I've been told by quite a few friends that Josephus wasn't a real character. I'm sure you lot can tell me if he is or not?
Regards
RAB
Was Josephus Real?
by God_Delusion 8 Replies latest watchtower bible
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God_Delusion
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finallysomepride
The whole bible is just one long 'Play' loosely based on heroes of the time & added to down through the ages by men/woman to further their beliefs (hidden agendas)
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cantleave
I have never heard anyone doubt the existance of Josephus. They are deabtes about some of the events and characters he wrote about, but the Jewish historian did exist.
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Simon
Josephus was real - he was a Jewish rebel who was captured and taken to Rome. He managed to write his 'eye witness' accounts from there ... except he didn't of course - the older his manuscripts get the less and less mention of Jesus there is in them. Really? The greatest man ever to live (supposedly) who raised the dead and all he put was a "BTW: There was this guy Jesus who raised the dead" in different handwriting in a space between paragraphs?
Even if he was a genuine witness, his testimony is a bit doubtful - he lived by sucking up to the Roman rulers and telling them everything they wanted to hear. He even described seeing the emperor rise up to heaven when he died.
He isn't the "Jewish Historian" that the WTS or other bible-peddlars likes to make out.
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JimmyPage
Thank you Simon. Just another of the many things I've learned on JWN. And unlearned from the WT.
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diamondiiz
IF I remember correctly Josephus was a Jewish general who surrendered and was respected by a Roman (general Titus?) and was brought along to record history in the making as Roman's were destroying Israel, city by city. The fall of Jerusalem is described by him as an eye witness of the events. I read part of his book a long time ago but since he was a jew, he was also more favorable towards them. His latter writings of chronology also differed from his earlier works as to the Babylonian kings if I remember correctly. As for Jesus in his writings, I don't know if there was a line or do just mentioning that but I don't remember whether that was a latter addition by others or was that all tha Josephus had to say. Jewish wars was an interesting read.
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Judge Dread
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Judge Dread
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cameo-d
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Judge Dread
Some people do not have the time to do that much research and wading through material. They come here knowing their friends can give them a quick run down on the facts and rumors, or point them to a substantial conclusive piece of evidence. Shame on you for being so mean spirited, Judge Dread.
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blondie
The WTS has quote from Josephus and thinks him to be a real person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus
http://atheism.about.com/od/biblepeoplenewtestament/p/Josephus.htm