 --> 00:19:01.070
He rises up, defeats the Romans,

440
00:19:01.070 --> 00:19:03.524
and establishes a new divided kingdom.

441
00:19:03.524 --> 00:19:04.610
- What is this?

442
00:19:04.610 --> 00:19:06.200
So you wanna be a Messiah?

443
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:08.950
- Well, the Messiah actually.
- Okay.

444
00:19:08.950 --> 00:19:10.990
Did you kick the Romans out of Judea?

445
00:19:10.990 --> 00:19:13.030
- Well, no, not yet, but I tried.

446
00:19:13.030 --> 00:19:15.710
- Have you converted the world to Judaism?

447
00:19:15.710 --> 00:19:17.253
- No, I'm planning on
it, but you know it's a--

448
00:19:17.253 --> 00:19:19.760
- Did you bring about world
peace in your lifetime?

449
00:19:19.760 --> 00:19:20.935
- Well, not yet, no but--

450
00:19:20.935 --> 00:19:23.230
- (laughs) Boy bye, you really don't have

451
00:19:23.230 --> 00:19:26.090
the qualifications to be
the Messiah, now do you?

452
00:19:26.090 --> 00:19:27.850
Maybe you should try carpentry.

453
00:19:27.850 --> 00:19:31.770
I see you have some
experience in that area, next.

454
00:19:31.770 --> 00:19:33.760
- So someone came up with the idea,

455
00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:38.760
to pitch the concept of the
Messiah to the Gentiles.

456
00:19:38.770 --> 00:19:41.853
(speaking gibberish)

457
00:19:43.520 --> 00:19:45.880
- Wait, I've got an idea.

458
00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:48.226
What if we market it to Gentiles?

459
00:19:48.226 --> 00:19:51.320
(audience laughs)

460
00:19:51.320 --> 00:19:55.370
- So what you see in
early Christian writings,

461
00:19:55.370 --> 00:19:58.810
is a sort of re-definition of a Messiah.

462
00:19:58.810 --> 00:20:01.790
- Which is a pretty wacky
idea when you think about it,

463
00:20:01.790 --> 00:20:04.200
because the whole point of the Messiah,

464
00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.860
was he was supposed to save
the Jews from the Gentiles,

465
00:20:07.860 --> 00:20:10.310
not save the Gentiles.

466
00:20:10.310 --> 00:20:12.860
- [Narrator] A Gentile is
someone who isn't Jewish.

467
00:20:13.820 --> 00:20:17.130
- But of course, the
Gentiles didn't know that.

468
00:20:17.130 --> 00:20:18.760
They didn't know that the Messiah

469
00:20:18.760 --> 00:20:21.550
was supposed to come and defeat them.

470
00:20:21.550 --> 00:20:23.820
And they had already been indoctrinated,

471
00:20:23.820 --> 00:20:25.640
over the last 100 years,

472
00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:28.260
with the idea that a man could die

473
00:20:28.260 --> 00:20:29.500
and become a god,

474
00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:32.920
so why not this Jesus guy?

475
00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:35.230
The Greeks and Romans already accepted

476
00:20:35.230 --> 00:20:37.610
a whole pantheon of gods.

477
00:20:37.610 --> 00:20:40.910
So there was no big deal
about adding one more,

478
00:20:40.910 --> 00:20:43.040
especially if this one is promising,

479
00:20:43.040 --> 00:20:45.220
that the end of the world is coming soon

480
00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:48.120
and that people who pray to him, as a God,

481
00:20:48.120 --> 00:20:50.970
will get the reward of eternal paradise.

482
00:20:50.970 --> 00:20:54.310
Something the older gods didn't promise.

483
00:20:54.310 --> 00:20:56.990
And who was the number one salesman

484
00:20:56.990 --> 00:20:59.265
for this new kind of Messiah?

485
00:20:59.265 --> 00:21:03.015
(ominous instrumental music)

486
00:21:04.510 --> 00:21:06.500
- The earliest references to Jesus

487
00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:08.940
come from the letters of the Apostle Paul.

488
00:21:08.940 --> 00:21:11.510
- [Cameron] The New Testament
contains 14 letters,

489
00:21:11.510 --> 00:21:13.980
supposedly written by Paul.

490
00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:15.730
But, many scholars only believe

491
00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:19.070
seven of those are authentic.

492
00:21:19.070 --> 00:21:20.900
Despite his letters being stuffed down

493
00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:22.910
the back of the New Testament.

494
00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:24.840
Paul is actually the first person,

495
00:21:24.840 --> 00:21:28.430
who ever wrote anything about Jesus,

496
00:21:28.430 --> 00:21:30.300
at least as far as we know.

497
00:21:30.300 --> 00:21:32.680
But Paul was a bit like
that friend you have,

498
00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:35.590
who just started watching "Breaking Bad".

499
00:21:35.590 --> 00:21:37.520
He was a bit late to the party.

500
00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:39.940
- Paul never met Jesus,

501
00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.290
but he knew people who knew him.

502
00:21:42.290 --> 00:21:43.890
- One of the things that
really surprised me,

503
00:21:43.890 --> 00:21:46.110
when I started studying Christianity,

504
00:21:46.110 --> 00:21:50.490
was that the earliest and most
prolific writer about Jesus,

505
00:21:50.490 --> 00:21:53.130
never even knew him.

506
00:21:53.130 --> 00:21:56.620
Never even saw him, for that matter.

507
00:21:56.620 --> 00:21:59.330
Now Paul says that he knew people

508
00:21:59.330 --> 00:22:01.770
who said they knew Jesus,

509
00:22:01.770 --> 00:22:03.130
but did he really know them?

510
00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:05.750
We've only got his word for it.

511
00:22:05.750 --> 00:22:08.400
And before he joined the Jesus bus,

512
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.660
Paul was a hater.

513
00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:13.930
- Paul actually had letters
from the High Priest,

514
00:22:13.930 --> 00:22:17.260
that enabled him to go and
persecute earlier Christians.

515
00:22:17.260 --> 00:22:18.590
- [Narrator] The High Priest was a member

516
00:22:18.590 --> 00:22:21.190
of the Sadducee sect of Judaism.

517
00:22:21.190 --> 00:22:23.530
They controlled the
sacrifices in the temple

518
00:22:23.530 --> 00:22:25.640
and didn't believe in the afterlife,

519
00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.423
or the resurrection of the dead.

520
00:22:28.857 --> 00:22:31.387
"But Saul began to destroy the church.

521
00:22:31.387 --> 00:22:32.607
"Going from house to house,

522
00:22:32.607 --> 00:22:34.657
"he dragged off both men and women,

523
00:22:34.657 --> 00:22:36.450
"and put them in prison."

524
00:22:36.450 --> 00:22:39.150
- In his own words, Paul
says he was beating up

525
00:22:39.150 --> 00:22:41.570
and arresting Christians because.

526
00:22:41.570 --> 00:22:46.060
- Paul says, that to him as a Jew,

527
00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:48.470
the idea of a crucified Messiah,

528
00:22:48.470 --> 00:22:52.360
the Messiah going and getting
crucified, was nonsense.

529
00:22:52.360 --> 00:22:55.110
- A few years after Jesus dies,

530
00:22:55.110 --> 00:22:57.060
Paul goes from beating them up

531
00:22:57.060 --> 00:22:59.890
to becoming their number one salesperson.

532
00:22:59.890 --> 00:23:01.820
Why the change of heart?

533
00:23:01.820 --> 00:23:03.860
Well, according to his own letters,

534
00:23:03.860 --> 00:23:06.610
written in the late 40s CE,

535
00:23:06.610 --> 00:23:10.470
about 15 to 20 years after Jesus died.

536
00:23:10.470 --> 00:23:12.720
The ghost of Jesus appeared to Paul

537
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:15.920
and told him to go preach to the Gentiles.

538
00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:19.070
But how do you convince a
bunch of Greeks and Romans

539
00:23:19.070 --> 00:23:21.450
to worship a dead Jew?

540
00:23:21.450 --> 00:23:25.660
Well, Paul came up with four
fantastic marketing ideas,

541
00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:28.970
that continue to resonate
with billions of people

542
00:23:28.970 --> 00:23:31.780
around the world to this very day.

543
00:23:31.780 --> 00:23:35.530
(ominous instrumental music)

544
00:23:36.817 --> 00:23:37.827
- [Narrator] "For what I received,

545
00:23:37.827 --> 00:23:40.827
"I passed onto you, as a first importance.

546
00:23:40.827 --> 00:23:44.397
"That Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures."

547
00:23:46.110 --> 00:23:49.310
- For Paul, the Messiah is
not really a warrior king,

548
00:23:49.310 --> 00:23:50.840
or a charismatic preacher,

549
00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:53.730
he's more of a human sacrifice to Yahweh.

550
00:23:53.730 --> 00:23:56.570
See Paul seems to think
that Jesus had to die,

551
00:23:56.570 --> 00:23:58.700
so Yahweh would forgive the human race,

552
00:23:58.700 --> 00:24:01.953
for Adam having eaten the
magical piece of fruits.

553
00:24:02.900 --> 00:24:04.440
Oh, merci madame.

554
00:24:04.440 --> 00:24:05.900
Now most Romans and in fact,

555
00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:07.290
most people on the planet,

556
00:24:07.290 --> 00:24:09.300
had never even heard of Yahweh,

557
00:24:09.300 --> 00:24:13.290
let alone Adam's act
of grand theft fruito.

558
00:24:13.290 --> 00:24:14.480
So it seems a little bit harsh

559
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.110
to sentence them to an
eternity of damnation.

560
00:24:18.110 --> 00:24:19.890
Now, listen, I know most Christians

561
00:24:19.890 --> 00:24:21.300
don't like thinking of Jesus

562
00:24:21.300 --> 00:24:23.670
as a human sacrifice to an angry God,

563
00:24:23.670 --> 00:24:25.230
but, let's be honest

564
00:24:25.230 --> 00:24:26.160
at least on paper,

565
00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:27.860
that's exactly what it looks like.

566
00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:31.130
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica,

567
00:24:31.130 --> 00:24:32.970
human sacrifice is the offering

568
00:24:32.970 --> 00:24:35.923
of the life of a human being to a deity.

569
00:24:38.070 --> 00:24:39.760
Centuries before Paul,

570
00:24:39.760 --> 00:24:41.640
both the Jews and the Romans,

571
00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:46.460
had replaced human sacrifices
with animal sacrifices.

572
00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:49.040
But he's bringing it back baby,

573
00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:52.750
with the greatest sacrifice of them all.

574
00:24:52.750 --> 00:24:55.190
- Not just a human, but a son of a God.

575
00:24:55.190 --> 00:24:58.030
The best sacrifice you can possibly have,

576
00:24:58.030 --> 00:24:59.810
is this superhuman sacrifice.

577
00:24:59.810 --> 00:25:01.820
And because it was given,

578
00:25:01.820 --> 00:25:04.730
that blood can save everybody.

579
00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:06.400
- And Paul doesn't stop there,

580
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:09.737
he's resurrecting more old ideas.

581
00:25:09.737 --> 00:25:13.487
(melancholy orchestra music)

582
00:25:15.320 --> 00:25:16.340
- It comes then down

583
00:25:16.340 --> 00:25:19.820
to the fundamental thing for Christianity,

584
00:25:19.820 --> 00:25:23.190
is Jesus is raised from the dead.

585
00:25:23.190 --> 00:25:25.390
That becomes the one thing

586
00:25:25.390 --> 00:25:29.430
that makes everything else
pile into insignificance.

587
00:25:29.430 --> 00:25:32.630
Okay, he hasn't driven the
Romans out of Jerusalem,

588
00:25:32.630 --> 00:25:35.120
but God raised him from the dead.

589
00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:36.500
No matter what else happens,

590
00:25:36.500 --> 00:25:39.230
whatever failure he was in his life,

591
00:25:39.230 --> 00:25:41.890
he is approved by God.

592
00:25:41.890 --> 00:25:43.440
- Like human sacrifice,

593
00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:47.070
the idea of a resurrected
God wasn't original

594
00:25:47.070 --> 00:25:49.520
to Paul or Christianity.

595
00:25:49.520 --> 00:25:50.900
Now like every great marketer,

596
00:25:50.900 --> 00:25:52.760
Paul knows how to take a negative,

597
00:25:52.760 --> 00:25:54.740
the fact that Jesus didn't
really kick the Romans

598
00:25:54.740 --> 00:25:56.530
out of Judea before he died,

599
00:25:56.530 --> 00:25:58.300
and spin it into a positive.

600
00:25:58.300 --> 00:26:00.137
He says, "Wait, wait, wait,
wait you don't understand.

601
00:26:00.137 --> 00:26:01.167
"He's gonna come back,

602
00:26:01.167 --> 00:26:05.070
"and then he's gonna destroy
every authority and power."

603
00:26:05.070 --> 00:26:07.920
He's like the Terminator,
"I will be back."

604
00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:10.510
You know what's cooler than
a warrior king Messiah?

605
00:26:10.510 --> 00:26:13.980
A warrior king Messiah with super powers.

606
00:26:13.980 --> 00:26:15.060
But, not many Jews

607
00:26:15.060 --> 00:26:17.830
bought into the whole
super powered Messiah idea.

608
00:26:17.830 --> 00:26:20.350
They tended to call BS on all of that,

609
00:26:20.350 --> 00:26:23.920
so Paul decides he needs
to find a new audience.

610
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.265
Paul's the guy that
takes it to the Gentiles.

611
00:26:27.265 --> 00:26:31.015
(ominous instrumental music)

612
00:26:34.214 --> 00:26:35.047
- No, the original sect

613
00:26:35.047 --> 00:26:37.220
just wasn't hitting the
right market, essentially.

614
00:26:37.220 --> 00:26:41.490
And Paul figured this out,
consciously or unconsciously,

615
00:26:41.490 --> 00:26:43.410
and re-told it to be a
successful in that market.

616
00:26:43.410 --> 00:26:44.810
And that's why it exploded.

617
00:26:44.810 --> 00:26:47.430
Which I think led to the
doom of the original sect,

618
00:26:47.430 --> 00:26:50.560
because Paul had a much
bigger market to tap,

619
00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:52.900
so way more Gentiles than Jews.

620
00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:55.320
Way more Gentiles who
are excited by this idea

621
00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:56.750
than Jews would be.

622
00:26:56.750 --> 00:26:58.350
And so you had,

623
00:26:58.350 --> 00:27:01.290
the church has explode
in size with Gentiles.

624
00:27:01.290 --> 00:27:04.910
- Now of course, in order to
market Judaism to the Gentiles,

625
00:27:04.910 --> 00:27:08.530
Paul needed to make some
pretty fundamental changes.

626
00:27:08.530 --> 00:27:10.750
As far as all of the other early Jesus

627
00:27:10.750 --> 00:27:12.120
worshipers were concerned,

628
00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:13.650
in order to join their little club,

629
00:27:13.650 --> 00:27:16.780
you had to either be or become a Jew.

630
00:27:16.780 --> 00:27:18.840
But of course, probably the biggest hurdle

631
00:27:18.840 --> 00:27:20.960
for most Gentiles in becoming a Jew,

632
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.080
was that you had to get circumcised,

633
00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:27.670
whether you were a child or an adult.

634
00:27:27.670 --> 00:27:31.850
But Pauly Walnut says,
"Oh, forgot about it."

635
00:27:31.850 --> 00:27:34.480
- Just the marketing genius it took

636
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.817
to get rid of that one restriction,

637
00:27:36.817 --> 00:27:37.650
"Oh, we don't have to do that?

638
00:27:37.650 --> 00:27:40.867
"Sure, sure, I'll become
a Jew, yeah, that's fine.

639
00:27:40.867 --> 00:27:42.067
"I'll take on this new religion,

640
00:27:42.067 --> 00:27:44.738
"we don't have to chop
our penis up anymore."

641
00:27:44.738 --> 00:27:48.240
(man Walking) (drink pouring)

642
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:51.140
- Can I interest you in
a new form of Judaism?

643
00:27:51.140 --> 00:27:53.503
- No, thanks, heard it all before.

644
00:27:53.503 --> 00:27:54.860
- What if I told you

645
00:27:54.860 --> 00:27:59.013
that you don't have to chop
off the end of your knob?

646
00:27:59.013 --> 00:28:00.680
(glass shutters)
- Go on.

647
00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:03.980
- Paul's type of preaching
was ideal for them.

648
00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:07.550
Oh, we can be in that Jewish trajectory,

649
00:28:07.550 --> 00:28:10.400
but without all the stuff
we don't like, sign me up.

650
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.230
- But what do the original disciples

651
00:28:12.230 --> 00:28:13.540
think about all of this?

652
00:28:13.540 --> 00:28:16.270
Well, as they were Torah-observing Jews,

653
00:28:16.270 --> 00:28:18.050
we can only imagine.

654
00:28:18.050 --> 00:28:21.320
- So, Paul, we've been hearing rumors

655
00:28:21.320 --> 00:28:22.550
that you've been making up

656
00:28:22.550 --> 00:28:25.180
some fakakta stories about Jesus.

657
00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:27.740
What exactly are you telling people?

658
00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:29.760
- Just the usual stuff, James.

659
00:28:29.760 --> 00:28:33.030
Jesus was a real mensch
who died for our sins.

660
00:28:33.030 --> 00:28:35.900
He's coming back any day
now with superpowers,

661
00:28:35.900 --> 00:28:37.460
yada yada yada.

662
00:28:37.460 --> 00:28:40.730
Oh, and Gentiles don't need
to become Jews anymore.

663
00:28:40.730 --> 00:28:42.570
- Whoa! Are you crazy?

664
00:28:42.570 --> 00:28:45.370
This is a Jews-only club, bubala.

665
00:28:45.370 --> 00:28:46.700
Anyone who wants to get in,

666
00:28:46.700 --> 00:28:49.410
needs to lose the end of his schwantz.

667
00:28:49.410 --> 00:28:52.380
Non-negotiable, you schmuck.

668
00:28:52.380 --> 00:28:56.916
- Peter, bubbee, the Gentiles
really like their foreskin.

669
00:28:56.916 --> 00:28:58.588
Let them keep it.

670
00:28:58.588 --> 00:29:01.790
- Oh, (speaks in foreign language)

671
00:29:01.790 --> 00:29:04.870
Listen up, buds, you know bupkis.

672
00:29:04.870 --> 00:29:06.680
We were his best friends.

673
00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:08.840
James is his brother.

674
00:29:08.840 --> 00:29:10.680
If he wanted to let the goyim in,

675
00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:12.073
he would have told us.

676
00:29:13.140 --> 00:29:15.050
- Listen, I'll tell you what.

677
00:29:15.050 --> 00:29:17.590
You do your thing and I'll do my thing,

678
00:29:17.590 --> 00:29:20.920
and we'll just see who wins, mazel tov.

679
00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:23.960
- I think a lot of
Jesus' original disciples

680
00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:25.650
were very suspicious of Paul.

681
00:29:25.650 --> 00:29:27.210
He wasn't part of the original band,

682
00:29:27.210 --> 00:29:28.760
he didn't know Jesus

683
00:29:28.760 --> 00:29:30.160
and even worse than that,

684
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.300
the young Paul had persecuted the church.

685
00:29:33.300 --> 00:29:35.910
He was trying to bring down the church,

686
00:29:35.910 --> 00:29:36.987
so why should they trust this guy?

687
00:29:36.987 --> 00:29:39.130
- Paul doesn't really seem to care

688
00:29:39.130 --> 00:29:41.700
what Peter and James think anyway.

689
00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:43.600
He says that when he did meet them,

690
00:29:43.600 --> 00:29:44.960
they didn't tell him anything

691
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:46.730
that he didn't already know.

692
00:29:46.730 --> 00:29:48.350
- He is very clear,

693
00:29:48.350 --> 00:29:50.530
repeatedly in his letters

694
00:29:50.530 --> 00:29:51.363
that he learned this,

695
00:29:51.363 --> 00:29:53.180
his Gospel from no man,

696
00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:54.977
no human source whatsoever.

697
00:29:54.977 --> 00:29:57.387
- [Narrator] "I want you to
know, brothers and sisters,

698
00:29:57.387 --> 00:30:00.417
"that the Gospel I preached
is not of human origin.

699
00:30:00.417 --> 00:30:03.627
"I did not receive it from
any man nor was I taught it.

700
00:30:03.627 --> 00:30:07.150
"Rather, I received it by
revelation from Jesus Christ."

701
00:30:07.150 --> 00:30:09.163
- When he does mention his sources,

702
00:30:10.810 --> 00:30:14.260
it's the divine, it's the Lord, it's God,

703
00:30:14.260 --> 00:30:15.710
and it's the scriptures also.

704
00:30:15.710 --> 00:30:17.300
- Because he feels, well,

705
00:30:17.300 --> 00:30:20.600
I've got every bit as much of a right

706
00:30:20.600 --> 00:30:22.740
to be called an apostle as you all have.

707
00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:24.360
But they said, "Yeah, but
you didn't meet Jesus."

708
00:30:24.360 --> 00:30:28.247
So, his big answer to that is to say,

709
00:30:28.247 --> 00:30:29.537
"I did meet Jesus.

710
00:30:29.537 --> 00:30:32.087
"I met him on the road to Damascus.

