During my time as a Christian I never noticed some obviously strange wordings of New Testament scripture. There were some questions that came to mind within the first few weeks of becoming a Christian, but one is told by "so called" church experts that new believers are immediately tempted by Satan to question scripture. I also used to think that after almost two thousand years and millions of believers then why should I question scripture, and that there must be answers that I can’t see. That’s what apologists are about, taking hold of scripture and distorting it to suit the dogma and the whims of Christianity. As one walks away from the church the New Testament can be seen in a very different light indeed, and the further you walk away the stronger becomes the light of all this deception and deceit.

Was John the Baptist, Elijah? The supposed Jesus claimed he was in Matt 11:14 "And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come." If this is so why did John deny it?

John 1:21, And they (the apostles) asked him. "What then? Are you Elijah ?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Here we have John the Baptist denying what Jesus said about him.

Would Elijah have been so unsure of Jesus messianic identity, see

Luke 7: 9-20, Lets look at verses 18,19,20, "then the disciples of John," please note these are "Johns" disciples. "Reported to him concerning all these things." And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are you the Coming one, or do we look for another?" It appears that John is having some doubts as to who Jesus is. And where in our scriptures is it written that Elijah would be mistreated, as Jesus claimed in Mark 9: 13, "But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him what ever they wished, as it is written." Does not scripture indicate the opposite, that Elijah will be successful in his mission of restoring harmony among the people. Malachi 4: 5-6 says " Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of That great and dreadful day of the LORD, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Does this sound like John the Baptist who denied that he was Elijah?

Scripture says that Elijah is still to come.

The baptism of the supposed Jesus is also a very strange event that needs to be questioned. During his first important appearance on the stage of Gospel history, Jesus is water baptised by John the Baptist. Since there was no Christian religion at that time, into what faith was John baptising the people into before he baptised Jesus? Strangely no one seems to know. Not only is the water-baptism obscure no one knows how it became a Christian ritual except from the obvious fact that the ceremony was an integral part of the Gentile saviour-god formula as well as being a common Roman ritual. A question that needs to be asked is why was Jesus baptised in the first place? Would the soul of the very Son of God be stained with the original sin? The answer would have to be "no," that’s why he was supposedly born of a virgin.

With the baptism of Jesus, the creators of the Christ myth achieved a meaningful psychological coup. The best example to hold up to the simple faithful was a Jesus who had himself accepted by the ritual of initiation. "Follow Jesus in all things" cried the priests.

In the twenty seven books of the New Testament only four make any mention of the life of this Nazarene Jesus. There is no unfolding narrative, no chronological outline of the story of the man who was allegedly so important that he "changed the face of the world." There is just a little in the Gospel stories wrapped up in myths and contradictions to support the human Jesus as there are to support the supernatural Christ. Countless observers over centuries, from Celsus to Compte to Nietzsche to Schweitzer, have persisted in telling the world not what they knew about him, but what they felt, or believed. This giant hoax lives on.

Jim Lee.