711
00:30:32.087 --> 00:30:34.190
"I met the resurrected Jesus."

712
00:30:34.190 --> 00:30:36.150
- Paul says that the ghost of Jesus

713
00:30:36.150 --> 00:30:37.560
told him he could throw out

714
00:30:37.560 --> 00:30:40.810
a thousand years of
Jewish law and tradition.

715
00:30:40.810 --> 00:30:42.830
But they don't seem to believe him

716
00:30:42.830 --> 00:30:46.030
anyone can claim to have a revelation,

717
00:30:46.030 --> 00:30:48.120
and he doesn't really have
a great reputation either.

718
00:30:48.120 --> 00:30:49.990
It was only just a few years ago

719
00:30:49.990 --> 00:30:53.110
that he was having their
friends arrested and beaten up.

720
00:30:53.110 --> 00:30:55.590
So they all seemed to butt heads.

721
00:30:55.590 --> 00:30:58.300
- There's one story where Paul and Peter

722
00:30:58.300 --> 00:30:59.870
have a stand up row.

723
00:30:59.870 --> 00:31:02.420
A stand up row in Antioch
in front of everybody,

724
00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:05.140
because they disagree on the implications

725
00:31:05.140 --> 00:31:08.030
of the movement that they're part of.

726
00:31:08.030 --> 00:31:10.010
- According to Paul's own account,

727
00:31:10.010 --> 00:31:14.030
he started calling Peter
a fraud to his face,

728
00:31:14.030 --> 00:31:15.847
in front of everybody.

729
00:31:15.847 --> 00:31:17.397
- [Narrator] "When Peter came to Antioch,

730
00:31:17.397 --> 00:31:19.087
"I opposed him to his face,

731
00:31:19.087 --> 00:31:21.177
"because he was clearly in the wrong."

732
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:25.560
- Now, Peter was the first
disciple that Jesus ever had.

733
00:31:25.560 --> 00:31:28.630
Can you imagine what must have
been going through his mind

734
00:31:28.630 --> 00:31:30.110
when this Paul guy,

735
00:31:30.110 --> 00:31:32.300
who never even knew Jesus,

736
00:31:32.300 --> 00:31:35.150
started getting up in his
face in front of people?

737
00:31:35.150 --> 00:31:38.540
Unfortunately we only have
Paul's side of the story.

738
00:31:38.540 --> 00:31:40.600
- When Paul is in a bad mood,

739
00:31:40.600 --> 00:31:41.750
and he's in a really bad mood

740
00:31:41.750 --> 00:31:43.080
in the Epistle to the Galatians.

741
00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:46.027
He wants to say, "They
didn't add anything to me,

742
00:31:46.027 --> 00:31:47.827
"there's nothing that they told me

743
00:31:47.827 --> 00:31:52.487
"that added anything to the
Gospel, which I got from God."

744
00:31:52.487 --> 00:31:54.570
But we know that this isn't true.

745
00:31:54.570 --> 00:31:55.590
- [Man] As you imagine him pacing

746
00:31:55.590 --> 00:31:58.800
up and down a room, yelling,

747
00:31:58.800 --> 00:32:00.337
while someones taking it all down,

748
00:32:00.337 --> 00:32:03.360
it's the, that's the
best way to imagine Paul

749
00:32:03.360 --> 00:32:05.274
creating Galatians, a
Letter to the Galatians.

750
00:32:05.274 --> 00:32:06.730
And it's trying to talk about

751
00:32:06.730 --> 00:32:07.970
a lot of affection,

752
00:32:07.970 --> 00:32:10.640
and love, and care as well.

753
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.015
So maybe he was bipolar, I don't know.

754
00:32:13.015 --> 00:32:16.182
(deep voice growling)

755
00:32:19.360 --> 00:32:21.420
- And it's not just Peter and James

756
00:32:21.420 --> 00:32:23.810
that Paul's having a
problem with at this stage.

757
00:32:23.810 --> 00:32:27.970
You see, even at this early
phase of the Jesus movement,

758
00:32:27.970 --> 00:32:31.650
there seem to be a number of
different factions emerging.

759
00:32:31.650 --> 00:32:33.620
And just like today,

760
00:32:33.620 --> 00:32:37.390
they all claim to be
the one true movement.

761
00:32:37.390 --> 00:32:38.780
- So we have an example of,

762
00:32:38.780 --> 00:32:39.910
in First Corinthians,

763
00:32:39.910 --> 00:32:42.870
Paul is trying to respond to a letter

764
00:32:42.870 --> 00:32:44.210
that the Corinthians wrote to him saying,

765
00:32:44.210 --> 00:32:47.463
hey, this other Apostle, Apollos,

766
00:32:48.420 --> 00:32:50.660
came by and taught us all
this other new weird stuff,

767
00:32:50.660 --> 00:32:52.370
what's, it seems to contradict yours.

768
00:32:52.370 --> 00:32:54.120
What's what are we
supposed to make of this?

769
00:32:54.120 --> 00:32:57.070
But you'd immediately ask
me who's this Apollos guy?

770
00:32:57.070 --> 00:32:58.910
He's not on any lists of disciples.

771
00:32:58.910 --> 00:33:02.300
- Paul calls these other
missionaries false apostles,

772
00:33:02.300 --> 00:33:06.450
even though he's the guy
that never even knew Jesus.

773
00:33:06.450 --> 00:33:08.700
Oh, the cahoneys on this guy.

774
00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:10.220
We know that in the first century

775
00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:12.970
there were a whole range
of divergent Jewish sects.

776
00:33:12.970 --> 00:33:15.070
So it seems entirely possible

777
00:33:15.070 --> 00:33:18.290
that there were a range of
savior cults running around

778
00:33:18.290 --> 00:33:19.780
at the same time as Paul,

779
00:33:19.780 --> 00:33:21.660
using similar terminology.

780
00:33:21.660 --> 00:33:23.140
Let's just keep in mind

781
00:33:23.140 --> 00:33:27.890
that both Jesus and
Messiah both mean Savior.

782
00:33:27.890 --> 00:33:29.540
- What's the name of your Savior?

783
00:33:30.470 --> 00:33:32.360
- We just call him the Savior.

784
00:33:32.360 --> 00:33:34.973
- So Jesus.
- Yeah, yeah, Jesus.

785
00:33:36.140 --> 00:33:37.920
- What's the name of your Savior?

786
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:40.280
- We just call him the Savior.

787
00:33:40.280 --> 00:33:43.510
- So Jesus.
- Yeah, yeah, Jesus.

788
00:33:43.510 --> 00:33:46.177
(comical music)

789
00:33:47.610 --> 00:33:49.210
- Each cult probably would have had

790
00:33:49.210 --> 00:33:52.110
their favorite Messiah stories,

791
00:33:52.110 --> 00:33:55.660
their favorite miracles and
their favorite teachings.

792
00:33:55.660 --> 00:33:57.680
Each of course would have had

793
00:33:57.680 --> 00:33:59.520
their own missionaries as well.

794
00:33:59.520 --> 00:34:02.500
- There were manifest
signs in the New Testament,

795
00:34:02.500 --> 00:34:03.940
about a big differences.

796
00:34:03.940 --> 00:34:05.180
And when you look at other stuff

797
00:34:05.180 --> 00:34:06.960
that didn't get into the New Testament,

798
00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:08.860
it becomes real obvious.

799
00:34:08.860 --> 00:34:11.750
- At one point, Paul gets so angry

800
00:34:11.750 --> 00:34:14.060
about these competing missionaries,

801
00:34:14.060 --> 00:34:15.470
that he writes in his letters,

802
00:34:15.470 --> 00:34:18.797
he wishes they would cut
their own genitals off.

803
00:34:18.797 --> 00:34:20.617
- [Narrator] "As for those agitators,

804
00:34:20.617 --> 00:34:22.167
"I wish they would go the whole way

805
00:34:22.167 --> 00:34:26.360
"and emasculate
themselves," Galatians 5:12.

806
00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:30.290
- Emasculate means removal of the penis

807
00:34:30.290 --> 00:34:32.010
and the testicles,

808
00:34:32.010 --> 00:34:36.670
not just castration,
but the whole package.

809
00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:38.890
So much for turning the other cheek.

810
00:34:38.890 --> 00:34:40.510
And remember, this is the same guy

811
00:34:40.510 --> 00:34:43.080
that was beating up and
arresting Christians

812
00:34:43.080 --> 00:34:44.930
just 20 years earlier.

813
00:34:44.930 --> 00:34:46.340
Forget about what the disciples

814
00:34:46.340 --> 00:34:47.840
would have thought about him for a second.

815
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:50.820
What would Jesus have thought about Paul.

816
00:34:50.820 --> 00:34:52.890
As a Torah observant Jew,

817
00:34:52.890 --> 00:34:54.720
I suspect that he may have found

818
00:34:54.720 --> 00:34:58.230
some of Paul's rhetoric
a little bit heretical.

819
00:34:58.230 --> 00:35:01.090
- I think that if Jesus had said,

820
00:35:01.090 --> 00:35:04.240
nobody has to follow
the Jewish law anymore,

821
00:35:04.240 --> 00:35:07.660
then why would Paul have
had such a hard time

822
00:35:07.660 --> 00:35:10.330
convincing Jesus' apostles of this.

823
00:35:10.330 --> 00:35:11.490
- The Gospels record,

824
00:35:11.490 --> 00:35:13.220
certain missionary instructions

825
00:35:13.220 --> 00:35:15.150
that Jesus gave his followers.

826
00:35:15.150 --> 00:35:19.010
But they're not detailed
toward going to the Gentiles.

827
00:35:19.010 --> 00:35:21.450
- Which if you ask me is a little bit

828
00:35:21.450 --> 00:35:23.930
of an oversight on Jesus's behalf.

829
00:35:23.930 --> 00:35:26.280
- All versions of Christianity today

830
00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:29.070
are basically descendants of
Paul's version of Christianity.

831
00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:30.280
And that was just one sect.

832
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:33.310
- Now Paul's not going
after the well educated,

833
00:35:33.310 --> 00:35:35.960
the Gentiles or the rich and the famous,

834
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:38.260
Paul's gonna take it down market.

835
00:35:38.260 --> 00:35:42.310
- It becomes a religion for
the poor and the downtrodden

836
00:35:42.310 --> 00:35:45.470
and the oppressed and the underprivileged,

837
00:35:45.470 --> 00:35:49.290
who can all find in this, a
sense of a better tomorrow.

838
00:35:49.290 --> 00:35:52.580
- The Greco-Roman religions
didn't really offer much

839
00:35:52.580 --> 00:35:54.020
in the way of an afterlife,

840
00:35:54.020 --> 00:35:57.650
unless you were some sort
of great hero or King,

841
00:35:57.650 --> 00:36:00.380
and heaven doesn't
actually turn up in Judaism

842
00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:03.510
much either, barely gets a
mention in the Old Testament.

843
00:36:03.510 --> 00:36:06.460
But Paul is saying, you can get eternity

844
00:36:06.460 --> 00:36:09.350
in paradise and he's
offering it to everyone.

845
00:36:09.350 --> 00:36:11.470
And who doesn't wanna
spend eternity in paradise.

846
00:36:11.470 --> 00:36:13.880
Hell, I'd be happy with
a weekend in paradise.

847
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:15.390
So Paul talks a lot

848
00:36:15.390 --> 00:36:18.800
about what Jesus is gonna
do when he comes back.

849
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:21.540
But how much does he have
to say about the life

850
00:36:21.540 --> 00:36:23.283
and teachings of Jesus

851
00:36:23.283 --> 00:36:25.850
during his actual time on earth?

852
00:36:25.850 --> 00:36:27.450
- Paul wrote a lot.

853
00:36:27.450 --> 00:36:30.600
He wrote a massive chunk
of the New Testament

854
00:36:30.600 --> 00:36:33.820
and we don't even get incidental mentions,

855
00:36:33.820 --> 00:36:37.330
not even once about
miracles that Jesus did,

856
00:36:37.330 --> 00:36:39.170
healings, it's absurd.

857
00:36:39.170 --> 00:36:41.120
- Now one of the explanations
for this might be

858
00:36:41.120 --> 00:36:43.820
that Paul's letters really
dealing with disputes

859
00:36:43.820 --> 00:36:46.990
in his communities about
how to be good Christians.

860
00:36:46.990 --> 00:36:48.740
But isn't that the perfect time

861
00:36:48.740 --> 00:36:50.980
to be quoting the founder of the firm?

862
00:36:50.980 --> 00:36:52.460
- When it comes to disputes about that,

863
00:36:52.460 --> 00:36:54.350
he could have easily,

864
00:36:54.350 --> 00:36:55.500
he could have easily said,

865
00:36:55.500 --> 00:36:57.620
Jesus said this,

866
00:36:57.620 --> 00:37:00.500
when Jesus was in Jerusalem, he said that.

867
00:37:00.500 --> 00:37:02.280
No, what we get is Paul speaking

868
00:37:02.280 --> 00:37:03.940
from his own authority.

869
00:37:03.940 --> 00:37:08.650
He gets his information
directly from the Lord above.

870
00:37:08.650 --> 00:37:10.540
From his celestial Christ

871
00:37:10.540 --> 00:37:14.330
and also from the earliest scriptures.

872
00:37:14.330 --> 00:37:17.540
- Paul briefly mentions
that Jesus was born,

873
00:37:17.540 --> 00:37:20.380
died and resurrected in some form.

874
00:37:20.380 --> 00:37:21.750
But that's pretty much it

875
00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:23.870
when it comes to talking about the life

876
00:37:23.870 --> 00:37:26.000
and teachings of Jesus.

877
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:27.880
There are a few passages where he says

878
00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:30.060
he got something from the Lord,

879
00:37:30.060 --> 00:37:33.980
but as he claims no
human told him anything,

880
00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:37.997
he might just be referring
to the ghost of Jesus.

881
00:37:37.997 --> 00:37:39.957
- [Narrator] "To the
married, I give this command.

882
00:37:39.957 --> 00:37:41.747
"Not I, but the Lord.

883
00:37:41.747 --> 00:37:44.487
"A wife must not separate
from her husband.

884
00:37:44.487 --> 00:37:46.627
"First Corinthians 7:10."

885
00:37:47.928 --> 00:37:49.180
- But Paul has zero to say

886
00:37:49.180 --> 00:37:51.860
about the miracles that
Jesus did in his lifetime.

887
00:37:51.860 --> 00:37:53.560
There's no turning water into wine,

888
00:37:53.560 --> 00:37:55.350
no multiplying, loaves and fishes.

889
00:37:55.350 --> 00:37:57.040
There's no walking on water,

890
00:37:57.040 --> 00:37:59.100
there's no healing the sick with his spit.

891
00:37:59.100 --> 00:38:00.450
There's no exorcisms,

892
00:38:00.450 --> 00:38:03.220
there's no bringing
people back from the dead.

893
00:38:03.220 --> 00:38:04.310
Which is kind of strange

894
00:38:04.310 --> 00:38:05.310
if you think about it.

895
00:38:05.310 --> 00:38:07.820
If you knew somebody who
could do all of those things,

896
00:38:07.820 --> 00:38:09.520
you'd never stop talking about it.

897
00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:14.210
- Whether that's really strange

898
00:38:14.210 --> 00:38:16.640
or whether that's because for example,

899
00:38:16.640 --> 00:38:17.710
he takes for granted

900
00:38:17.710 --> 00:38:20.653
that they know that
already, is hard to be sure.

901
00:38:26.680 --> 00:38:30.800
- Maybe Paul assume that they
already knew the stories.

902
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.950
But we have to remember

903
00:38:31.950 --> 00:38:34.300
that Paul's writing his letters,

904
00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:37.690
20 to thirty years before
the Gospels were written.

905
00:38:37.690 --> 00:38:39.450
Maybe he'd never heard the stories.

906
00:38:39.450 --> 00:38:41.350
Maybe he had heard them,

907
00:38:41.350 --> 00:38:42.510
but didn't believe them.

908
00:38:42.510 --> 00:38:45.070
Maybe they were invented later

909
00:38:45.070 --> 00:38:47.860
or maybe Paul had heard the stories,

910
00:38:47.860 --> 00:38:51.080
but just didn't think
they were very important.

911
00:38:51.080 --> 00:38:53.890
Maybe he thought they were
completely irrelevant.

912
00:38:53.890 --> 00:38:56.410
- Look at what Christian
preachers do today.

913
00:38:56.410 --> 00:38:58.450
When they wanna say what
you should be doing,

914
00:38:58.450 --> 00:38:59.290
what you should be thinking,

915
00:38:59.290 --> 00:39:00.400
what you should be behaving.

916
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:01.250
What do they say?

917
00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:03.020
They say, Jesus says this,

918
00:39:03.020 --> 00:39:03.910
Jesus says this.

919
00:39:03.910 --> 00:39:06.170
Jesus just did this, Jesus taught that.

920
00:39:06.170 --> 00:39:08.230
So why doesn't Paul?

921
00:39:08.230 --> 00:39:11.230
Why does Paul never say,
what would Jesus do?

922
00:39:11.230 --> 00:39:12.650
- What did matter to Paul

923
00:39:12.650 --> 00:39:15.560
was converting as many people as possible,

924
00:39:15.560 --> 00:39:17.350
as quickly as possible,

925
00:39:17.350 --> 00:39:18.683
because he's absolutely convinced

926
00:39:18.683 --> 00:39:20.320
that time is running out.

927
00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:22.987
(clock ticking)

928
00:39:24.505 --> 00:39:28.255
(ominous instrumental music)

929
00:39:29.300 --> 00:39:30.730
- Paul believes that the end of the world

930
00:39:30.730 --> 00:39:32.430
is dawning any minute.

931
00:39:32.430 --> 00:39:33.263
Everyday he gets up in the morning

932
00:39:33.263 --> 00:39:34.687
he thinks it could be today.

933
00:39:34.687 --> 00:39:37.637
- [Narrator] "Then we who
are alive, who are left,

934
00:39:37.637 --> 00:39:38.967
"shall be caught up together

935
00:39:38.967 --> 00:39:40.437
"with them in the clouds,

936
00:39:40.437 --> 00:39:42.650
"to meet the Lord in the air."

937
00:39:42.650 --> 00:39:45.410
First Thessalonians 4:17.

938
00:39:45.410 --> 00:39:46.950
- But then time goes on

939
00:39:46.950 --> 00:39:49.080
and the end still hasn't arrived yet.

940
00:39:49.080 --> 00:39:53.340
So Paul, like every
doomsday prophet starts

941
00:39:53.340 --> 00:39:55.000
to hedge his bets a little.

942
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:56.770
- Suddenly now we've got Christians dying

943
00:39:56.770 --> 00:39:58.820
and that's not supposed to happen.

944
00:39:58.820 --> 00:40:00.800
Jesus is meant to return.

945
00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:02.160
This kingdom of God

946
00:40:02.160 --> 00:40:04.660
is meant to be ushered in
and it's not happening.

947
00:40:04.660 --> 00:40:06.500
So there needs to be a rethink.

948
00:40:06.500 --> 00:40:08.600
- Well, he says oh jeez, right.

949
00:40:08.600 --> 00:40:10.242
About the resurrection.

950
00:40:10.242 --> 00:40:12.030
You see, yeah, some are gonna die,

951
00:40:12.030 --> 00:40:14.150
but Christ will come back

952
00:40:14.150 --> 00:40:17.710
and the dead in Christ will rise first.

953
00:40:17.710 --> 00:40:20.030
We'll have the, we'll be second in line.

954
00:40:20.030 --> 00:40:21.710
We'll be transformed.

955
00:40:21.710 --> 00:40:25.710
- Paul was clearly wrong,
the end didn't come.

956
00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:28.410
Paul eventually realizes

957
00:40:28.410 --> 00:40:29.440
that he's more likely than not

958
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.150
going to die before Jesus returns.

959
00:40:32.150 --> 00:40:34.250
- Paul claims the ghost of Jesus

960
00:40:34.250 --> 00:40:35.580
told him the end of the world

961
00:40:35.580 --> 00:40:37.530
would come within his lifetime.

962
00:40:37.530 --> 00:40:39.480
You'd think if God told you,

963
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:41.670
the end of the world was happening soon,

964
00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:46.510
you'd be pretty careful
about getting confirmation.

965
00:40:46.510 --> 00:40:48.520
- Blessed are the meek,

966
00:40:48.520 --> 00:40:50.720
turn the other cheek.

967
00:40:50.720 --> 00:40:53.090
The world will end in your lifetime,

968
00:40:53.090 --> 00:40:54.757
let him who hath not sinned.

969
00:40:54.757 --> 00:40:57.220
(clearing his throat) -
Excuse me there the Lord,

970
00:40:57.220 --> 00:40:58.990
could you just repeat that last bit

971
00:40:58.990 --> 00:41:00.760
I'm not sure I heard you correctly.

972
00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:02.380
The world's gonna end in my lifetime.

973
00:41:02.380 --> 00:41:05.280
Yeah, yeah, in your lifetime.

974
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:06.113
- Are you sure?

975
00:41:07.380 --> 00:41:11.090
- I find your lack of faith disturbing.

976
00:41:11.090 --> 00:41:12.520
- Oh, hey, okay.

977
00:41:12.520 --> 00:41:13.730
Chill, big guy.

978
00:41:13.730 --> 00:41:16.060
I just hate to get
something like that wrong.

979
00:41:16.060 --> 00:41:17.860
Wouldn't want that on my conscience.

980
00:41:19.050 --> 00:41:20.320
- So as far as I can tell,

981
00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:23.280
one of five things must have happened.

982
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:26.470
Either one, Jesus made a mistake.

983
00:41:26.470 --> 00:41:28.890
Two, Jesus lied.

984
00:41:28.890 --> 00:41:31.240
Three, Jesus changed his mind

985
00:41:31.240 --> 00:41:33.680
and just forgot to tell Paul.

986
00:41:33.680 --> 00:41:37.500
Four, Paul misunderstood Jesus,

987
00:41:37.500 --> 00:41:41.460
or five, Paul just made it all up.

988
00:41:41.460 --> 00:41:45.060
- This is a debate among
historical Jesus scholars

989
00:41:45.060 --> 00:41:47.000
about whether Jesus believed,

990
00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:47.870
that the end of the world would

991
00:41:47.870 --> 00:41:50.920
happen in his lifetime or not.

992
00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:52.950
The vast, vast majority of scholars

993
00:41:52.950 --> 00:41:56.197
who say, "Nah looks pretty clear from,

994
00:41:56.197 --> 00:41:58.637
"Jesus' teachings as
preserved in the Gospels

995
00:41:58.637 --> 00:42:02.020
"that he really does
expect the end to come

996
00:42:02.020 --> 00:42:03.230
in his lifetime."

997
00:42:03.230 --> 00:42:07.580
So he seems to have been

998
00:42:07.580 --> 00:42:10.190
like many people before him,

999
00:42:10.190 --> 00:42:12.300
and pretty much everybody after him.

1000
00:42:12.300 --> 00:42:13.410
Everybody who's predicted

1001
00:42:13.410 --> 00:42:15.350
that the world was going
to end in their lifetime

1002
00:42:15.350 --> 00:42:17.630
thus far has been wrong.

1003
00:42:17.630 --> 00:42:20.410
And Jesus would seem to
have been one of those.

1004
00:42:20.410 --> 00:42:22.700
- Now, if you don't like to think of Jesus

1005
00:42:22.700 --> 00:42:26.140
as getting something that important wrong,

1006
00:42:26.140 --> 00:42:29.130
let's go with Paul made it all up.

1007
00:42:29.130 --> 00:42:31.460
And if he did.

1008
00:42:31.460 --> 00:42:32.370
- Maybe he's lying about

1009
00:42:32.370 --> 00:42:34.360
all this other stuff we're using him for.

1010
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:37.180
- Did he really meet Peter and James?

1011
00:42:37.180 --> 00:42:38.947
We only have his word for it.

1012
00:42:38.947 --> 00:42:40.290
Did the ghost of Jesus

1013
00:42:40.290 --> 00:42:41.440
really appear to him

1014
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:44.160
and tell him to preach to the Gentiles.

1015
00:42:44.160 --> 00:42:45.630
So if Paul is throwing out

1016
00:42:45.630 --> 00:42:47.590
all of this Jewish law and tradition,

1017
00:42:47.590 --> 00:42:50.180
telling people that the end is nigh

1018
00:42:50.180 --> 00:42:54.060
and having public arguments
with the original apostles,

1019
00:42:54.060 --> 00:42:56.410
why did they tolerate him?

1020
00:42:56.410 --> 00:42:58.510
Well from how it appears in the Bible

1021
00:42:58.510 --> 00:43:01.350
it seems that James and Paul

1022
00:43:01.350 --> 00:43:05.060
agreed to some kind of payment.

1023
00:43:05.060 --> 00:43:06.410
- There's a lot of references in letters

1024
00:43:06.410 --> 00:43:08.810
to him collecting money from his churches.

1025
00:43:08.810 --> 00:43:10.750
It's clear that some of these
churches are challenging him,

1026
00:43:10.750 --> 00:43:12.190
are like, what are you
doing with this money?

1027
00:43:12.190 --> 00:43:13.207
And he has to like, justify that,

1028
00:43:13.207 --> 00:43:14.620
you know, no, no, don't worry

1029
00:43:14.620 --> 00:43:15.520
I'm not running off with it.

1030
00:43:15.520 --> 00:43:17.590
I'm doing what I said
I was gonna do with it.

1031
00:43:17.590 --> 00:43:18.640
Which is, he says,

1032
00:43:18.640 --> 00:43:20.630
taking it back to the saints in Jerusalem,

1033
00:43:20.630 --> 00:43:23.000
you know, the Holy ones in Jerusalem.

1034
00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.900
And we're not entirely
sure what that means,

1035
00:43:24.900 --> 00:43:25.820
but you can be sure

1036
00:43:25.820 --> 00:43:26.653
it certainly meant

1037
00:43:26.653 --> 00:43:27.830
that the Jerusalem church,

1038
00:43:27.830 --> 00:43:29.100
these heads are getting a cut.

1039
00:43:29.100 --> 00:43:32.100
- Whether we wanna call that a bribe

1040
00:43:32.100 --> 00:43:35.050
in terms of, let's collect this money

1041
00:43:35.050 --> 00:43:36.810
so that the Jerusalem Christians

1042
00:43:36.810 --> 00:43:39.190
don't send missionaries,

1043
00:43:39.190 --> 00:43:41.300
to make our lives more difficult.

1044
00:43:41.300 --> 00:43:42.650
It's hard to say.

1045
00:43:42.650 --> 00:43:44.090
And Paul's not even sure that.

1046
00:43:44.090 --> 00:43:46.410
In Romans, he's not even sure

1047
00:43:46.410 --> 00:43:49.180
that they're going to
accept this collection.

1048
00:43:49.180 --> 00:43:51.660
He says, he expresses anxiety

1049
00:43:51.660 --> 00:43:53.580
about taking this back to Jerusalem

1050
00:43:53.580 --> 00:43:56.860
because he thinks, well,
maybe they'll reject it.

1051
00:43:56.860 --> 00:44:00.550
So that sounds a bit like a bribe.

1052
00:44:00.550 --> 00:44:03.150
- [Cameron] And in fact,
he probably gets arrested.

1053
00:44:03.150 --> 00:44:05.237
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1054
00:44:05.237 --> 00:44:08.440
If we follow the book
of acts at that point,

1055
00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:10.010
what seems to be going on

1056
00:44:10.010 --> 00:44:12.330
when he is in Jerusalem and is arrested,

1057
00:44:12.330 --> 00:44:17.320
is that, that's when he was
gonna take the collection back

1058
00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:21.170
and put it at the feet of
the apostles in Jerusalem.

1059
00:44:21.170 --> 00:44:22.800
That doesn't seem to have worked out.

1060
00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:27.800
Paul went to Rome and was
under house arrest there.

1061
00:44:28.630 --> 00:44:32.240
So presumably Paul got
executed by the Romans.

1062
00:44:32.240 --> 00:44:35.900
- Acts of the Apostles
written many decades later,

1063
00:44:35.900 --> 00:44:38.430
vaguely blames Paul's arrest in Jerusalem,

1064
00:44:38.430 --> 00:44:41.270
on some Jews who complained

1065
00:44:41.270 --> 00:44:45.037
that Paul was leading people, astray.

1066
00:44:45.037 --> 00:44:47.137
- [Narrator] "Fellow Israelites help us.

1067
00:44:47.137 --> 00:44:48.527
"This is the man who teaches

1068
00:44:48.527 --> 00:44:50.287
"everyone everywhere against

1069
00:44:50.287 --> 00:44:53.486
"our people and our law and this place."

1070
00:44:53.486 --> 00:44:55.730
- Of course, the people
he's taking the money to

1071
00:44:55.730 --> 00:44:58.540
in Jerusalem also fit that description.

1072
00:44:58.540 --> 00:45:03.350
They are Jews, who think that
Paul is leading people astray

1073
00:45:03.350 --> 00:45:05.540
with his idolatrous teachings

1074
00:45:05.540 --> 00:45:07.410
about abandoning the law.

1075
00:45:07.410 --> 00:45:08.450
Really in many ways,

1076
00:45:08.450 --> 00:45:10.570
I think we can say that Paul's the guy

1077
00:45:10.570 --> 00:45:14.580
that invented Christianity
as we know it today.

1078
00:45:14.580 --> 00:45:16.080
If it wasn't for Paul,

1079
00:45:16.080 --> 00:45:18.290
I think most Christians today

1080
00:45:18.290 --> 00:45:20.458
would probably be Jews.

1081
00:45:20.458 --> 00:45:23.958
(calm instrumental music)

1082
00:45:27.880 --> 00:45:31.130
Somewhere between the
years of 60 and 70 CE

1083
00:45:31.130 --> 00:45:35.600
it's assumed that Peter,
Paul and James all died.

1084
00:45:35.600 --> 00:45:37.420
We don't really know much about where

1085
00:45:37.420 --> 00:45:39.630
or when or how it happened.

1086
00:45:39.630 --> 00:45:41.010
One thing we do know happened

1087
00:45:41.010 --> 00:45:42.150
during this period though,

1088
00:45:42.150 --> 00:45:44.020
is some Jewish zealots

1089
00:45:44.020 --> 00:45:47.090
decided to rise up
against Roman occupation.

1090
00:45:47.090 --> 00:45:50.100
And it led to a devastating war.

1091
00:45:50.100 --> 00:45:51.680
We don't know who started it,

1092
00:45:51.680 --> 00:45:53.560
could have been the Judean people's front,

1093
00:45:53.560 --> 00:45:55.550
could have been the
people's front of Judea.

1094
00:45:55.550 --> 00:45:56.530
- [Small Voice] No, no.
- We know

1095
00:45:56.530 --> 00:45:58.490
it lasted for four years

1096
00:45:58.490 --> 00:46:01.710
and the Jews got completely destroyed.

1097
00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:03.030
As it turns out,

1098
00:46:03.030 --> 00:46:06.640
Yahweh didn't send a Messiah to save them.

1099
00:46:06.640 --> 00:46:08.430
As punishment for the rebellion

1100
00:46:08.430 --> 00:46:12.860
the Romans completely destroyed
the temple in Jerusalem.

1101
00:46:12.860 --> 00:46:13.770
Something else happened

1102
00:46:13.770 --> 00:46:16.330
just after the destruction of the temple.

1103
00:46:16.330 --> 00:46:19.640
The first Christian Gospel was written.

1104
00:46:19.640 --> 00:46:20.770
- The earliest of the Gospels

1105
00:46:20.770 --> 00:46:22.330
is probably the Gospel of Mark.

1106
00:46:22.330 --> 00:46:24.830
Which seems to be written about 70 AD

1107
00:46:24.830 --> 00:46:25.930
maybe a few years before,

1108
00:46:25.930 --> 00:46:27.130
maybe a few years after.

1109
00:46:27.130 --> 00:46:29.270
- Ironically, the first thing I run into

1110
00:46:29.270 --> 00:46:31.050
again and again as I
traveled North America

1111
00:46:31.050 --> 00:46:32.700
and talked to people,

1112
00:46:32.700 --> 00:46:35.250
who either were Christians
or are Christians

1113
00:46:35.250 --> 00:46:36.840
and they often tell me, the first is like,

1114
00:46:36.840 --> 00:46:37.990
they were shocked to find out

1115
00:46:37.990 --> 00:46:40.510
that Mark was written before Matthew.

1116
00:46:40.510 --> 00:46:41.570
They were shocked to find out

1117
00:46:41.570 --> 00:46:42.710
that the letters of Paul

1118
00:46:42.710 --> 00:46:45.140
were written before the Gospels.

1119
00:46:45.140 --> 00:46:47.790
- Here's something that
might shock some Christians.

1120
00:46:47.790 --> 00:46:49.830
Most scholars don't think Mark was written

1121
00:46:49.830 --> 00:46:51.070
by an eye witness

1122
00:46:51.070 --> 00:46:54.000
or even somebody who knew an eye witness.

1123
00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:59.000
- The tradition in the second century

1124
00:46:59.540 --> 00:47:01.030
is that Mark was written

1125
00:47:01.030 --> 00:47:04.930
by a disciple of the apostle Peter.

1126
00:47:04.930 --> 00:47:07.120
And that he was sort of Peter's secretary

1127
00:47:07.120 --> 00:47:08.540
who followed him around

1128
00:47:08.540 --> 00:47:11.430
and took Peter's sermon notes

1129
00:47:11.430 --> 00:47:15.763
and arranged them into sort
of a narrative about Jesus.

1130
00:47:16.640 --> 00:47:19.630
Is that who Mark really was?

1131
00:47:19.630 --> 00:47:20.740
It's hard to say.

1132
00:47:20.740 --> 00:47:22.360
- If Mark had been Peter's scribe,

1133
00:47:22.360 --> 00:47:24.140
Mark would say, I am Peter's scribe.

1134
00:47:24.140 --> 00:47:26.230
That's how ancient
historiography was written.

1135
00:47:26.230 --> 00:47:27.720
- And despite it being called,

1136
00:47:27.720 --> 00:47:29.720
the Gospel, according to Mark,

1137
00:47:29.720 --> 00:47:33.930
the document doesn't actually
state who the author was.

1138
00:47:33.930 --> 00:47:35.390
- The difficulty with Mark's Gospel

1139
00:47:35.390 --> 00:47:38.350
is it's like the other
Gospels, it's anonymous.

1140
00:47:38.350 --> 00:47:40.490
We don't really know where it comes from.

1141
00:47:40.490 --> 00:47:42.960
Most people now think that it's unlikely

1142
00:47:42.960 --> 00:47:45.940
that Mark is kind of taking
down Peter's dictation

1143
00:47:45.940 --> 00:47:46.920
or anything like that.

1144
00:47:46.920 --> 00:47:48.540
- But for the sake of simplicity

1145
00:47:48.540 --> 00:47:50.830
let's refer to him as Mark,

1146
00:47:50.830 --> 00:47:53.180
otherwise, we're gonna end
up in Prince territory,

1147
00:47:53.180 --> 00:47:56.570
you know, the author
formerly known as Mark.

1148
00:47:56.570 --> 00:48:00.250
And how's Mark's Gospel connected
to the Jewish Roman war.

1149
00:48:00.250 --> 00:48:03.570
- Mark is kind of
obsessed with the temple,

1150
00:48:03.570 --> 00:48:06.950
as if something recent and
traumatic has happened.

1151
00:48:06.950 --> 00:48:07.960
So it makes a lot of sense

1152
00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:08.880
to say that Mark was written,

1153
00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:12.090
after the fall of the temple in AD 70.

1154
00:48:12.090 --> 00:48:13.200
- The Romans had just come in

1155
00:48:13.200 --> 00:48:14.660
and destroyed the temple

1156
00:48:14.660 --> 00:48:17.310
and just ended the cult,
basically braised the city.

1157
00:48:17.310 --> 00:48:19.120
The city of God destroyed God's temple.

1158
00:48:19.120 --> 00:48:20.470
So this is a big existential issue.

1159
00:48:20.470 --> 00:48:23.030
If you're a sect that stems from the Jews

1160
00:48:23.030 --> 00:48:25.330
and the Jewish God just
let heathens come in

1161
00:48:25.330 --> 00:48:27.020
and destroy his own house,

1162
00:48:27.020 --> 00:48:28.010
this is a problem.

1163
00:48:28.010 --> 00:48:29.180
This is a marketing problem, right.

1164
00:48:29.180 --> 00:48:31.167
It's a PR problem, so
how do you explain that?

1165
00:48:31.167 --> 00:48:33.490
- For Mark, a lot of Mark is structured

1166
00:48:33.490 --> 00:48:34.650
to answer that and say like,

1167
00:48:34.650 --> 00:48:35.930
well, here's the answer.

1168
00:48:35.930 --> 00:48:37.950
- They've got to reinvent themselves.

1169
00:48:37.950 --> 00:48:40.860
- [Cameron] According to the
Jewish historian Josephus,

1170
00:48:40.860 --> 00:48:43.630
who actually fought in the war

1171
00:48:43.630 --> 00:48:46.900
over a million Jews died.

1172
00:48:46.900 --> 00:48:49.870
- This is a profoundly
traumatic time for Judaism.

1173
00:48:49.870 --> 00:48:51.030
They've lost the land,

1174
00:48:51.030 --> 00:48:52.520
they've lost the temple.

1175
00:48:52.520 --> 00:48:55.120
They've lost the sense of God's blessing

1176
00:48:55.120 --> 00:48:56.420
on their everyday lives.

1177
00:48:56.420 --> 00:49:00.280
So this is really a very
difficult time indeed for Jews.

1178
00:49:00.280 --> 00:49:02.420
- And of course the original Jesus gang

1179
00:49:02.420 --> 00:49:06.290
the disciples, were Jews
living in Jerusalem.

1180
00:49:06.290 --> 00:49:08.910
So they probably got swept
up in all of the death

1181
00:49:08.910 --> 00:49:10.650
and destruction too.

1182
00:49:10.650 --> 00:49:11.810
What happened to them?

1183
00:49:11.810 --> 00:49:13.320
We don't really know,

1184
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:15.550
there's no historical record.

1185
00:49:15.550 --> 00:49:17.590
In fact, we have nothing at all

1186
00:49:17.590 --> 00:49:20.130
written down by Peter or James

1187
00:49:20.130 --> 00:49:22.450
or any other eyewitness of Jesus,

1188
00:49:22.450 --> 00:49:26.570
nothing, zero, nada, zip, bupkis.

1189
00:49:26.570 --> 00:49:27.870
Oh yeah, sure there were letters

1190
00:49:27.870 --> 00:49:28.910
in the new Testament

1191
00:49:28.910 --> 00:49:31.230
that claim to be written by them.

1192
00:49:31.230 --> 00:49:34.640
But do scholars believe those
letters are actually legit?

1193
00:49:34.640 --> 00:49:37.980
- I don't think we actually
have any extent writings

1194
00:49:37.980 --> 00:49:40.730
from Peter or from James.

1195
00:49:40.730 --> 00:49:43.750
We have documents that
claim to be by them.

1196
00:49:43.750 --> 00:49:46.870
There probably other people
writing in their honor,

1197
00:49:46.870 --> 00:49:49.230
in their name pretending
to be these figures.

1198
00:49:49.230 --> 00:49:53.400
So we are actually a little bit weak

1199
00:49:53.400 --> 00:49:57.410
on knowing what Peter and
James actually thought.

1200
00:49:57.410 --> 00:49:59.570
We have to reconstruct what they thought.

1201
00:49:59.570 --> 00:50:01.630
- Like half of the letters
attributed to Paul,

1202
00:50:01.630 --> 00:50:03.990
that found their way
into the New Testament,

1203
00:50:03.990 --> 00:50:05.720
many scholars believe the letters

1204
00:50:05.720 --> 00:50:08.700
from Peter and James are fake.

1205
00:50:08.700 --> 00:50:12.430
That means we really
don't have any clear idea

1206
00:50:12.430 --> 00:50:15.690
of what Jesus' immediate disciples

1207
00:50:15.690 --> 00:50:17.730
actually thought about him,

1208
00:50:17.730 --> 00:50:20.140
his teachings, his miracles,

1209
00:50:20.140 --> 00:50:22.420
what he told them in private

1210
00:50:22.420 --> 00:50:25.300
or what they thought about Paul.

1211
00:50:25.300 --> 00:50:27.190
They must have been writing letters too,

1212
00:50:27.190 --> 00:50:31.223
but apparently nobody bothered
to keep copies of them.

1213
00:50:31.223 --> 00:50:33.119
- It's all erased.

1214
00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:34.920
That data had to have existed

1215
00:50:34.920 --> 00:50:35.790
it had to have been written down

1216
00:50:35.790 --> 00:50:37.470
somewhere in some form.

1217
00:50:37.470 --> 00:50:38.860
It's just all gone.

1218
00:50:38.860 --> 00:50:41.340
- Well how convenient for team Paul.

1219
00:50:41.340 --> 00:50:43.090
After the Jewish Roman war,

1220
00:50:43.090 --> 00:50:46.610
they're the only major
Christian sect that's left.

1221
00:50:46.610 --> 00:50:47.900
These are the Gentiles,

1222
00:50:47.900 --> 00:50:51.240
the Greeks and Romans who aren't Jews.

1223
00:50:51.240 --> 00:50:53.220
Don't understand Judaism,

1224
00:50:53.220 --> 00:50:56.360
and quite frankly don't like the Jews

1225
00:50:56.360 --> 00:51:00.040
who kind of made fun of
their version of the Messiah.

1226
00:51:00.040 --> 00:51:02.010
So the original disciples,

1227
00:51:02.010 --> 00:51:03.920
the people who actually knew Jesus

1228
00:51:03.920 --> 00:51:07.360
and their movement, is pretty
much completely wiped out,

1229
00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:11.610
within 40 years of the
death of Jesus Christ.

1230
00:51:11.610 --> 00:51:14.130
- And if we accept that most
of the New Testament writing

1231
00:51:14.130 --> 00:51:17.240
occurs post 70,

1232
00:51:17.240 --> 00:51:19.961
when the Jews have been removed

1233
00:51:19.961 --> 00:51:21.683
as an influence.

1234
00:51:23.980 --> 00:51:25.940
Then the kind of Paul line crusade

1235
00:51:25.940 --> 00:51:28.720
from 20 years earlier is gonna win.

1236
00:51:28.720 --> 00:51:32.280
- So Mark's Gospel is written
for a Gentile community

1237
00:51:32.280 --> 00:51:35.050
not Jews and probably in Rome sometime

1238
00:51:35.050 --> 00:51:37.620
just after the reign of the emperor Nero.

1239
00:51:37.620 --> 00:51:40.020
And it's a lot of strange
stuff in Mark's Gospel.

1240
00:51:40.020 --> 00:51:42.840
One of them, is that
Jesus is walking around

1241
00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:46.040
trying to tell his disciples
to keep their mouth shut

1242
00:51:46.040 --> 00:51:47.780
about the miracles that he's doing.

1243
00:51:47.780 --> 00:51:50.240
Like it's supposed to be
some kind of big secret.

1244
00:51:50.240 --> 00:51:51.740
- Mark starts out his Gospel,

1245
00:51:51.740 --> 00:51:54.140
with saying something that
it just blows my mind.

1246
00:51:54.140 --> 00:51:55.710
And that's in Mark 4:11,

1247
00:51:55.710 --> 00:51:58.390
where he has Jesus
gather all his disciples

1248
00:51:58.390 --> 00:51:59.650
and say, okay,

1249
00:51:59.650 --> 00:52:04.170
I'm teaching you all these
things in secret, in parables.

1250
00:52:04.170 --> 00:52:06.910
That way, you'll know
who I'm talking about,

1251
00:52:06.910 --> 00:52:09.810
but those outsiders, they
won't be able to tell

1252
00:52:09.810 --> 00:52:11.650
what I'm talking about, otherwise,

1253
00:52:11.650 --> 00:52:13.000
and this is the kicker,

1254
00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:18.000
they would turn from their
sins and repent and be saved.

1255
00:52:18.007 --> 00:52:19.217
- [Narrator] "And he told them

1256
00:52:19.217 --> 00:52:20.967
"the mystery of the kingdom of God

1257
00:52:20.967 --> 00:52:22.567
"has been given to you,

1258
00:52:22.567 --> 00:52:24.037
"but to those on the outside,

1259
00:52:24.037 --> 00:52:25.817
"everything is expressed in parable

1260
00:52:25.817 --> 00:52:28.077
"so that they may be ever seeing,

1261
00:52:28.077 --> 00:52:29.447
"but never perceiving,

1262
00:52:29.447 --> 00:52:32.197
"and ever hearing but never understanding.

1263
00:52:32.197 --> 00:52:36.780
"Otherwise, they might turn
and be forgiven," Mark 4:11.

1264
00:52:36.780 --> 00:52:38.680
- They can't handle the truth.

1265
00:52:38.680 --> 00:52:42.120
What kind of Messiah tells his disciples

1266
00:52:42.120 --> 00:52:44.390
to keep his work big secret?

1267
00:52:44.390 --> 00:52:45.640
What kind of Messiah

1268
00:52:45.640 --> 00:52:48.920
doesn't want his disciples to be forgiven?

1269
00:52:48.920 --> 00:52:50.010
According to Mark,

1270
00:52:50.010 --> 00:52:52.750
Jesus is telling secret teachings

1271
00:52:52.750 --> 00:52:54.460
only to his inner circle.

1272
00:52:54.460 --> 00:52:56.350
- And when you ask a
biblical scholar today,

1273
00:52:56.350 --> 00:52:58.740
well what are those secret
teachings that he was giving?

1274
00:52:58.740 --> 00:53:00.520
They don't know any more than we do.

1275
00:53:00.520 --> 00:53:02.490
- Those secret teachings are lost forever.

1276
00:53:02.490 --> 00:53:05.320
Like the truth about who killed JFK

1277
00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:08.720
and what happened to
Michael Jackson's nose.

1278
00:53:08.720 --> 00:53:10.470
Maybe the whole secrecy business

1279
00:53:10.470 --> 00:53:12.320
is Mark's way of explaining

1280
00:53:12.320 --> 00:53:16.643
why most people in his time
had never heard of Jesus.

1281
00:53:16.643 --> 00:53:19.930
- This is all made up by the Gospel,

1282
00:53:19.930 --> 00:53:21.760
the author of the Gospel of Mark

1283
00:53:21.760 --> 00:53:24.840
as sort of damage control and explanation,

1284
00:53:24.840 --> 00:53:28.980
for why people didn't widely
accept him as the Messiah

1285
00:53:28.980 --> 00:53:30.610
because he didn't want them to.

1286
00:53:30.610 --> 00:53:31.960
- [Cameron] So around Mark's time,

1287
00:53:31.960 --> 00:53:32.970
people were saying,

1288
00:53:32.970 --> 00:53:34.120
he did all these miracles

1289
00:53:34.120 --> 00:53:35.730
I never heard of any guy doing miracles.

1290
00:53:35.730 --> 00:53:37.950
He goes, well that's cause he
told us not to tell anyone.

1291
00:53:37.950 --> 00:53:40.720
- Right, exactly.
- Maybe this story

1292
00:53:40.720 --> 00:53:45.250
about parables is also a parable?

1293
00:53:45.250 --> 00:53:47.750
- You go through the Gospel
story after story, after story

1294
00:53:47.750 --> 00:53:49.210
and they look like parables

1295
00:53:49.210 --> 00:53:51.250
that has, you know, additional meanings.

1296
00:53:51.250 --> 00:53:53.990
They might not be meant to
be taken historically true.

1297
00:53:53.990 --> 00:53:55.900
And this is how mythology
is written, right.

1298
00:53:55.900 --> 00:53:57.300
You tell a story about something

1299
00:53:57.300 --> 00:53:58.560
and it's the meaning of the story

1300
00:53:58.560 --> 00:54:00.210
rather than the literal
truth of the story,

1301
00:54:00.210 --> 00:54:02.320
that's actually the
important part of the story.

1302
00:54:02.320 --> 00:54:04.250
- For instance, let's take a look

1303
00:54:04.250 --> 00:54:07.247
at the story of the trial of Jesus.

1304
00:54:07.247 --> 00:54:08.620
- And Mark tells this story

1305
00:54:08.620 --> 00:54:12.430
where a Pontius Pilate
wants to let Jesus go

1306
00:54:12.430 --> 00:54:14.580
but Mark says, this was the holiday,

1307
00:54:14.580 --> 00:54:16.640
and on the holiday, the
Romans would traditionally

1308
00:54:16.640 --> 00:54:18.600
let go one prisoner.

1309
00:54:18.600 --> 00:54:20.240
And the crowd kept calling for Barabbas.

1310
00:54:20.240 --> 00:54:21.500
We want to release Barabbas,

1311
00:54:21.500 --> 00:54:23.750
who Mark says was a notorious rebel,

1312
00:54:23.750 --> 00:54:25.040
a rebel and murderer, right.

1313
00:54:25.040 --> 00:54:27.600
And Pilates like, no,
no, let me let Jesus go.

1314
00:54:27.600 --> 00:54:29.250
And not this, this murderous rebel

1315
00:54:29.250 --> 00:54:31.340
and then it's no, release
Barabbas, released Barabbas.

1316
00:54:31.340 --> 00:54:32.950
And so Pilate lets him go

1317
00:54:32.950 --> 00:54:35.773
and then Jesus is crucified
and that's the story.

1318
00:54:35.773 --> 00:54:37.230
- When we look at the depiction

1319
00:54:37.230 --> 00:54:39.560
of Pilate in non-biblical sources.

1320
00:54:39.560 --> 00:54:41.450
Pilate is venal.

1321
00:54:41.450 --> 00:54:44.880
Pilate does not care at all
about Jewish sensibilities.

1322
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:47.760
Pilate goes out of his way to offend Jews.

1323
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:50.390
Pilate is awful.

1324
00:54:50.390 --> 00:54:51.910
But when we look at the Gospels,

1325
00:54:51.910 --> 00:54:53.350
going from the earlier Gospel,

1326
00:54:53.350 --> 00:54:55.240
like Mark up to John

1327
00:54:55.240 --> 00:54:58.110
Pilate looks better and better and better.

1328
00:54:58.110 --> 00:55:00.330
I would date Pilate from the Gospels

1329
00:55:00.330 --> 00:55:03.020
because he seems like
a perfectly decent guy

1330
00:55:03.020 --> 00:55:04.710
who's simply backed into the corner

1331
00:55:04.710 --> 00:55:06.980
by a bunch of evil Jewish leaders

1332
00:55:06.980 --> 00:55:08.580
who want him to do away with the Jesus.

1333
00:55:08.580 --> 00:55:11.030
- And there's no way this
is historically true.

1334
00:55:11.030 --> 00:55:13.383
- [Cameron] So what does
Barabbas translate as?

1335
00:55:15.010 --> 00:55:16.790
- Son of Rabbas.

1336
00:55:16.790 --> 00:55:19.440
- The word Bar in Aramaic means son of,

1337
00:55:19.440 --> 00:55:22.650
and Abbas comes from
Abba, which means father.

1338
00:55:22.650 --> 00:55:24.860
- And here's the best bit.

1339
00:55:24.860 --> 00:55:26.350
- And according to the Gospel of Matthew,

1340
00:55:26.350 --> 00:55:28.900
Barabbas' first name was Jesus.

1341
00:55:28.900 --> 00:55:31.430
- Jesus Barabbas, okay.
- Jesus son of the father.

1342
00:55:31.430 --> 00:55:34.420
- Pilate says you can have Jesus Barabbas,

1343
00:55:34.420 --> 00:55:37.460
a murderer, an insurrectionist

1344
00:55:37.460 --> 00:55:39.560
or you can have Jesus of Nazareth,

1345
00:55:39.560 --> 00:55:41.820
the other Jesus, Son of the father.

1346
00:55:41.820 --> 00:55:42.990
- The Jews are given a choice

1347
00:55:42.990 --> 00:55:46.610
between two Jesus, two saviors.

1348
00:55:46.610 --> 00:55:48.960
One is the violent kind of savior

1349
00:55:48.960 --> 00:55:50.880
like the one who tried to overthrow

1350
00:55:50.880 --> 00:55:54.500
the Romans in the rebellion of 66 CE.

1351
00:55:54.500 --> 00:55:57.230
The other is a pacifist kind of Savior.

1352
00:55:57.230 --> 00:55:59.070
Who's never hurt anything,

1353
00:55:59.070 --> 00:56:03.050
which one will the Jews choose to punish?

1354
00:56:03.050 --> 00:56:04.460
- And what happens,

1355
00:56:04.460 --> 00:56:07.040
the innocent Jesus pays the penalty,

1356
00:56:07.040 --> 00:56:10.960
pays the ransom for the
very guilty Barabbas

1357
00:56:10.960 --> 00:56:12.410
son of the Father.

1358
00:56:12.410 --> 00:56:15.090
In terms of Christian
theology it's perfect,

1359
00:56:15.090 --> 00:56:17.430
in terms of history, it's ridiculous.

1360
00:56:17.430 --> 00:56:20.553
- Two identical saviors,
one is gonna be set free.

1361
00:56:20.553 --> 00:56:22.830
One is gonna pay the penalty.

1362
00:56:22.830 --> 00:56:25.360
Now if you were a Jew
living in the first century,

1363
00:56:25.360 --> 00:56:27.890
this story might sound a little familiar.

1364
00:56:27.890 --> 00:56:30.070
- Well, we know this story,
this is in Leviticus.

1365
00:56:30.070 --> 00:56:32.200
This is the whole ritual of Yom Kippur,

1366
00:56:32.200 --> 00:56:33.810
which is the whole atonement ceremony.

1367
00:56:33.810 --> 00:56:36.540
- [Narrator] Yom Kippur is
usually expressed in English

1368
00:56:36.540 --> 00:56:38.743
as Day of Atonement.

1369
00:56:39.700 --> 00:56:41.920
- There are two great ceremonies
in the Jewish calendar.

1370
00:56:41.920 --> 00:56:44.820
One was Passover and the
other was Yom Kippur.

1371
00:56:44.820 --> 00:56:46.510
And this one, every year
there would be this,

1372
00:56:46.510 --> 00:56:48.410
you have the two goats,
the two identical goats,

1373
00:56:48.410 --> 00:56:50.120
they have to be, look the same.

1374
00:56:50.120 --> 00:56:52.160
One you would cast the sins of Israel on

1375
00:56:52.160 --> 00:56:54.260
and cast it into the crowd,

1376
00:56:54.260 --> 00:56:55.920
release it into the
wilderness, and the other,

1377
00:56:55.920 --> 00:56:57.420
you would sacrifice on the alter

1378
00:56:57.420 --> 00:56:58.930
in the temple its blood would atone

1379
00:56:58.930 --> 00:57:00.400
for all the sins of Israel.

1380
00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:02.680
- The braveous story seems to be saying

1381
00:57:02.680 --> 00:57:04.610
that the goat sacrifices,

1382
00:57:04.610 --> 00:57:08.557
which had replaced human
sacrifices in Judaism

1383
00:57:08.557 --> 00:57:11.170
are now being replaced once more

1384
00:57:11.170 --> 00:57:14.160
with the ultimate human sacrifice.

1385
00:57:14.160 --> 00:57:17.140
Mark is writing for one
of Paul's communities,

1386
00:57:17.140 --> 00:57:18.870
possibly in Rome.

1387
00:57:18.870 --> 00:57:22.050
Originally it was written
to symbolize the Gospel.

1388
00:57:22.050 --> 00:57:24.370
It wasn't written to be
taken as literally true,

1389
00:57:24.370 --> 00:57:27.150
at least not by informed
insiders in the sect.

1390
00:57:27.150 --> 00:57:28.370
- This story by the way

1391
00:57:28.370 --> 00:57:31.020
is where we get the term scapegoat.

1392
00:57:31.020 --> 00:57:34.223
- Forgive me Lord, I
have committed murder.

1393
00:57:35.410 --> 00:57:37.483
- That's a terrible sin,

1394
00:57:37.483 --> 00:57:40.790
have you pushed a goat over cliff.

1395
00:57:40.790 --> 00:57:42.450
- Why yes, Lord I did.

1396
00:57:42.450 --> 00:57:46.250
- Then no problem see you next year.

1397
00:57:46.250 --> 00:57:48.890
- Now most people who read
the Barabbas story today,

1398
00:57:48.890 --> 00:57:50.260
probably aren't Jews

1399
00:57:50.260 --> 00:57:52.810
probably don't know their
Leviticus very well.

1400
00:57:52.810 --> 00:57:55.510
So the whole story about
two identical goats

1401
00:57:56.840 --> 00:58:01.350
goes right over their
heads (crowd laughing)

1402
00:58:01.350 --> 00:58:03.030
- And I think you can
go from story to story

1403
00:58:03.030 --> 00:58:05.370
through Mark and see, like,
if you look at it as history,

1404
00:58:05.370 --> 00:58:07.860
it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

1405
00:58:07.860 --> 00:58:09.290
But if you look at it as allegory,

1406
00:58:09.290 --> 00:58:12.350
as something representing something else,

1407
00:58:12.350 --> 00:58:13.187
then it makes perfect sense

1408
00:58:13.187 --> 00:58:14.860
and it looks literarily brilliant.

1409
00:58:14.860 --> 00:58:17.160
- Then towards the end of Mark's Gospel,

1410
00:58:17.160 --> 00:58:20.230
we find Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane,

1411
00:58:20.230 --> 00:58:22.290
where he's literally begging Yahweh

1412
00:58:22.290 --> 00:58:24.827
not to let him be killed.

1413
00:58:24.827 --> 00:58:27.227
- [Narrator] "They went to
a place called Gethsemane.

1414
00:58:27.227 --> 00:58:30.527
"He began to be deeply
distressed and troubled.

1415
00:58:30.527 --> 00:58:33.557
"He fell to the ground and
prayed that if possible,

1416
00:58:33.557 --> 00:58:35.857
"the hour might pass from him.

1417
00:58:35.857 --> 00:58:40.857
"Father take this cup
from me," Mark 14:32-42.

1418
00:58:43.910 --> 00:58:46.320
- It's a very moving story

1419
00:58:47.350 --> 00:58:51.610
until you realize that Jesus is Yahweh,

1420
00:58:51.610 --> 00:58:54.500
so this was His own plan all along

1421
00:58:54.500 --> 00:58:59.500
and He's literally begging
Himself not to kill Himself.

1422
00:59:00.600 --> 00:59:02.833
Which is pretty confusing.

1423
00:59:03.700 --> 00:59:06.950
In Mark, Jesus appears to be very human.

1424
00:59:06.950 --> 00:59:11.570
He doesn't talk or act
like a God in disguise.

1425
00:59:11.570 --> 00:59:16.030
This might be an idea that
Christians came up with later.

1426
00:59:16.030 --> 00:59:19.410
Speaking of humans and parables

1427
00:59:19.410 --> 00:59:22.210
one of the stories that
we don't find in Mark

1428
00:59:22.210 --> 00:59:24.210
is the virgin birth.

1429
00:59:24.210 --> 00:59:25.920
- Mark starts his Gospel

1430
00:59:25.920 --> 00:59:29.030
and says the beginning of the Gospel

1431
00:59:29.030 --> 00:59:30.963
of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

1432
00:59:31.870 --> 00:59:35.030
And then he doesn't tell us
a story about Jesus' birth,

1433
00:59:35.030 --> 00:59:39.210
but instead narrates
Jesus' baptism by John.

1434
00:59:39.210 --> 00:59:43.500
And if you look carefully at this story

1435
00:59:43.500 --> 00:59:47.420
with the Holy Spirit,
descending upon Jesus

1436
00:59:47.420 --> 00:59:49.720
like a dove and God saying,

1437
00:59:49.720 --> 00:59:51.690
this is my beloved son.

1438
00:59:51.690 --> 00:59:55.040
It sorta sounds like Mark is saying

1439
00:59:55.040 --> 00:59:57.910
that this is when Jesus
becomes the son of God,

1440
00:59:57.910 --> 00:59:59.290
at his baptism.

1441
00:59:59.290 --> 01:00:01.810
- In ancient Rome, birds landing on things

1442
01:00:01.810 --> 01:00:04.730
was read as a positive sign from the gods.

1443
01:00:04.730 --> 01:00:06.960
The process of deciphering the movement

1444
01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:08.237
of the birds was called,

1445
01:00:08.237 --> 01:00:10.250
"taking the auspices,"

1446
01:00:10.250 --> 01:00:14.100
which literally translates
as looking at birds.

1447
01:00:14.100 --> 01:00:17.920
It's the basis by the way of
the English word auspicious.

1448
01:00:17.920 --> 01:00:20.250
Now, the person who took the auspices

1449
01:00:20.250 --> 01:00:22.500
was known as an Augur,

1450
01:00:22.500 --> 01:00:24.680
which is the basis of the name

1451
01:00:24.680 --> 01:00:28.220
Augustus, the original son of God.

1452
01:00:28.220 --> 01:00:31.250
So again, many people
living in the Roman empire

1453
01:00:31.250 --> 01:00:34.350
1900 years ago reading Mark,

1454
01:00:34.350 --> 01:00:37.150
would probably have
understood the symbolism.

1455
01:00:37.150 --> 01:00:41.320
- So what you see in
early Christian history

1456
01:00:41.320 --> 01:00:44.410
is that the status of Jesus as son of God,

1457
01:00:44.410 --> 01:00:46.400
keeps getting kicked
back further and further.

1458
01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:48.320
First, it's the resurrection

1459
01:00:48.320 --> 01:00:50.320
then it's at his baptism,

1460
01:00:50.320 --> 01:00:52.510
then it's at his birth,

1461
01:00:52.510 --> 01:00:55.320
then he's always been there
from the beginning of time.

1462
01:00:55.320 --> 01:00:56.714
- [Cameron] So it evolved the idea--

1463
01:00:56.714 --> 01:00:58.010
- Absolutely.
- [Cameron] Of Jesus evolved

1464
01:00:58.010 --> 01:01:01.480
Over a century or so.
- Yes, definitely.

1465
01:01:01.480 --> 01:01:04.110
- And that's just for Paul's communities.

1466
01:01:04.110 --> 01:01:05.070
The other factions,

1467
01:01:05.070 --> 01:01:06.940
including the one of
the original disciples

1468
01:01:06.940 --> 01:01:09.090
had different ideas all together.

1469
01:01:09.090 --> 01:01:11.240
In fact, as we'll see
a little bit later on

1470
01:01:11.240 --> 01:01:14.110
at least one major early Christian faction

1471
01:01:14.110 --> 01:01:17.620
didn't even believe
Jesus was divine at all.

1472
01:01:17.620 --> 01:01:19.170
One of the other surprising things

1473
01:01:19.170 --> 01:01:21.220
that's missing from Mark's Gospel,

1474
01:01:21.220 --> 01:01:24.500
is one of the most important
ideas in all of Christianity.

1475
01:01:24.500 --> 01:01:28.260
Jesus' resurrection
appearances to his followers.

1476
01:01:28.260 --> 01:01:31.580
- It's so odd, the oldest
Gospel is Mark's Gospel.

1477
01:01:31.580 --> 01:01:34.180
Most scholars believe
that, I believe that.

1478
01:01:34.180 --> 01:01:36.110
And there are no appearances

1479
01:01:36.110 --> 01:01:38.090
of the risen Jesus to his disciples.

1480
01:01:38.090 --> 01:01:40.400
In fact, the Gospel ends in a very dark

1481
01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:43.090
and quite mysterious enigmatic way,

1482
01:01:43.090 --> 01:01:46.330
where this young man who just
happens to be at the tomb,

1483
01:01:46.330 --> 01:01:49.810
says to the women, go
and tell the disciples

1484
01:01:49.810 --> 01:01:52.750
and Peter what's happened to these women.

1485
01:01:52.750 --> 01:01:53.952
And the women just run away

1486
01:01:53.952 --> 01:01:57.190
and don't tell anyone for
they're afraid, that's it.

1487
01:01:57.190 --> 01:01:59.180
So, I mean, if you believe Mark's Gospel,

1488
01:01:59.180 --> 01:02:01.170
no one ever found out
about the resurrection,

1489
01:02:01.170 --> 01:02:02.280
cause they didn't tell anybody.

1490
01:02:02.280 --> 01:02:03.710
- [Cameron] Including Mark who
- Right, right

1491
01:02:03.710 --> 01:02:05.063
couldn't have written it down
because they didn't tell him.

1492
01:02:05.063 --> 01:02:06.990
- Yeah, yes, it's extraordinary.

1493
01:02:06.990 --> 01:02:08.960
- At some point a Christian scribe

1494
01:02:08.960 --> 01:02:12.150
decided to write a new
ending to Mark's Gospel.

1495
01:02:12.150 --> 01:02:14.220
He decided to sex it up a little bit.

1496
01:02:14.220 --> 01:02:18.833
He (indistinct) like George
Lucas making Greedo shoot first.

1497
01:02:19.680 --> 01:02:21.240
Have to wonder why bother,

1498
01:02:21.240 --> 01:02:24.440
why not just leave the
original ending as it was?

1499
01:02:24.440 --> 01:02:27.330
- What's happening, I think
is that the secret doctrines

1500
01:02:27.330 --> 01:02:29.310
some of the secret
teachings are leaking out

1501
01:02:29.310 --> 01:02:30.880
into the public teachings.

1502
01:02:30.880 --> 01:02:32.520
- First rule about Jesus' club

1503
01:02:32.520 --> 01:02:35.000
is you don't talk about Jesus club.

1504
01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:36.080
- These particular doctrines

1505
01:02:36.080 --> 01:02:37.870
became less important to keep secret.

1506
01:02:37.870 --> 01:02:39.800
And so you see them leaking out over time.

1507
01:02:39.800 --> 01:02:42.820
So you gets, the nativity idea,

1508
01:02:42.820 --> 01:02:45.230
or you get the magical incarnation idea.

1509
01:02:45.230 --> 01:02:47.000
More of their secrets are being leaked out

1510
01:02:47.000 --> 01:02:48.330
and more attempt to try

1511
01:02:48.330 --> 01:02:50.420
and prove points by creating stories

1512
01:02:50.420 --> 01:02:51.830
that support your points.

1513
01:02:51.830 --> 01:02:53.530
And so you get more,
more at miracle stories,

1514
01:02:53.530 --> 01:02:56.600
you get more doctrinally relevant stuff.

1515
01:02:56.600 --> 01:02:59.460
- It really makes me
wonder about the intentions

1516
01:02:59.460 --> 01:03:01.010
of these early Christians.

1517
01:03:01.010 --> 01:03:03.470
If the truth was so important to them,

1518
01:03:03.470 --> 01:03:07.740
why bother rewriting the
ending of the first Gospel?

1519
01:03:07.740 --> 01:03:11.028
And just like Paul, Mark is counting down.

1520
01:03:11.028 --> 01:03:13.695
(clock ticking)

1521
01:03:15.090 --> 01:03:18.140
- Mark's Gospel believes
just like Paul does,

1522
01:03:18.140 --> 01:03:20.430
that the end is absolutely eminent.

1523
01:03:20.430 --> 01:03:22.387
So there is a line in Mark's Gospel,

1524
01:03:22.387 --> 01:03:24.847
"Some of those standing here," Jesus says

1525
01:03:24.847 --> 01:03:26.397
"will not taste death

1526
01:03:26.397 --> 01:03:28.970
"before they see the kingdom
of God come with power."

1527
01:03:28.970 --> 01:03:32.300
It's one of these interesting
ironies of history

1528
01:03:32.300 --> 01:03:36.260
that every time there's a
delay in the Eschaton coming,

1529
01:03:36.260 --> 01:03:38.820
the faithful don't kind
of give up on the idea.

1530
01:03:38.820 --> 01:03:41.890
They become all the more eager

1531
01:03:41.890 --> 01:03:43.590
in thinking that it's about to happen.

1532
01:03:43.590 --> 01:03:46.090
- [Narrator] The Eschaton
means the end times,

1533
01:03:46.090 --> 01:03:48.253
the end of the world, as we know it.

1534
01:03:50.540 --> 01:03:52.370
- [Cameron] Like a modern UFO cult.

1535
01:03:52.370 --> 01:03:54.780
- Yeah, modern religious cults as well

1536
01:03:54.780 --> 01:03:55.970
I mean, they do this all the time.

1537
01:03:55.970 --> 01:03:57.340
When disappointment comes,

1538
01:03:57.340 --> 01:03:59.580
they don't say, we must have been wrong.

1539
01:03:59.580 --> 01:04:01.930
Or at least they don't say
we must have been wrong

1540
01:04:01.930 --> 01:04:03.500
in our fundamental identity.

1541
01:04:03.500 --> 01:04:05.540
They just, we may have gotten
the timetable a bit wrong.

1542
01:04:05.540 --> 01:04:07.800
So you revise it, you change it.

1543
01:04:07.800 --> 01:04:09.740
And the early Christians
were no different from that.

1544
01:04:09.740 --> 01:04:10.960
- Those Christians who believed

1545
01:04:10.960 --> 01:04:13.530
that the Bible is literally true

1546
01:04:13.530 --> 01:04:15.310
must have a hard time explaining

1547
01:04:15.310 --> 01:04:17.600
why the world hasn't ended yet.

1548
01:04:17.600 --> 01:04:20.810
- It's one of the things
that I think many Christians

1549
01:04:20.810 --> 01:04:23.380
across the centuries have
really struggled with,

1550
01:04:23.380 --> 01:04:25.970
the fact that Jesus appears to say

1551
01:04:25.970 --> 01:04:29.070
that he is coming back within
the lifetime of his followers.

1552
01:04:29.070 --> 01:04:30.400
And that clearly didn't happen.

1553
01:04:30.400 --> 01:04:31.520
It clearly didn't happen.

1554
01:04:31.520 --> 01:04:33.020
You can spiritualize it,

1555
01:04:33.020 --> 01:04:36.350
you can kind of try and find
some sort of fine fancy way

1556
01:04:36.350 --> 01:04:38.800
of saying in a very real sense
spiritually, he did come.

1557
01:04:38.800 --> 01:04:41.570
But, the fact is that he didn't return

1558
01:04:41.570 --> 01:04:43.960
in the lifetime of his followers,

1559
01:04:43.960 --> 01:04:45.630
as he had said that he would.

1560
01:04:45.630 --> 01:04:47.860
And this is something that has always been

1561
01:04:47.860 --> 01:04:51.320
at the heart of some real
anxiety in Christianity.

1562
01:04:51.320 --> 01:04:52.750
It's almost like a kind of a trauma

1563
01:04:52.750 --> 01:04:53.980
trying to come to terms with,

1564
01:04:53.980 --> 01:04:55.550
how can it be that Jesus said this

1565
01:04:55.550 --> 01:04:56.910
when it didn't actually happen?

1566
01:04:56.910 --> 01:04:59.360
- Yeah, definitely, you
can see a trajectory

1567
01:04:59.360 --> 01:05:00.810
in the New Testament writings

1568
01:05:00.810 --> 01:05:04.360
as you move from letters like Paul's.

1569
01:05:04.360 --> 01:05:05.820
So the earliest writings we have

1570
01:05:05.820 --> 01:05:09.710
to writings composed in the first half

1571
01:05:09.710 --> 01:05:11.020
of the second century

1572
01:05:11.020 --> 01:05:13.800
where the apocalyptic expectations,

1573
01:05:13.800 --> 01:05:16.670
just continue to get sort of toned down

1574
01:05:16.670 --> 01:05:20.110
and there become sort of
an increasing recognition

1575
01:05:20.110 --> 01:05:24.520
that Jesus is not coming
back anytime soon.

1576
01:05:24.520 --> 01:05:25.877
- Each generation of Christians

1577
01:05:25.877 --> 01:05:26.710
was probably led to believe

1578
01:05:26.710 --> 01:05:28.850
that it would happen in their time,

1579
01:05:28.850 --> 01:05:30.670
just like still happens.

1580
01:05:30.670 --> 01:05:33.080
And they may not even have noticed

1581
01:05:33.080 --> 01:05:34.570
that there had been a delay.

1582
01:05:34.570 --> 01:05:38.520
It's not like most people had
copies of the Bible to read.

1583
01:05:38.520 --> 01:05:41.060
So they only knew what
they heard in church.

1584
01:05:41.060 --> 01:05:42.270
- Don't worry though,

1585
01:05:42.270 --> 01:05:47.270
the end of the world
is coming any day now.

1586
01:05:47.487 --> 01:05:50.154
(ominous music)

1587
01:06:02.780 --> 01:06:05.000
The next Gospel to be written was Matthew

1588
01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:08.060
probably 10 or 20 years after Mark,

1589
01:06:08.060 --> 01:06:10.630
around 80 or 90 CE.

1590
01:06:10.630 --> 01:06:12.400
So who was he?

1591
01:06:12.400 --> 01:06:17.400
- Gospel of Matthew is
attributed to Matthew,

1592
01:06:18.070 --> 01:06:20.670
one of the 12 disciples.

1593
01:06:20.670 --> 01:06:25.200
But it's improbable that
this was actually written

1594
01:06:25.200 --> 01:06:29.270
by an eyewitness, because Matthew's Gospel

1595
01:06:29.270 --> 01:06:32.340
is using as one of its
major sources, Mark.

1596
01:06:32.340 --> 01:06:35.310
And if Mark is not written
by a disciple even,

1597
01:06:35.310 --> 01:06:38.930
why would a disciple, an
eyewitness to Jesus ministry,

1598
01:06:38.930 --> 01:06:41.940
use somebody else's secondhand reports.

1599
01:06:41.940 --> 01:06:44.260
Why wouldn't they just
tell their own story?

1600
01:06:44.260 --> 01:06:47.080
So it does not seem

1601
01:06:47.080 --> 01:06:49.360
that Matthew is actually
written by an eyewitness.

1602
01:06:49.360 --> 01:06:51.220
- And also Matthew again
is writing in Greek.

1603
01:06:51.220 --> 01:06:52.560
- Matthew is written,

1604
01:06:52.560 --> 01:06:55.230
I think by a Jewish Christian

1605
01:06:55.230 --> 01:06:58.070
who he kind of likes Mark's Gospel.

1606
01:06:58.070 --> 01:07:00.450
He copies his whole passages verbatim.

1607
01:07:00.450 --> 01:07:02.930
So he clearly quite likes Mark's Gospel,

1608
01:07:02.930 --> 01:07:05.190
but I think he thinks Mark
got some things wrong.

1609
01:07:05.190 --> 01:07:08.470
- For Mark, who's firmly in Paul's world

1610
01:07:08.470 --> 01:07:10.380
of Christian Gentiles,

1611
01:07:10.380 --> 01:07:12.950
Jesus doesn't appear to be very Jewish.

1612
01:07:12.950 --> 01:07:13.890
Matthew on the other hand,

1613
01:07:13.890 --> 01:07:15.370
calls BS and all of that.

1614
01:07:15.370 --> 01:07:17.810
In Matthew, Jesus is quite clear

1615
01:07:17.810 --> 01:07:20.897
that he's only interested in the Jews.

1616
01:07:20.897 --> 01:07:22.757
- [Narrator] "I was sent
only to the lost sheep

1617
01:07:22.757 --> 01:07:24.207
"of the House of Israel.

1618
01:07:24.207 --> 01:07:26.397
"It is not right to take
the children's bread

1619
01:07:26.397 --> 01:07:30.657
"and throw it to the
dogs," Matthew 15:24-26.

1620
01:07:30.657 --> 01:07:34.267
"These 12 Jesus sent out with
the following instructions,

1621
01:07:34.267 --> 01:07:36.147
"do not go among the Gentiles

1622
01:07:36.147 --> 01:07:38.457
"or enter any town of the Samaritans.

1623
01:07:38.457 --> 01:07:43.457
"Go rather to the lost sheep
of Israel," Matthew 10:5-6.

1624
01:07:43.530 --> 01:07:44.980
- Which makes Paul's claims

1625
01:07:44.980 --> 01:07:46.230
that the ghost of Jesus

1626
01:07:46.230 --> 01:07:50.020
told him to go and preach to
the Gentiles, pretty suspect.

1627
01:07:50.020 --> 01:07:53.330
I mean, if that was
Jesus' original intention,

1628
01:07:53.330 --> 01:07:55.730
you think he would have told his apostles.

1629
01:07:55.730 --> 01:07:58.130
- So Matthew's engaged in
this fascinating project

1630
01:07:58.130 --> 01:08:00.230
of re-jewdianising Jesus.

1631
01:08:00.230 --> 01:08:01.380
And quite interestingly,

1632
01:08:01.380 --> 01:08:02.780
because Jesus was a Jew

1633
01:08:02.780 --> 01:08:06.060
and because he was probably
quite faithful to the law,

1634
01:08:06.060 --> 01:08:08.950
Matthew in a away is also
re-jesusizing Mark's Gospel.

1635
01:08:08.950 --> 01:08:11.500
He is actually bringing
it a bit back around

1636
01:08:11.500 --> 01:08:13.190
to what Jesus was probably more like.

1637
01:08:13.190 --> 01:08:14.800
The historical Jesus that is.

1638
01:08:14.800 --> 01:08:16.700
- [Cameron] A Jew preaching to Jews

1639
01:08:16.700 --> 01:08:18.380
about being a good Jew.
- Right.

1640
01:08:18.380 --> 01:08:20.610
- It is an irony of history

1641
01:08:20.610 --> 01:08:25.610
that the most popular
Gospel in Christian history,

1642
01:08:25.810 --> 01:08:27.770
far and away has been
the Gospel of Matthew.

1643
01:08:27.770 --> 01:08:31.933
And yet it presents the most Jewish,

1644
01:08:34.323 --> 01:08:35.960
of the four Gospels

1645
01:08:35.960 --> 01:08:38.510
and probably would have been quite hostile

1646
01:08:38.510 --> 01:08:41.670
to the kind of law free Christianity

1647
01:08:41.670 --> 01:08:44.020
that Paul is proposing.

1648
01:08:44.020 --> 01:08:47.490
These two sources, Paul
and the Gospel of Matthew

1649
01:08:47.490 --> 01:08:51.210
would definitely come into conflict

1650
01:08:51.210 --> 01:08:54.180
over whether a Gentile Christians,

1651
01:08:54.180 --> 01:08:55.780
should follow the law.

1652
01:08:55.780 --> 01:08:58.340
But Paul definitely says, no they don't.

1653
01:08:58.340 --> 01:09:01.520
Matthew says yes, absolutely, they do.

1654
01:09:01.520 --> 01:09:03.750
- And it's one of the amazing
things about Christianity

1655
01:09:03.750 --> 01:09:06.060
is that, most people just ignore that.

1656
01:09:06.060 --> 01:09:07.460
Most people just ignore it,

1657
01:09:07.460 --> 01:09:09.980
but it was a very important
strand in early Christianity

1658
01:09:09.980 --> 01:09:11.487
and emerging Christianity,

1659
01:09:11.487 --> 01:09:14.930
that saw the Christians duty

1660
01:09:14.930 --> 01:09:17.720
as being not just to be loyal to Jesus,

1661
01:09:17.720 --> 01:09:19.940
but also to be loyal to the Jewish law.

1662
01:09:19.940 --> 01:09:22.250
And they were loyal to the law

1663
01:09:22.250 --> 01:09:23.470
because they believe

1664
01:09:23.470 --> 01:09:25.230
that's what Jesus had taught them to do.

1665
01:09:25.230 --> 01:09:28.800
- So Matthew's position is,
if you're not going to temple,

1666
01:09:28.800 --> 01:09:32.600
you're not circumcised and
you're not eating kosher food,

1667
01:09:32.600 --> 01:09:33.920
you're doing Jesus wrong?

1668
01:09:33.920 --> 01:09:34.753
- That's right, they have to get,

1669
01:09:34.753 --> 01:09:37.570
well at the very least have
to get a copy of the Talmud

1670
01:09:37.570 --> 01:09:39.670
and start learning Hebrew.

1671
01:09:39.670 --> 01:09:41.050
- [Cameron] Wear a yamaka.
- Yeah.

1672
01:09:41.050 --> 01:09:44.150
- The Matthew Gospel is where
some of those most famous

1673
01:09:44.150 --> 01:09:47.860
and dubious Jesus stories first turn up.

1674
01:09:47.860 --> 01:09:49.180
Remember how in Paul's day

1675
01:09:49.180 --> 01:09:51.270
there seemed to be lots of factions

1676
01:09:51.270 --> 01:09:53.730
telling different stories about Jesus.

1677
01:09:53.730 --> 01:09:55.740
Matthew seems to have included stories

1678
01:09:55.740 --> 01:09:59.420
he had heard that Mark either hadn't heard

1679
01:09:59.420 --> 01:10:01.300
or just didn't like.

1680
01:10:01.300 --> 01:10:04.010
Stories like the sermon on the Mount,

1681
01:10:04.010 --> 01:10:06.030
the resurrection appearances

1682
01:10:06.030 --> 01:10:08.440
and the massacre of the innocence.

1683
01:10:08.440 --> 01:10:10.960
Where Herod the great, King of Judea,

1684
01:10:10.960 --> 01:10:14.750
orders the execution of all
male babies around Bethlehem.

1685
01:10:14.750 --> 01:10:15.800
Historians by the way,

1686
01:10:15.800 --> 01:10:19.810
have found no other evidence
of that ever happening.

1687
01:10:19.810 --> 01:10:22.220
Matthew probably just made it up

1688
01:10:22.220 --> 01:10:24.650
to sound like the similar story

1689
01:10:24.650 --> 01:10:27.180
about Moses in the Old Testament.

1690
01:10:27.180 --> 01:10:29.400
Matthew is also the first person

1691
01:10:29.400 --> 01:10:32.440
to mention the virgin birth.

1692
01:10:32.440 --> 01:10:34.930
- So fully half a century appears

1693
01:10:34.930 --> 01:10:37.607
before we ever get anyone
writing about a virgin birth.

1694
01:10:37.607 --> 01:10:39.110
- The story of the virgin birth

1695
01:10:39.110 --> 01:10:41.530
I think is is baffling.

1696
01:10:41.530 --> 01:10:43.990
You heard in Matthew's Gospel,

1697
01:10:43.990 --> 01:10:48.680
this genealogy that connects
Jesus right back to Abraham,

1698
01:10:48.680 --> 01:10:49.820
going through David.

1699
01:10:49.820 --> 01:10:51.630
- [Cameron] King David,
the possibly mythical

1700
01:10:51.630 --> 01:10:55.450
second King of the United
Kingdom of Israel and Judah,

1701
01:10:55.450 --> 01:10:58.603
who supposedly killed a
giant with a slingshot.

1702
01:10:59.660 --> 01:11:02.490
- All going through Joseph, Jesus' father.

1703
01:11:02.490 --> 01:11:04.280
Then the very next story

1704
01:11:04.280 --> 01:11:06.340
is about how Joseph isn't Jesus' father.

1705
01:11:06.340 --> 01:11:08.430
I mean, religious people are very good

1706
01:11:08.430 --> 01:11:10.270
at getting their head
around contradictions,

1707
01:11:10.270 --> 01:11:11.470
but there's a big one

1708
01:11:11.470 --> 01:11:13.700
right there on the very first
page of the New Testament.

1709
01:11:13.700 --> 01:11:16.380
It's fascinating, what did
Matthew think he was doing?

1710
01:11:16.380 --> 01:11:19.570
Why is he telling a story
about a virginal conception,

1711
01:11:19.570 --> 01:11:20.760
when he also wants to tell us

1712
01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:24.660
that Jesus was descended
from David via his father?

1713
01:11:24.660 --> 01:11:27.560
I don't know, I think it's a mystery.

1714
01:11:27.560 --> 01:11:30.160
- Did he just hope no one would notice.

1715
01:11:30.160 --> 01:11:32.580
- And so Jesus is the
descendant of King David,

1716
01:11:32.580 --> 01:11:34.870
because Joseph is his father?

1717
01:11:34.870 --> 01:11:37.120
But I thought Mary was a virgin?

1718
01:11:37.120 --> 01:11:39.640
- Yeah, look over there, it's the Messiah.

1719
01:11:39.640 --> 01:11:41.690
- Where?
- No, no, it's just Larry

1720
01:11:41.690 --> 01:11:43.150
they got the same beard.

1721
01:11:43.150 --> 01:11:45.800
- No, no, no, now I lost my place.

1722
01:11:45.800 --> 01:11:47.140
- Hey, don't worry about it,

1723
01:11:47.140 --> 01:11:49.150
let's go get a kosher kebab.

1724
01:11:49.150 --> 01:11:51.120
- And the fact is lots
of people don't notice.

1725
01:11:51.120 --> 01:11:53.320
Many Christians will happily affirm,

1726
01:11:53.320 --> 01:11:55.330
Jesus is the son of David.

1727
01:11:55.330 --> 01:11:56.163
They will also affirm

1728
01:11:56.163 --> 01:11:58.420
that Jesus was conceived by a virgin.

1729
01:11:58.420 --> 01:12:02.330
- Scholars believe that
Matthew's idea of a virgin birth

1730
01:12:02.330 --> 01:12:05.930
is possibly based on a bad
translation of the Old Testament.

1731
01:12:05.930 --> 01:12:09.770
See, in the Hebrew version
of the prophet Isaiah,

1732
01:12:09.770 --> 01:12:12.530
he predicts that a baby boy will be born

1733
01:12:12.530 --> 01:12:16.070
as a sign that God is going
to destroy his enemies.

1734
01:12:16.070 --> 01:12:19.620
And the Hebrew word that
Isaiah uses to describe

1735
01:12:19.620 --> 01:12:22.720
the mother of the boy is Almah.

1736
01:12:22.720 --> 01:12:27.030
Now Almah just translates
as a childless young woman,

1737
01:12:27.030 --> 01:12:31.070
but Matthew wasn't using the
Hebrew version of Isaiah,

1738
01:12:31.070 --> 01:12:34.330
he was using a Greek translation,

1739
01:12:34.330 --> 01:12:38.670
which mistranslated Almah into virgin.

1740
01:12:38.670 --> 01:12:41.670
Another unfortunate thing
about Matthew's Gospel

1741
01:12:41.670 --> 01:12:45.130
is despite it being fairly pro Torah,

1742
01:12:45.130 --> 01:12:50.130
it's also inspired 1900
years of antisemitism.

1743
01:12:52.170 --> 01:12:53.770
- In Matthew's Gospel,

1744
01:12:53.770 --> 01:12:57.500
you have this ideal of a kind of loyalty

1745
01:12:57.500 --> 01:13:00.010
to Torah, loyalty to the synagogue,

1746
01:13:00.010 --> 01:13:02.230
to all of these Jewish traditions.

1747
01:13:02.230 --> 01:13:05.470
And yet also, this bitter,

1748
01:13:05.470 --> 01:13:08.507
bitter vitriol against fellow Jews.

1749
01:13:08.507 --> 01:13:11.910
- Now keep in mind that
although Matthew is a Jew

1750
01:13:11.910 --> 01:13:15.200
and he's writing for a
community of Jewish Christians,

1751
01:13:15.200 --> 01:13:17.403
they're an extremely fringe, sect,

1752
01:13:17.403 --> 01:13:21.620
kind of like the way that
Catholics view Mormons today.

1753
01:13:21.620 --> 01:13:24.380
And he's writing 10 or 20 years

1754
01:13:24.380 --> 01:13:27.020
after this big Jewish Roman war,

1755
01:13:27.020 --> 01:13:31.110
so Jews are probably pretty
unpopular across the empire.

1756
01:13:31.110 --> 01:13:34.260
And the Jesus Jews,
wanna distance themselves

1757
01:13:34.260 --> 01:13:37.080
from the traditional
Jews as much as possible

1758
01:13:37.080 --> 01:13:38.430
for political reasons.

1759
01:13:38.430 --> 01:13:42.670
And Matthew just like
Mark and Paul before him,

1760
01:13:42.670 --> 01:13:44.480
believes that the end of the world

1761
01:13:44.480 --> 01:13:46.268
is gonna happen very soon.

1762
01:13:46.268 --> 01:13:49.708
(clock ticking)

1763
01:13:49.708 --> 01:13:52.700
But keep in mind by the time he's writing,

1764
01:13:52.700 --> 01:13:56.510
most of those original
disciples are probably dead

1765
01:13:56.510 --> 01:14:00.749
and yet there's still no sign of Jesus.

1766
01:14:00.749 --> 01:14:04.499
(amusing instrumental music)

1767
01:14:06.090 --> 01:14:07.370
According to most scholars,

1768
01:14:07.370 --> 01:14:09.620
the next Gospel to be written is Luke.

1769
01:14:09.620 --> 01:14:14.590
Written somewhere between 10
and 30 years after Matthew.

1770
01:14:14.590 --> 01:14:17.940
Luke, by the way also wrote
the Acts of the Apostles,

1771
01:14:17.940 --> 01:14:21.120
which is kind of a sequel to the Gospels.

1772
01:14:21.120 --> 01:14:24.110
- Luke's writing, I think this
really big epic narrative.

1773
01:14:24.110 --> 01:14:25.840
He wants to tell the story of Jesus

1774
01:14:25.840 --> 01:14:28.160
and the story of the early church.

1775
01:14:28.160 --> 01:14:30.650
Luke, according to tradition,

1776
01:14:30.650 --> 01:14:33.290
was a traveling companion of Paul.

1777
01:14:33.290 --> 01:14:36.150
He was a Gentile, a physician,

1778
01:14:36.150 --> 01:14:37.830
a doctor in the ancient world.

1779
01:14:37.830 --> 01:14:38.663
So he was definitely a,

1780
01:14:38.663 --> 01:14:41.500
what we would call a second
generation Christian.

1781
01:14:41.500 --> 01:14:45.020
- He says, this is the stuff
that was handed on to us

1782
01:14:45.020 --> 01:14:47.120
and written down by earlier generations.

1783
01:14:47.120 --> 01:14:49.730
And I'm, working with it myself.

1784
01:14:49.730 --> 01:14:52.050
- In reality, we know he's not using oral

1785
01:14:52.050 --> 01:14:56.110
or we know he's using the
previous books, Mark and Matthew.

1786
01:14:56.110 --> 01:14:58.850
So yeah, so the traditional attributions

1787
01:14:58.850 --> 01:15:01.000
are clearly late legend,

1788
01:15:01.000 --> 01:15:03.480
and mainstream scholarship
has long since realized that

1789
01:15:03.480 --> 01:15:05.530
and gotten off that wagon.

1790
01:15:05.530 --> 01:15:07.530
- Acts of the Apostles, Luke's account

1791
01:15:07.530 --> 01:15:10.360
of what happened after Jesus died,

1792
01:15:10.360 --> 01:15:14.240
tries to white wash all of this tension

1793
01:15:14.240 --> 01:15:18.220
and conflict that obviously existed

1794
01:15:18.220 --> 01:15:21.210
between Paul and the original Jesus gang.

1795
01:15:21.210 --> 01:15:23.660
- Luke undoubtedly is trying to present

1796
01:15:23.660 --> 01:15:27.330
an idealized account of the
early Christian community.

1797
01:15:27.330 --> 01:15:29.670
Certainly at the end of Acts, chapter two,

1798
01:15:29.670 --> 01:15:32.320
you've got everyone gathered
around the apostles teaching,

1799
01:15:32.320 --> 01:15:34.440
breaking bread, worshiping God,

1800
01:15:34.440 --> 01:15:36.480
finding favor of God and all the people.

1801
01:15:36.480 --> 01:15:38.760
So it's definitely an idealized account.

1802
01:15:38.760 --> 01:15:41.880
- All of the anger, tension and bribery

1803
01:15:41.880 --> 01:15:43.780
that we see in Paul's letters,

1804
01:15:43.780 --> 01:15:47.630
either disappears in
Luke or gets toned down.

1805
01:15:47.630 --> 01:15:48.960
It's kind of like he's saying,

1806
01:15:48.960 --> 01:15:52.800
Oh, it was no where near as
bad as you've probably heard.

1807
01:15:52.800 --> 01:15:56.110
- So I think he does
try to paint generally,

1808
01:15:56.110 --> 01:15:58.140
a rosy picture of it.

1809
01:15:58.140 --> 01:16:01.290
But it's certainly not
a complete white wash,

1810
01:16:01.290 --> 01:16:05.590
he does include some instances
of division and differences.

1811
01:16:05.590 --> 01:16:08.440
And I mean he does portray
Paul as quite a hothead.

1812
01:16:08.440 --> 01:16:10.720
- By the time Luke's writing Acts

1813
01:16:10.720 --> 01:16:12.860
towards the end of the first century,

1814
01:16:12.860 --> 01:16:13.693
the Paul line community,

1815
01:16:13.693 --> 01:16:17.290
had tried to strengthen their credentials.

1816
01:16:17.290 --> 01:16:19.590
Trying to solidify their connection

1817
01:16:19.590 --> 01:16:21.690
to the original founders, Peter and James

1818
01:16:21.690 --> 01:16:24.400
who were probably dead at this stage.

1819
01:16:24.400 --> 01:16:27.040
Their community is pretty much wiped out

1820
01:16:27.040 --> 01:16:29.300
and so they can't fight back.

1821
01:16:29.300 --> 01:16:32.600
Winners get to write the history.

1822
01:16:32.600 --> 01:16:37.600
All in all, Luke's not a very
credible historical source.

1823
01:16:37.740 --> 01:16:41.890
And Luke just like Matthew,
Mark, and Paul before him

1824
01:16:41.890 --> 01:16:43.460
believes the end of the world

1825
01:16:43.460 --> 01:16:45.532
is gonna happen anytime soon.

1826
01:16:45.532 --> 01:16:48.267
(clock ticking)

1827
01:16:48.267 --> 01:16:49.307
- [Narrator] "Truly, I tell you,

1828
01:16:49.307 --> 01:16:51.590
"this generation will not pass away

1829
01:16:51.590 --> 01:16:55.733
until all these things are
fulfilled." Luke 21:32.

1830
01:17:00.770 --> 01:17:02.770
- The last of the full
Gospels to be written

1831
01:17:02.770 --> 01:17:07.770
is John, probably written
around 100 or 110 CE.

1832
01:17:08.460 --> 01:17:10.370
Compared to the other three.

1833
01:17:10.370 --> 01:17:12.353
- John is different.

1834
01:17:12.353 --> 01:17:13.186
Think of it this way.

1835
01:17:13.186 --> 01:17:14.410
The synoptic Gospels.

1836
01:17:14.410 --> 01:17:16.530
- [Narrator] The Gospels
of Mark Matthew and Luke

1837
01:17:16.530 --> 01:17:17.810
are called synoptic,

1838
01:17:17.810 --> 01:17:20.873
which means they share a
common vision of Jesus.

1839
01:17:22.250 --> 01:17:25.150
- New York, LA, Chicago.

1840
01:17:25.150 --> 01:17:29.000
John is basically New Orleans, okay.

1841
01:17:29.000 --> 01:17:32.690
He's just, he's doing something
very different down there.

1842
01:17:32.690 --> 01:17:36.050
- With John, this whole
thing is so obviously

1843
01:17:36.050 --> 01:17:37.810
a literary creation.

1844
01:17:37.810 --> 01:17:39.620
Jesus in the Gospel of John,

1845
01:17:39.620 --> 01:17:42.570
does not sound like he
does in the other Gospels

1846
01:17:42.570 --> 01:17:45.670
and, all the characters in
John sound the same way,

1847
01:17:45.670 --> 01:17:47.590
like you're watching a Woody Allen movie,

1848
01:17:47.590 --> 01:17:49.750
everybody's talking like Woody Allen.

1849
01:17:49.750 --> 01:17:51.830
And its, 'cause he wrote everybody's part.

1850
01:17:51.830 --> 01:17:56.830
And, and it's obvious this is
not anybody's recollection.

1851
01:17:57.930 --> 01:17:59.060
- Instead of telling everyone

1852
01:17:59.060 --> 01:18:02.410
to keep the stories about
his miracles, a big secret.

1853
01:18:02.410 --> 01:18:04.277
- He might as well have on a t-shirt,

1854
01:18:04.277 --> 01:18:06.200
"I am God," written in big letters

1855
01:18:06.200 --> 01:18:07.033
and you have to wonder

1856
01:18:07.033 --> 01:18:09.090
well, didn't they have
blasphemy laws then,

1857
01:18:09.090 --> 01:18:11.947
why wasn't he stoned to death
five minutes out of the gate?

1858
01:18:11.947 --> 01:18:13.797
- [Narrator] "The woman saith unto him,

1859
01:18:13.797 --> 01:18:15.447
"I know that Messiah cometh

1860
01:18:15.447 --> 01:18:17.377
"He, that is called Christ.

1861
01:18:17.377 --> 01:18:21.097
"When he is come, he will
declare unto us all things.

1862
01:18:21.097 --> 01:18:22.867
"Jesus saith unto her,

1863
01:18:22.867 --> 01:18:27.867
"I that speak unto thee am He," John 4:25.

1864
01:18:28.567 --> 01:18:32.800
"I and my Father are one," John 10:30.

1865
01:18:32.800 --> 01:18:35.870
- John's Gospel contains no parables,

1866
01:18:35.870 --> 01:18:37.260
no last supper,

1867
01:18:37.260 --> 01:18:39.530
no sermon on the Mount.

1868
01:18:39.530 --> 01:18:41.070
But it's the only one

1869
01:18:41.070 --> 01:18:44.380
with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

1870
01:18:44.380 --> 01:18:48.970
And it's the most
antisemitic of the Gospels.

1871
01:18:48.970 --> 01:18:50.620
As for the second coming,

1872
01:18:50.620 --> 01:18:53.270
as far as John's concerned,

1873
01:18:53.270 --> 01:18:54.984
it's happening right now.

1874
01:18:54.984 --> 01:18:58.206
(clock ticking)

1875
01:18:58.206 --> 01:19:01.956
(amusing instrumental music)

1876
01:19:10.740 --> 01:19:14.580
Why is John so different
from the other three Gospels?

1877
01:19:14.580 --> 01:19:15.970
No one really knows,

1878
01:19:15.970 --> 01:19:17.250
but if we look at Paul

1879
01:19:17.250 --> 01:19:19.810
and the four Gospels
in chronological order,

1880
01:19:19.810 --> 01:19:24.330
we can kind of see how the
Jesus story evolved over time.

1881
01:19:24.330 --> 01:19:27.090
In Paul, he doesn't do any miracles

1882
01:19:27.090 --> 01:19:29.650
and become special after he died.

1883
01:19:29.650 --> 01:19:31.370
In Mark, he becomes special

1884
01:19:31.370 --> 01:19:33.000
when a bird lands on him,

1885
01:19:33.000 --> 01:19:35.980
walks around being a secret miracle worker

1886
01:19:35.980 --> 01:19:38.990
whose body disappears from a cave.

1887
01:19:38.990 --> 01:19:42.670
Matthew and Luke making the
product of the divine pregnancy

1888
01:19:42.670 --> 01:19:44.690
who comes back from the dead

1889
01:19:44.690 --> 01:19:49.240
and in John he's proudly
out of the God closets.

1890
01:19:49.240 --> 01:19:52.230
But if you think the variation
in these stories is strange,

1891
01:19:52.230 --> 01:19:53.340
wait till you see the stories

1892
01:19:53.340 --> 01:19:56.026
that didn't even make it into the Bible?

1893
01:19:56.026 --> 01:19:59.693
(gentle instrumental music)

1894
01:20:01.080 --> 01:20:04.910
- So one of the things that
many Christians don't know,

1895
01:20:04.910 --> 01:20:08.000
is that in addition to
the four canonical Gospels

1896
01:20:08.000 --> 01:20:12.920
there's a number of other early
Christian Gospels out there.

1897
01:20:12.920 --> 01:20:15.803
- [Narrator] Canonical means
approved by the Vatican.

1898
01:20:17.230 --> 01:20:18.460
- In the early centuries,

1899
01:20:18.460 --> 01:20:21.420
there were some fairly
significant Christian factions.

1900
01:20:21.420 --> 01:20:24.377
The Ebionites, the
Marcionites and the Gnostics.

1901
01:20:24.377 --> 01:20:29.377
And they all had pretty different
ideas about who Jesus was.

1902
01:20:29.660 --> 01:20:31.860
Their Gospels were all destroyed

1903
01:20:31.860 --> 01:20:35.900
by Imperial decree, around 400 CE.

1904
01:20:35.900 --> 01:20:38.050
However.
- One suspects,

1905
01:20:38.050 --> 01:20:40.620
that some monk in upper Egypt

1906
01:20:40.620 --> 01:20:45.500
decided I can't do this to,

1907
01:20:45.500 --> 01:20:47.280
I've spent my entire life writing them out

1908
01:20:47.280 --> 01:20:49.463
for example, I can't do this to that.

1909
01:20:50.540 --> 01:20:52.400
So I'm gonna gather them up

1910
01:20:52.400 --> 01:20:53.780
and put them away safely

1911
01:20:53.780 --> 01:20:55.700
and say that they're destroyed, whatever.

1912
01:20:55.700 --> 01:20:58.230
- But the wonderful thing
that happened in 1945,

1913
01:20:58.230 --> 01:21:02.120
is there was the discovery of 12 codices,

1914
01:21:02.120 --> 01:21:04.830
12 ancient leather books

1915
01:21:04.830 --> 01:21:08.230
found in a jar in Nag Hammadi in Egypt.

1916
01:21:08.230 --> 01:21:11.520
- Some of them and the
ones that I love the most

1917
01:21:11.520 --> 01:21:13.100
are infancy Gospels.

1918
01:21:13.100 --> 01:21:16.470
So stories about Jesus'
birth and childhood.

1919
01:21:16.470 --> 01:21:18.830
And one of the most interesting of these,

1920
01:21:18.830 --> 01:21:20.740
is a text that is generally known

1921
01:21:20.740 --> 01:21:23.070
as the infancy Gospel of Thomas.

1922
01:21:23.070 --> 01:21:25.100
And what this text seeks to do

1923
01:21:25.100 --> 01:21:30.100
is say, what would Jesus
have been like as a child.

1924
01:21:30.490 --> 01:21:32.250
If he's a divine being,

1925
01:21:32.250 --> 01:21:33.890
which this text believes him to be,

1926
01:21:33.890 --> 01:21:36.629
if he's a divine being from the beginning,

1927
01:21:36.629 --> 01:21:39.730
he's got all this miraculous power.

1928
01:21:39.730 --> 01:21:41.130
What does he actually,

1929
01:21:41.130 --> 01:21:44.290
what does a kid like that look like?

1930
01:21:44.290 --> 01:21:46.360
According to the infancy Gospel of Thomas,

1931
01:21:46.360 --> 01:21:47.920
it's not a pretty picture.

1932
01:21:47.920 --> 01:21:49.530
- It's Jesus, the bot Simpson

1933
01:21:49.530 --> 01:21:51.760
of the kind of the early Christian world.

1934
01:21:51.760 --> 01:21:53.050
He's really a brat.

1935
01:21:53.050 --> 01:21:55.160
- One story in the
infancy Gospel of Thomas

1936
01:21:55.160 --> 01:21:57.070
says that when Jesus was five years old,

1937
01:21:57.070 --> 01:21:58.750
he was sitting by a pool of water

1938
01:21:58.750 --> 01:22:01.870
making clay sparrows
which were coming to life

1939
01:22:01.870 --> 01:22:03.457
and when another kid came

1940
01:22:03.457 --> 01:22:05.560
and messed with his pool of water,

1941
01:22:05.560 --> 01:22:09.023
Jesus cursed him and he
withered up and died.

1942
01:22:10.060 --> 01:22:12.490
He's basically a little super villain.

1943
01:22:12.490 --> 01:22:13.930
- Yeah, I'd say so,

1944
01:22:13.930 --> 01:22:17.530
because he essentially gets angry

1945
01:22:17.530 --> 01:22:19.100
at a number of his playmates

1946
01:22:19.100 --> 01:22:22.020
for different things and kills them.

1947
01:22:22.020 --> 01:22:24.900
And so he kills one playmate,

1948
01:22:24.900 --> 01:22:26.510
he kills another playmate.

1949
01:22:26.510 --> 01:22:30.770
Then the villagers start to complain

1950
01:22:30.770 --> 01:22:31.730
to Mary and Joseph.

1951
01:22:31.730 --> 01:22:34.750
- What's kid Jesus' response to all this?

1952
01:22:34.750 --> 01:22:37.913
He makes his accusers go blind.

1953
01:22:39.175 --> 01:22:40.497
(child zapping) - Oh what the?

1954
01:22:40.497 --> 01:22:41.937
(child zapping) (mumbling)

1955
01:22:41.937 --> 01:22:42.770
(child zapping) Oh I can't see

1956
01:22:42.770 --> 01:22:44.270
(child zapping) What's going on?

1957
01:22:44.270 --> 01:22:45.537
- Why, why would you do (people mumbling)

1958
01:22:45.537 --> 01:22:49.740
- As Ron Burgundy says, "That
escalated rather quickly."

1959
01:22:49.740 --> 01:22:52.840
So it's a fascinating story

1960
01:22:52.840 --> 01:22:57.360
and yet, if we think
that the story is saying,

1961
01:22:57.360 --> 01:22:59.130
Oh, Jesus had these sort of,

1962
01:22:59.130 --> 01:23:02.440
immature things that he had
to work out of his system.

1963
01:23:02.440 --> 01:23:03.410
I don't think that's what

1964
01:23:03.410 --> 01:23:05.610
the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is saying.

1965
01:23:05.610 --> 01:23:08.250
It's essentially saying
that's who Jesus is.

1966
01:23:08.250 --> 01:23:10.570
He's got all the power of God

1967
01:23:10.570 --> 01:23:13.870
and if people are jerks to him,

1968
01:23:13.870 --> 01:23:16.550
he can strike them dead.

1969
01:23:16.550 --> 01:23:19.870
This is how they viewed Jesus,

1970
01:23:19.870 --> 01:23:22.670
weird and upsetting to
us as it seems to be.

1971
01:23:22.670 --> 01:23:25.760
And I love, I love Joseph's
instructions to Mary

1972
01:23:25.760 --> 01:23:27.100
after all of this has happened.

1973
01:23:27.100 --> 01:23:30.500
He takes Jesus, puts him in their house

1974
01:23:30.500 --> 01:23:32.660
and tells Mary don't let him outside

1975
01:23:32.660 --> 01:23:35.290
because those who annoy him end up dead.

1976
01:23:35.290 --> 01:23:36.300
- Oh, you might think,

1977
01:23:36.300 --> 01:23:38.440
well, that's an unbelievable story.

1978
01:23:38.440 --> 01:23:40.880
No wonder if didn't end up in the Bible,

1979
01:23:40.880 --> 01:23:42.410
but is it any crazier

1980
01:23:42.410 --> 01:23:44.890
than stories about walking on water

1981
01:23:44.890 --> 01:23:47.240
or turning water into wine

1982
01:23:47.240 --> 01:23:49.390
or raising people from the dead

1983
01:23:49.390 --> 01:23:52.970
or zapping demons into a herd of pigs.

1984
01:23:52.970 --> 01:23:56.710
Why do we say these
magic stories are crazy,

1985
01:23:56.710 --> 01:23:58.750
but these other stories about magic,

1986
01:23:58.750 --> 01:24:00.410
well, they're just fine and dandy.

1987
01:24:00.410 --> 01:24:03.730
Back then, they were
arguing over what Jesus was,

1988
01:24:03.730 --> 01:24:05.000
who he was.

1989
01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:06.970
What was his relationship to God,

1990
01:24:06.970 --> 01:24:09.130
all the controversies about Christology.

1991
01:24:09.130 --> 01:24:11.230
And this included of course,

1992
01:24:11.230 --> 01:24:13.500
whether Jesus was even a human being.

1993
01:24:13.500 --> 01:24:15.490
- Just a really interesting human being

1994
01:24:15.490 --> 01:24:18.200
who somehow became possessed by God.

1995
01:24:18.200 --> 01:24:19.940
Others thought he was an angel,

1996
01:24:19.940 --> 01:24:23.090
still others thought he was part of God.

1997
01:24:23.090 --> 01:24:25.110
Still others thought he
was just a good teacher.

1998
01:24:25.110 --> 01:24:26.060
They didn't know.

1999
01:24:26.060 --> 01:24:28.900
- One of the really big
early Christian factions

2000
01:24:28.900 --> 01:24:32.440
the Ebionites, might've closely resembled

2001
01:24:32.440 --> 01:24:34.830
the original Christians, team Peter.

2002
01:24:34.830 --> 01:24:37.910
- The Ebionites again,
that means the poor,

2003
01:24:37.910 --> 01:24:39.560
they claim to be the descendants

2004
01:24:39.560 --> 01:24:42.600
of the Jerusalem
Christians, maybe they were.

2005
01:24:42.600 --> 01:24:44.820
- To be a true Christian,

2006
01:24:44.820 --> 01:24:47.160
you had to obey the Jewish law.

2007
01:24:47.160 --> 01:24:48.880
They seem to have denied

2008
01:24:48.880 --> 01:24:50.680
the idea of the virgin birth

2009
01:24:50.680 --> 01:24:53.100
and they had a kind of Gospel,

2010
01:24:53.100 --> 01:24:58.040
that sounds very much like
a Jewish Christian Gospel.

2011
01:24:58.040 --> 01:25:00.460
Maybe one of the earliest
forms of the Gospel.

2012
01:25:00.460 --> 01:25:02.700
- We have people who were
following Jewish law,

2013
01:25:02.700 --> 01:25:04.440
honoring the Sabbath on Saturday

2014
01:25:04.440 --> 01:25:05.590
and keeping it Holy.

2015
01:25:05.590 --> 01:25:07.110
Circumcising their kids,

2016
01:25:07.110 --> 01:25:08.730
and they're worshiping Jesus.

2017
01:25:08.730 --> 01:25:11.900
- The Ebionites declared Paul a heretic.

2018
01:25:11.900 --> 01:25:13.590
On the other hand,

2019
01:25:13.590 --> 01:25:15.360
another one of the major early factions

2020
01:25:15.360 --> 01:25:17.760
the Marcionites loved Paul,

2021
01:25:17.760 --> 01:25:19.347
but really hated Judaism.

2022
01:25:19.347 --> 01:25:20.976
- The Marciones said

2023
01:25:20.976 --> 01:25:25.976
that Jesus had come from a different God,

2024
01:25:26.000 --> 01:25:28.920
not the Hebrew God, not the creator God,

2025
01:25:28.920 --> 01:25:30.910
not the Torah giving God.

2026
01:25:30.910 --> 01:25:32.760
- The God of the Old Testament.

2027
01:25:32.760 --> 01:25:34.149
So the God of the old Testament

2028
01:25:34.149 --> 01:25:37.720
was a wicked God who made the world.

2029
01:25:37.720 --> 01:25:39.710
I mean, that's why the
world was so messed up.

2030
01:25:39.710 --> 01:25:42.700
- The Gnostics claimed to
have a special teaching

2031
01:25:42.700 --> 01:25:45.890
from Jesus that only they knew about.

2032
01:25:45.890 --> 01:25:47.560
- Well, the word Gnostic really means

2033
01:25:47.560 --> 01:25:49.420
somebody who's claiming to have knowledge.

2034
01:25:49.420 --> 01:25:50.320
- But it's basically,

2035
01:25:50.320 --> 01:25:54.710
the idea that this world is bad and wicked

2036
01:25:54.710 --> 01:25:56.450
and we have to get away from it.

2037
01:25:56.450 --> 01:25:58.490
And getting a certain secret knowledge

2038
01:25:58.490 --> 01:26:00.220
of the universes origins

2039
01:26:00.220 --> 01:26:01.672
and your own cosmic origins

2040
01:26:01.672 --> 01:26:03.550
is how you get away from all.

2041
01:26:03.550 --> 01:26:05.380
- So why didn't all of those Gospels

2042
01:26:05.380 --> 01:26:06.590
make it into the Bible?

2043
01:26:06.590 --> 01:26:08.310
Well, a common Christian view

2044
01:26:08.310 --> 01:26:09.420
is that the ones that made it in

2045
01:26:09.420 --> 01:26:11.550
were the real stories,

2046
01:26:11.550 --> 01:26:12.900
and the ones that didn't,

2047
01:26:12.900 --> 01:26:14.730
were just made up.

2048
01:26:14.730 --> 01:26:19.550
- Well, when it comes to
the stories of Jesus' birth

2049
01:26:19.550 --> 01:26:22.260
and childhood, it's all made up.

2050
01:26:22.260 --> 01:26:26.830
If you talk to most New Testament scholars

2051
01:26:26.830 --> 01:26:28.480
about the infancy narratives,

2052
01:26:28.480 --> 01:26:32.180
the Christmas story in Matthew's
Gospel and Luke's Gospel,

2053
01:26:32.180 --> 01:26:36.130
they'll say, there's not
much historical basis

2054
01:26:36.130 --> 01:26:37.260
behind any of that.

2055
01:26:37.260 --> 01:26:39.030
There's no census,

2056
01:26:39.030 --> 01:26:41.210
there's no slaughter of
the innocence by Herod,

2057
01:26:41.210 --> 01:26:43.437
there's no star of Bethlehem, no wise men.

2058
01:26:43.437 --> 01:26:45.820
Jesus probably was not born in Bethlehem,

2059
01:26:45.820 --> 01:26:47.830
he was probably born in Nazareth.

2060
01:26:47.830 --> 01:26:50.240
Those stories are all propaganda

2061
01:26:50.240 --> 01:26:51.950
that are designed on the one hand

2062
01:26:51.950 --> 01:26:54.890
to present Jesus as a divine being

2063
01:26:54.890 --> 01:26:56.150
from the moment of his birth

2064
01:26:56.150 --> 01:26:57.330
and also to say,

2065
01:26:57.330 --> 01:27:00.100
he can fit the
qualifications for a Messiah

2066
01:27:00.100 --> 01:27:02.300
because he's born in the city of David.

2067
01:27:02.300 --> 01:27:03.710
- Of course, all of these factions

2068
01:27:03.710 --> 01:27:06.100
believe that their version of Christianity

2069
01:27:06.100 --> 01:27:07.680
was the correct one.

2070
01:27:07.680 --> 01:27:09.900
Just like they all do today.

2071
01:27:09.900 --> 01:27:12.170
- There are many different
Christianity's today.

2072
01:27:12.170 --> 01:27:14.765
There were many different
Christianity's back then.

2073
01:27:14.765 --> 01:27:18.432
(gentle instrumental music)

2074
01:27:20.740 --> 01:27:23.530
- Eventually team Paul sold there soul

2075
01:27:23.530 --> 01:27:27.070
to the first Christian
emperor, Constantine,

2076
01:27:27.070 --> 01:27:31.790
who fought his way to
power in the year 305 CE.

2077
01:27:31.790 --> 01:27:34.970
According to his
contemporary Bishop Eusebius,

2078
01:27:34.970 --> 01:27:38.640
the so-called father of church history,

2079
01:27:38.640 --> 01:27:41.730
Jesus appeared to Constantine in a vision

2080
01:27:41.730 --> 01:27:44.200
and said he'd help him defeat his rival

2081
01:27:44.200 --> 01:27:46.990
for the throne in a bloody war.

2082
01:27:46.990 --> 01:27:51.990
Hallelujah, Jesus is finally
the warrior King Messiah

2083
01:27:52.560 --> 01:27:55.100
that the Jews had been waiting for.

2084
01:27:55.100 --> 01:27:57.750
According to Christian
sources from the time,

2085
01:27:57.750 --> 01:28:00.390
Jesus used his supernatural powers

2086
01:28:00.390 --> 01:28:05.260
to help Constantine kill
thousands of Roman citizens

2087
01:28:05.260 --> 01:28:09.510
and consolidate his
control over the empire.

2088
01:28:09.510 --> 01:28:10.600
- Winners are grinners.

2089
01:28:10.600 --> 01:28:15.600
And so, because the, a
version of Christianity

2090
01:28:16.360 --> 01:28:20.840
secures Imperial supported
early in the fourth century.

2091
01:28:20.840 --> 01:28:22.830
They are able to suppress their opponents

2092
01:28:22.830 --> 01:28:24.050
ever more effectively.

2093
01:28:24.050 --> 01:28:27.650
- Once Christianity and
Orthodox Christianity

2094
01:28:27.650 --> 01:28:30.130
became the official
religion of the empire,

2095
01:28:30.130 --> 01:28:32.241
they had official patronage.

2096
01:28:32.241 --> 01:28:35.550
You then could use Imperial power

2097
01:28:35.550 --> 01:28:37.690
to put the thumbscrews down

2098
01:28:37.690 --> 01:28:39.810
on any dissident Christian groups.

2099
01:28:39.810 --> 01:28:42.080
- The final selection of books

2100
01:28:42.080 --> 01:28:43.350
that made it into the Bible,

2101
01:28:43.350 --> 01:28:48.240
wasn't actually decided upon until 400 CE.

2102
01:28:48.240 --> 01:28:51.420
It seems like a number of
competing Christian factions

2103
01:28:51.420 --> 01:28:54.840
might have merged into
some sort of mega church.

2104
01:28:54.840 --> 01:28:57.330
- Each of these Gospels
has a faction behind it.

2105
01:28:57.330 --> 01:28:58.320
There's a lot of people

2106
01:28:58.320 --> 01:29:00.150
like they have their own favorite Gospels.

2107
01:29:00.150 --> 01:29:01.280
It's like everybody has their own favorite

2108
01:29:01.280 --> 01:29:03.220
Harry Potter novel or whatever.

2109
01:29:03.220 --> 01:29:06.080
And so, if you want to win this battle

2110
01:29:06.080 --> 01:29:07.050
for control of the church,

2111
01:29:07.050 --> 01:29:09.260
you want as many people on your side

2112
01:29:09.260 --> 01:29:11.020
to outnumber the other side.

2113
01:29:11.020 --> 01:29:13.090
And the best way to do
that, is to pick Gospels

2114
01:29:13.090 --> 01:29:15.180
that had a lot of supporters behind them

2115
01:29:15.180 --> 01:29:16.700
that were not too deviant.

2116
01:29:16.700 --> 01:29:20.600
- The other Gospels
were declared fake news.

2117
01:29:20.600 --> 01:29:23.560
- Constantine does not enforce
Christianity on everybody.

2118
01:29:23.560 --> 01:29:25.650
Constantine allowed pagan temples to stand

2119
01:29:25.650 --> 01:29:26.620
and pagans to worship,

2120
01:29:26.620 --> 01:29:28.150
and he let Jews be Jews.

2121
01:29:28.150 --> 01:29:30.470
- But he does favor just
one Christian faction

2122
01:29:30.470 --> 01:29:32.640
and tries to shut down all the rest.

2123
01:29:32.640 --> 01:29:35.670
And this one faction has no hesitation

2124
01:29:35.670 --> 01:29:37.870
at putting their head of the Roman empire,

2125
01:29:37.870 --> 01:29:39.240
the same Roman empire

2126
01:29:39.240 --> 01:29:42.520
that killed Jesus, Paul, Peter and James

2127
01:29:42.520 --> 01:29:44.780
at the head of their church.

2128
01:29:44.780 --> 01:29:45.750
- And so Constantine,

2129
01:29:45.750 --> 01:29:47.150
I think he treats Christianity

2130
01:29:47.150 --> 01:29:48.930
as any emperor has treated

2131
01:29:48.930 --> 01:29:52.560
any other religious kind of group,

2132
01:29:52.560 --> 01:29:55.570
by saying, well, I'm the head of religion.

2133
01:29:55.570 --> 01:29:57.570
I am the Pontifex Maximus.

2134
01:29:57.570 --> 01:30:00.423
So therefore, I'm the
head of this community.

2135
01:30:01.400 --> 01:30:05.150
The Bishop seemed to agree to that

2136
01:30:05.150 --> 01:30:07.580
without much hesitation.

2137
01:30:07.580 --> 01:30:11.290
- Overnight, the persecuted
become the persecutors

2138
01:30:12.210 --> 01:30:14.820
and the first group that they persecute,

2139
01:30:14.820 --> 01:30:18.910
are other Christians who
they now declare heretics.

2140
01:30:18.910 --> 01:30:22.120
- You're only a heretic if you
lose the historical battle.

2141
01:30:22.120 --> 01:30:24.780
And it takes the church
about three to 400 years,

2142
01:30:24.780 --> 01:30:27.290
to figure out who's in and who's out.

2143
01:30:27.290 --> 01:30:30.090
- About 50 years after Constantine,

2144
01:30:30.090 --> 01:30:33.000
another Roman emperor, Theodosius

2145
01:30:33.000 --> 01:30:36.020
drove the final nail into the cross

2146
01:30:36.020 --> 01:30:38.010
and made Catholic Christianity,

2147
01:30:38.010 --> 01:30:40.980
the state religion of the empire.

2148
01:30:40.980 --> 01:30:45.373
- So not only are preexisting varieties

2149
01:30:46.380 --> 01:30:48.670
or versions of Christianity wiped out

2150
01:30:48.670 --> 01:30:51.500
or put on a banned list,

2151
01:30:51.500 --> 01:30:53.580
new dissident groups emerge

2152
01:30:53.580 --> 01:30:57.410
and a dealt with this new
kind of Imperial authority.

2153
01:30:57.410 --> 01:30:58.980
- Temples were shut down,

2154
01:30:58.980 --> 01:31:01.310
pagan priests if they
wanted to keep their job

2155
01:31:01.310 --> 01:31:03.340
became Christian priests.

2156
01:31:03.340 --> 01:31:05.910
Jews had their movements restricted,

2157
01:31:05.910 --> 01:31:07.840
were not allowed to join certain guilds,

2158
01:31:07.840 --> 01:31:10.150
had their synagogues burned down.

2159
01:31:10.150 --> 01:31:12.080
And the empire becomes Christian

2160
01:31:12.080 --> 01:31:13.250
and it remains Christian,

2161
01:31:13.250 --> 01:31:15.580
because of the force of the state

2162
01:31:15.580 --> 01:31:17.183
and the force of the army.

2163
01:31:18.790 --> 01:31:20.640
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

2164
01:31:21.500 --> 01:31:22.920
It was a thing.

2165
01:31:22.920 --> 01:31:25.650
And it's something we have to deal with.

2166
01:31:25.650 --> 01:31:27.800
- To put a modern perspective on it.

2167
01:31:27.800 --> 01:31:31.960
Imagine that the Scientologists,
were able to get Tom cruise

2168
01:31:31.960 --> 01:31:34.090
elected president of the world,

2169
01:31:34.090 --> 01:31:38.723
and he passed a law making
Scientology mandatory.

2170
01:31:39.780 --> 01:31:43.770
And that's what team Paul
did around about 400 CE.

2171
01:31:43.770 --> 01:31:46.720
The Roman empire became a theocracy,

2172
01:31:46.720 --> 01:31:48.450
not unlike the caliphate

2173
01:31:48.450 --> 01:31:49.850
that ISIS has been trying to set up

2174
01:31:49.850 --> 01:31:52.510
in the middle East in the last few years.

2175
01:31:52.510 --> 01:31:54.560
It's not that hard to
be a successful religion

2176
01:31:54.560 --> 01:31:56.990
when you're the only game in town

2177
01:31:56.990 --> 01:32:00.040
and everything else is
pretty much outlawed.

2178
01:32:00.040 --> 01:32:01.050
So that's the story

2179
01:32:01.050 --> 01:32:04.350
of how Christianity went
from being irrelevant

2180
01:32:04.350 --> 01:32:09.350
to inescapable, but in the
words of a different God,

2181
01:32:09.420 --> 01:32:11.943
wait, there's one more thing.

2182
01:32:12.792 --> 01:32:16.375
(happy instrumental music)

2183
01:32:20.510 --> 01:32:23.510
It wasn't that long ago,
that most historians believe,

2184
01:32:23.510 --> 01:32:25.930
that the characters in the old Testament

2185
01:32:25.930 --> 01:32:28.850
like Abraham or Moses

2186
01:32:28.850 --> 01:32:31.150
or figures from literary history

2187
01:32:31.150 --> 01:32:36.150
like King Arthur were
also based on real people.

2188
01:32:36.400 --> 01:32:39.070
But today, most historians think

2189
01:32:39.070 --> 01:32:42.010
they are completely mythical.

2190
01:32:42.010 --> 01:32:44.923
So what about Jesus?

2191
01:32:44.923 --> 01:32:47.820
- Well, when I started as a historian

2192
01:32:47.820 --> 01:32:50.650
and I was actually quite certain

2193
01:32:50.650 --> 01:32:52.720
that Jesus existed as a
historical person, and I thought,

2194
01:32:52.720 --> 01:32:55.070
anyone who suggested
otherwise was a crackpot.

2195
01:32:55.070 --> 01:32:57.410
And what happened was, the
more I looked at the evidence,

2196
01:32:57.410 --> 01:32:58.350
the worse it looked.

2197
01:32:58.350 --> 01:32:59.570
The more you pull up the threads,

2198
01:32:59.570 --> 01:33:00.710
the more it falls apart.

2199
01:33:00.710 --> 01:33:02.150
And I started to realize by the end of it,

2200
01:33:02.150 --> 01:33:04.250
it's like actually unbalance of evidence

2201
01:33:04.250 --> 01:33:05.760
it looks like it goes the other way.

2202
01:33:05.760 --> 01:33:10.180
- It just seems to me,
the weight of probability

2203
01:33:10.180 --> 01:33:12.630
is that there was no Jesus.

2204
01:33:12.630 --> 01:33:14.000
- One thing that struck me

2205
01:33:14.000 --> 01:33:18.320
is just the case for this
figure is extremely poor.

2206
01:33:18.320 --> 01:33:22.070
The main sources we have are the Gospels.

2207
01:33:22.070 --> 01:33:25.240
Over time, we found even more
reason to doubt the Gospels.

2208
01:33:25.240 --> 01:33:27.490
They're just really, really poor sources.

2209
01:33:27.490 --> 01:33:29.040
They're not what we want.

2210
01:33:29.040 --> 01:33:30.710
E.P. Sanders says that ,

2211
01:33:30.710 --> 01:33:32.700
Jesus is better attested in history

2212
01:33:32.700 --> 01:33:34.023
than Alexander the great.

2213
01:33:35.410 --> 01:33:37.300
When you actually compare the evidence

2214
01:33:37.300 --> 01:33:38.550
for both of those figures,

2215
01:33:38.550 --> 01:33:40.390
that's not even close to correct.

2216
01:33:40.390 --> 01:33:42.250
And actually the evidence
for Alexander the great

2217
01:33:42.250 --> 01:33:44.440
is way better than for Jesus.

2218
01:33:44.440 --> 01:33:46.790
- Obviously a lot of evidence gets lost

2219
01:33:46.790 --> 01:33:48.540
or destroyed over the years,

2220
01:33:48.540 --> 01:33:51.400
like the letters of team Peter.

2221
01:33:51.400 --> 01:33:53.480
So historians are trying to piece together

2222
01:33:53.480 --> 01:33:56.210
what happened using sketchy evidence

2223
01:33:56.210 --> 01:33:59.660
or evidence that's been
corrupted, like Mark's Gospel.

2224
01:33:59.660 --> 01:34:00.810
- And the trick to that

2225
01:34:00.810 --> 01:34:02.927
is that you look at that body of evidence

2226
01:34:02.927 --> 01:34:04.760
You got to look at it all,
you can't leave anything out,

2227
01:34:04.760 --> 01:34:06.200
even stuff that's weird

2228
01:34:06.200 --> 01:34:08.350
and say is that the
evidence that should exist,

2229
01:34:08.350 --> 01:34:11.550
if this hypothesis existed,
is it what we expect?

2230
01:34:11.550 --> 01:34:13.050
And, and that's what you look at.

2231
01:34:13.050 --> 01:34:15.220
And you can measure that,
in the sense of your feeling

2232
01:34:15.220 --> 01:34:17.930
of how expected is this evidence,

2233
01:34:17.930 --> 01:34:20.760
or how weird is this evidence
given that hypothesis?

2234
01:34:20.760 --> 01:34:22.170
- And then you look at all of the theories

2235
01:34:22.170 --> 01:34:23.140
and try and decide

2236
01:34:23.140 --> 01:34:26.023
which one does the evidence support best.

2237
01:34:27.990 --> 01:34:29.730
- And if you're stuck in this situation

2238
01:34:29.730 --> 01:34:31.700
where the evidence is equally expected

2239
01:34:31.700 --> 01:34:34.700
on all your hypotheses,
then you don't know.

2240
01:34:34.700 --> 01:34:36.350
It could be any one of those hypotheses

2241
01:34:36.350 --> 01:34:37.890
and we just kind of have to settle on

2242
01:34:37.890 --> 01:34:39.850
well, it's one of those we don't know.

2243
01:34:39.850 --> 01:34:42.010
- So how does the evidence stack up

2244
01:34:42.010 --> 01:34:46.050
with the theory that
Jesus actually existed?

2245
01:34:46.050 --> 01:34:47.100
- I think on balance,

2246
01:34:47.100 --> 01:34:48.180
he probably didn't exist.

2247
01:34:48.180 --> 01:34:50.050
I think the hypothesis that

2248
01:34:50.050 --> 01:34:51.530
he started out a revelatory being

2249
01:34:51.530 --> 01:34:53.760
and became historicized later,

2250
01:34:53.760 --> 01:34:55.020
I think fits the evidence better.

2251
01:34:55.020 --> 01:34:56.450
It makes the evidence more expected,

2252
01:34:56.450 --> 01:34:58.050
especially a lot of weird stuff.

2253
01:34:58.050 --> 01:34:58.970
- So in other words,

2254
01:34:58.970 --> 01:35:01.810
Jesus appeared as some kind of an angel

2255
01:35:01.810 --> 01:35:04.530
in visions to people like Paul.

2256
01:35:04.530 --> 01:35:06.680
And then later on, people decided that,

2257
01:35:06.680 --> 01:35:09.460
well, he must have been real.

2258
01:35:09.460 --> 01:35:11.180
But of course this kind of a view

2259
01:35:11.180 --> 01:35:14.370
is still a minority amongst scholars,

2260
01:35:14.370 --> 01:35:16.490
but will it always be that way?

2261
01:35:16.490 --> 01:35:18.330
- We saw the same thing
with the challenging

2262
01:35:18.330 --> 01:35:19.950
of the historicity of Moses, right.

2263
01:35:19.950 --> 01:35:21.060
In the seventies,

2264
01:35:21.060 --> 01:35:23.340
everybody said, that's
fringe, that's crazy.

2265
01:35:23.340 --> 01:35:25.020
Now it's the mainstream consensus

2266
01:35:25.020 --> 01:35:28.205
at least agnosticism about
the historicity of Moses.

2267
01:35:28.205 --> 01:35:30.490
And that took, 20, 30 years.

2268
01:35:30.490 --> 01:35:33.170
So I always tell people,

2269
01:35:33.170 --> 01:35:34.830
come back to me in 20 and 30 years,

2270
01:35:34.830 --> 01:35:36.450
and then we'll see if
that's still a situation

2271
01:35:36.450 --> 01:35:37.730
or if it's changed since then.

2272
01:35:37.730 --> 01:35:42.730
- This kind of talk get some
people pretty, pretty cranky.

2273
01:35:43.970 --> 01:35:46.410
- Well, look, my blunt response to that,

2274
01:35:46.410 --> 01:35:48.520
the whole Jesus mythicism thing

2275
01:35:48.520 --> 01:35:52.440
to be frank, I consider it
mental masturbation for atheist.

2276
01:35:52.440 --> 01:35:53.963
That's the best way I can describe it.

2277
01:35:53.963 --> 01:35:55.770
It's the ultimate get up,

2278
01:35:55.770 --> 01:35:58.810
telling your arch enemy that
their superhero didn't exist.

2279
01:35:58.810 --> 01:36:01.130
It's with the joy, of
going up to some bratty kid

2280
01:36:01.130 --> 01:36:03.517
you don't like and saying,
"Hey kid, guess what,

2281
01:36:03.517 --> 01:36:05.010
"there's no Santa Claus."

2282
01:36:05.010 --> 01:36:07.910
- Telling a little kid
that Santa doesn't exist

2283
01:36:07.910 --> 01:36:11.490
might be mean, but it's also true.

2284
01:36:11.490 --> 01:36:13.853
Look, the fact is that
the historical evidence

2285
01:36:13.853 --> 01:36:15.850
that Jesus existed

2286
01:36:15.850 --> 01:36:19.000
is pretty slim to say the least.

2287
01:36:19.000 --> 01:36:21.150
But the evidence that
the stories about him

2288
01:36:21.150 --> 01:36:23.060
were all over the place

2289
01:36:23.060 --> 01:36:27.023
and kind of evolved over
time is incredibly strong.

2290
01:36:28.870 --> 01:36:30.860
Make from that what you will.

2291
01:36:30.860 --> 01:36:33.527
(ominous music)

2292
01:36:36.270 --> 01:36:37.240
So let's take a look

2293
01:36:37.240 --> 01:36:41.653
at what our new updated Sunday
school story looks like.

2294
01:36:42.840 --> 01:36:44.170
Around 2000 years ago,

2295
01:36:44.170 --> 01:36:46.670
the Romans decided that
dead men could be gods

2296
01:36:46.670 --> 01:36:49.010
and living men could be sons of gods.

2297
01:36:49.010 --> 01:36:51.110
Meanwhile, in the backwaters
of the Roman empire,

2298
01:36:51.110 --> 01:36:52.960
the Jewish people were
waiting for their God,

2299
01:36:52.960 --> 01:36:54.540
Yahweh to send a warrior King

2300
01:36:54.540 --> 01:36:56.930
they called the Messiah
to kick out the Romans.

2301
01:36:56.930 --> 01:36:58.730
But the Messiah was a no show.

2302
01:36:58.730 --> 01:37:00.235
Eventually several generations later,

2303
01:37:00.235 --> 01:37:02.950
a small fringe Jewish sect said

2304
01:37:02.950 --> 01:37:05.030
this is our guy, Jesus Christ,

2305
01:37:05.030 --> 01:37:06.197
which means Saving the Savior

2306
01:37:06.197 --> 01:37:07.770
was a very Jewish Jew,

2307
01:37:07.770 --> 01:37:10.070
but had two problems in
his messianic resume.

2308
01:37:10.070 --> 01:37:11.780
He had not defeated the Romans

2309
01:37:11.780 --> 01:37:13.400
and he was already dead.

2310
01:37:13.400 --> 01:37:14.430
A few years later,

2311
01:37:14.430 --> 01:37:17.630
Paul who'd been busy beating
up early Jesus' worshipers

2312
01:37:17.630 --> 01:37:19.070
suddenly changed his mind

2313
01:37:19.070 --> 01:37:21.740
and invented his own
version of the Jesus sect.

2314
01:37:21.740 --> 01:37:23.090
He reinvented the Messiah,

2315
01:37:23.090 --> 01:37:25.640
to be a super powered
celestial warrior King

2316
01:37:25.640 --> 01:37:27.761
for non Jews, who could
keep their fore skin

2317
01:37:27.761 --> 01:37:29.720
and still get into heaven.

2318
01:37:29.720 --> 01:37:31.600
The OG Christians weren't impressed,

2319
01:37:31.600 --> 01:37:34.190
this is fake news, Paul
didn't even know Jesus.

2320
01:37:34.190 --> 01:37:36.170
This is the Jews only club bubala.

2321
01:37:36.170 --> 01:37:38.470
According to Paul Jesus
spoke to him in visions

2322
01:37:38.470 --> 01:37:40.560
and any day now, JC
would come down to earth

2323
01:37:40.560 --> 01:37:42.920
with supernatural powers
to defeat the Romans

2324
01:37:42.920 --> 01:37:44.900
and anyone else who didn't worship Him.

2325
01:37:44.900 --> 01:37:48.420
Unfortunately, Jesus didn't
return within Paul's lifetime.

2326
01:37:48.420 --> 01:37:50.270
And despite writing lots of letters

2327
01:37:50.270 --> 01:37:52.130
in his 30 years of missionary work,

2328
01:37:52.130 --> 01:37:53.630
Paul never mentioned anything

2329
01:37:53.630 --> 01:37:56.330
about Jesus' life teachings or miracles.

2330
01:37:56.330 --> 01:37:58.920
But the Jews did get their
war against the Romans

2331
01:37:58.920 --> 01:38:01.270
and got their butts badly kicked.

2332
01:38:01.270 --> 01:38:02.777
No warrior King Messiah showed up

2333
01:38:02.777 --> 01:38:05.180
and their temple was torn down.

2334
01:38:05.180 --> 01:38:07.350
The original disciples
of Jesus were all dead,

2335
01:38:07.350 --> 01:38:09.180
leaving not a single written record

2336
01:38:09.180 --> 01:38:10.740
of what they thought about Jesus

2337
01:38:10.740 --> 01:38:11.970
or his teachings.

2338
01:38:11.970 --> 01:38:13.950
After the war, one of Paul's community

2339
01:38:13.950 --> 01:38:16.070
did document some stories about Jesus

2340
01:38:16.070 --> 01:38:17.780
in which he appears as a human,

2341
01:38:17.780 --> 01:38:20.040
but with super powers and a big secret,

2342
01:38:20.040 --> 01:38:21.970
who begs Yahweh not to let him be killed,

2343
01:38:21.970 --> 01:38:24.040
but Yahweh ignored his prayers.

2344
01:38:24.040 --> 01:38:25.780
Many other versions of the Jesus story

2345
01:38:25.780 --> 01:38:27.900
were recorded over the next 100 years.

2346
01:38:27.900 --> 01:38:29.690
None by actual eye witnesses

2347
01:38:29.690 --> 01:38:31.963
or people who knew eye witnesses
or people who knew people

2348
01:38:31.963 --> 01:38:34.200
who would, you get the idea.

2349
01:38:34.200 --> 01:38:37.060
As time passed, these stories
grew more far fetched,

2350
01:38:37.060 --> 01:38:39.400
suddenly including miracles
like walking on water,

2351
01:38:39.400 --> 01:38:40.420
the virgin birth,

2352
01:38:40.420 --> 01:38:42.527
the resurrection of violent teenage Jesus

2353
01:38:42.527 --> 01:38:45.360
and Jesus raising people from the dead.

2354
01:38:45.360 --> 01:38:46.720
All these authors were still certain

2355
01:38:46.720 --> 01:38:48.660
that the Messiah would come
to defeat their enemies

2356
01:38:48.660 --> 01:38:49.630
within their lifetimes,

2357
01:38:49.630 --> 01:38:51.330
but he still didn't come.

2358
01:38:51.330 --> 01:38:52.330
For 300 years,

2359
01:38:52.330 --> 01:38:54.960
various Jesus' factions fought
against the Romans lines

2360
01:38:54.960 --> 01:38:57.250
and amongst themselves about who Jesus was

2361
01:38:57.250 --> 01:38:58.640
and how to worship him properly.

2362
01:38:58.640 --> 01:39:00.677
Until one of these groups
met with the Roman emperor

2363
01:39:00.677 --> 01:39:02.900
and said, give us
protection and tax breaks,

2364
01:39:02.900 --> 01:39:04.937
and we'll make you the
head of our religion.

2365
01:39:04.937 --> 01:39:07.040
- "That's an offer I can't refuse,"

2366
01:39:07.040 --> 01:39:08.500
said the emperor Constantine.

2367
01:39:08.500 --> 01:39:09.560
And within a hundred years,

2368
01:39:09.560 --> 01:39:12.730
this group managed to take
control of the entire empire.

2369
01:39:12.730 --> 01:39:14.400
They burned competing Gospels,

2370
01:39:14.400 --> 01:39:16.890
tore down temples, killed
pagan philosophers,

2371
01:39:16.890 --> 01:39:18.240
and banned other religions,

2372
01:39:18.240 --> 01:39:21.290
including competing
versions of the Jesus club.

2373
01:39:21.290 --> 01:39:23.730
And that my friends

2374
01:39:23.730 --> 01:39:26.430
is the slightly more accurate story

2375
01:39:26.430 --> 01:39:30.393
of the triumph of Christianity, Amen.

2376
01:39:33.000 --> 01:39:35.030
Well, isn't that a far
more interesting story.

2377
01:39:35.030 --> 01:39:36.990
And it's also one that's supported

2378
01:39:36.990 --> 01:39:40.860
by historical evidence
and biblical scholars.

2379
01:39:40.860 --> 01:39:44.440
So what does the next century
hold for Christianity?

2380
01:39:44.440 --> 01:39:47.100
Peace and love or another theocracy.

2381
01:39:47.100 --> 01:39:49.440
I guess only time's gonna tell

2382
01:39:49.440 --> 01:39:52.860
unless of course, Jesus
does come back soon,

2383
01:39:52.860 --> 01:39:55.350
which I've been told
with very good authority

2384
01:39:55.350 --> 01:39:59.701
should be happening any minute now.

2385
01:39:59.701 --> 01:40:02.368
(clock ticking)

2386
01:40:05.738 --> 01:40:08.321
(lively music)

2387
01:40:16.080 --> 01:40:17.567
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2388
01:40:17.567 --> 01:40:19.219
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2389
01:40:19.219 --> 01:40:20.571
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2390
01:40:20.571 --> 01:40:22.299
♪ I have a friend in Jesus. ♪

2391
01:40:22.299 --> 01:40:23.665
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2392
01:40:23.665 --> 01:40:25.557
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2393
01:40:25.557 --> 01:40:28.723
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2394
01:40:28.723 --> 01:40:31.669
♪ He taught me how to live,
my life as it should be. ♪

2395
01:40:31.669 --> 01:40:33.275
♪ He taught me how to turn my cheek ♪

2396
01:40:33.275 --> 01:40:35.002
♪ When people laugh at me. ♪

2397
01:40:35.002 --> 01:40:36.423
♪ I've had friends before ♪

2398
01:40:36.423 --> 01:40:38.067
♪ And I can tell you that, ♪

2399
01:40:38.067 --> 01:40:42.271
♪ He's one who will
never leave your flat. ♪

2400
01:40:42.271 --> 01:40:43.478
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2401
01:40:43.478 --> 01:40:45.368
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2402
01:40:45.368 --> 01:40:46.852
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2403
01:40:46.852 --> 01:40:48.456
♪ I have a friend in Jesus. ♪

2404
01:40:48.456 --> 01:40:49.950
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2405
01:40:49.950 --> 01:40:51.618
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2406
01:40:51.618 --> 01:40:54.490
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2407
01:40:54.490 --> 01:40:57.691
♪ He taught me how to pray,
and how to save my soul. ♪

2408
01:40:57.691 --> 01:40:59.314
♪ He taught me how to praise my God ♪

2409
01:40:59.314 --> 01:41:00.971
♪ And still play rock and roll. ♪

2410
01:41:00.971 --> 01:41:02.358
♪ The music may sound different ♪

2411
01:41:02.358 --> 01:41:03.906
♪ But the message is the same. ♪

2412
01:41:03.906 --> 01:41:08.265
♪ It's just that instrument
who praise his name. ♪

2413
01:41:08.265 --> 01:41:09.472
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2414
01:41:09.472 --> 01:41:11.320
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2415
01:41:11.320 --> 01:41:12.680
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2416
01:41:12.680 --> 01:41:14.459
♪ I have a friend in Jesus ♪

2417
01:41:14.459 --> 01:41:15.851
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2418
01:41:15.851 --> 01:41:17.728
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine.. ♪

2419
01:41:17.728 --> 01:41:21.100
♪ Six feet two, eyes are blue, ♪

2420
01:41:21.100 --> 01:41:23.965
♪ Jesus Christ he was a Jew. ♪

2421
01:41:23.965 --> 01:41:28.331
♪ Has anybody seen my Lord? ♪

2422
01:41:28.331 --> 01:41:29.950
♪ Big hook nose, ♪

2423
01:41:29.950 --> 01:41:34.165
♪ There he goes preaching
so that everyone knows. ♪

2424
01:41:34.165 --> 01:41:38.385
♪ Has anybody seen my Lord? ♪

2425
01:41:38.385 --> 01:41:41.533
♪ Speared in the abdomen by a Roman. ♪

2426
01:41:41.533 --> 01:41:44.086
♪ Blood gushing out. ♪

2427
01:41:44.086 --> 01:41:45.456
♪ Rose from the dead, ♪

2428
01:41:45.456 --> 01:41:46.843
♪ So it is said. ♪

2429
01:41:46.843 --> 01:41:49.741
♪ People believe without a doubt. ♪

2430
01:41:49.741 --> 01:41:52.584
♪ Jesus died still a Jew. ♪

2431
01:41:52.584 --> 01:41:55.307
♪ Still a Jew so why aren't you? ♪

2432
01:41:55.307 --> 01:41:58.136
♪ Has anybody seen my, ♪

2433
01:41:58.136 --> 01:42:00.939
♪ Has anybody seen my, ♪

2434
01:42:00.939 --> 01:42:04.606
♪ Has anybody seen my Lord. ♪

2435
01:42:06.096 --> 01:42:08.679
(lively music)

2436
01:42:13.279 --> 01:42:14.559
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2437
01:42:14.559 --> 01:42:16.207
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2438
01:42:16.207 --> 01:42:17.636
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2439
01:42:17.636 --> 01:42:19.332
♪ I have a friend in Jesus ♪

2440
01:42:19.332 --> 01:42:20.847
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2441
01:42:20.847 --> 01:42:22.553
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2442
01:42:22.553 --> 01:42:25.454
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2443
01:42:25.454 --> 01:42:28.631
♪ He taught me how to live,
my life as it should be. ♪

2444
01:42:28.631 --> 01:42:30.329
♪ He taught me how to turn my cheek, ♪

2445
01:42:30.329 --> 01:42:32.022
♪ When people laugh at me. ♪

2446
01:42:32.022 --> 01:42:33.466
♪ I've had friends before ♪

2447
01:42:33.466 --> 01:42:34.990
♪ And I can tell you that, ♪

2448
01:42:34.990 --> 01:42:38.955
♪ He's one who will
never leave you flat. ♪

2449
01:42:38.955 --> 01:42:40.492
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2450
01:42:40.492 --> 01:42:42.300
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2451
01:42:42.300 --> 01:42:43.751
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2452
01:42:43.751 --> 01:42:45.471
♪ I have a friend in Jesus. ♪

2453
01:42:45.471 --> 01:42:46.912
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2454
01:42:46.912 --> 01:42:48.577
♪ Jesus is my friend. ♪

2455
01:42:48.577 --> 01:42:51.610
♪ Jesus is a friend of mine. ♪

2456
01:42:51.610 --> 01:42:54.620
♪ He taught me how to pray
and how to save my soul. ♪

2457
01:42:54.620 --> 01:42:56.247
♪ He taught me how to praise my God ♪

2458
01:42:56.247 --> 01:42:57.829
♪ And still play rock and roll. ♪

2459
01:42:57.829 --> 01:42:59.466
♪ The music may sound different ♪

2460
01:42:59.466 --> 01:43:00.919
♪ But the message is the same' ♪

2461
01:43:00.919 --> 01:43:05.919
♪ It's just the instrument
who praise his name. ♪