<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->St Thomas the apostle of Jesus - did he visit India?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->The question is not whether or not he came to India and died there.
St Thomas the Apostle never existed - <b><i>none</i> of the apostles, disciples ever existed</b>. Biblical scholars have <i>long</i> established that. Their martyrdom stories are all fiction too - so the fiction is not just limited to the version of the Thomas story which set his death in India.
http://freetruth.50webs.org/Overview2.htm (about Christianity's origins):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Apostles
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The twelve disciples were a late addition to the Christ myth Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->- Even though both Matthew and Luke are known to have copied the narrative framework of Markâs gospel, it is interesting to note that their lists of disciples (or apostles) do not match Markâs exactly.
- the Twelve clearly serve a <b>zodiacal function</b> in the gospels, and the sun-god nature of Jesus
- The solarity of Jesus and the zodiacal nature of the Twelve is further underscored by the fact that the latter are related to the mythical Twelve Tribes of Israel
- It has long been known that the tribes are themselves zodiacal symbols, part of the solar development of the Yahweh cult that took place centuries before the turn of the era. The disciples both represent the twelve tribes and judge them. Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Late martyrdom fictions for fictional Twelve
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->the Twelve Apostles belong to the realm of mythology, and their alleged martyrdoms are pure inventions. In the significant words of the eminent Dutch theologians, Dr. Kuenen, Dr. Oort and Dr. Hooykaas,
"All the Apostles disappear without a trace."
-- The Christ, by John E. Remsberg<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria [late 2nd - early 3rd centuries] the glory of martyrdom was confined to St Peter, St Paul and St James.
It was gradually bestowed on the rest of the apostles by the more recent Greeks, who prudently selected for the theatre of their preaching and sufferings some remote country beyond the limits of the Roman empire
-- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->the martyrdom of Peter is generally rejected, and is not claimed until about 170 [the year 170 CE]
-- The Story of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>The Legend of Saint Peter</i> by Arthur Drews (first version translated by Frank Zindler, available from American Atheists) shows how since Peter is a myth and:
the stories about him based on mere midrash, myth, dogmatism, and forgery, the alleged historical foundation of <b>apostolic succession via St. Peter is nothing but a joke</b>. Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Writing towards the end of the <b>second century of our era, Irenaeus says that there existed then only four genuine graves of the Apostles</b>, namely, those of Peter and Paul at Rome, that of John at Ephesus, and that of <b>Thomas at Edessa in Mesopotamia</b>.
-- The Twelve Apostles, published by Thomas Scott<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:red'>Multiple death scenarios for many of the Apostles</span>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Ecclesiastical traditions</b> are much at variance with each other regarding the places where the Twelve Apostles died, or were put to death. Thus these traditions variously represent
Peter to have been put to death at Rome and at Edessa,
Philip at Athens and Scythia,
Bartholomew at Cyprus and at Milan,
Judas, the brother of James, in Phoenicia and in Persia,
Simon Zelotes in Egypt and in Mauritania,
Andrew in Scythia and at Patrae in Achaia,
Matthew in Ethiopia and in Persia,
<b>Thomas in Edessa, Scythia, and India.</b>
According to Matthew (xxvii. 5) Judas Iscariot hanged himself, but according to the writer of the Acts (i. 6) Judas fell headlong, and his bowels gushed out.
In reading these stories, any reader who knows that inversion of a story into its opposite is a characteristic of legendary history, must be struck by the numerous instances where the place where the death of one and the same apostle occurred is inverted north and south, east and west, V.C., Rome and Edessa --Scythia and India --Ethiopia and Persia!
-- The Twelve Apostles, published by Thomas Scott, 1870<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Much more on the fictive Apostles and their fictional multiple-martyrdoms<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->That last link contains a section with more info on the many fake martyrdom tales for the Apostles ( http://freetruth.50webs.org/B2c.htm#MartyrdomFictions )
"Ecclesiastical traditions" means "Church traditions" which of course means Church lies. The latest Church 'tradition' for Thomas was a death in India, it was never set there before. Long before that, they had incriminated Persia or Parthia for the murder of the imaginary Thomas. Syrian Christians and the Catholic converts among them are lying, like how <b>all of Christianity</b> is based on lies.
Peter's a myth, so whose bones are these <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> ( http://freetruth.50webs.org/Overview2.htm ) - who did they murder this time...
<b><i>Today:</i> Duplicated relics of St Peter at the Vatican:</b> two skulls of St Peter, bones belonging to more than 2 legs and bones of domestic animals including goats, sheep, cows, swine, and a chicken. Link
Holy saviours Batman!
Who knew that Thomas and those other holy dudes were <b><i>so miraculous</i> that they died over and over and over again in different countries</b>. Poor fictions, they must have been a hated lot. Sorry, 'persecuted' is the word. And the miraculously multiplying skeleton of Peter is not the only Christian 'miracle':
Seven churches had Jesus authentic umbilical cord, and a number of churches had his foreskin (removed at circumcision and kept as a souvenir by Mary), <b>six churches had the six heads cut off John the Baptist</b>
-- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe
It's but another Christian fraud. There's a whole page of them at http://freetruth.50webs.org/B3a.htm
St Thomas the Apostle never existed - <b><i>none</i> of the apostles, disciples ever existed</b>. Biblical scholars have <i>long</i> established that. Their martyrdom stories are all fiction too - so the fiction is not just limited to the version of the Thomas story which set his death in India.
http://freetruth.50webs.org/Overview2.htm (about Christianity's origins):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Apostles
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The twelve disciples were a late addition to the Christ myth Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->- Even though both Matthew and Luke are known to have copied the narrative framework of Markâs gospel, it is interesting to note that their lists of disciples (or apostles) do not match Markâs exactly.
- the Twelve clearly serve a <b>zodiacal function</b> in the gospels, and the sun-god nature of Jesus
- The solarity of Jesus and the zodiacal nature of the Twelve is further underscored by the fact that the latter are related to the mythical Twelve Tribes of Israel
- It has long been known that the tribes are themselves zodiacal symbols, part of the solar development of the Yahweh cult that took place centuries before the turn of the era. The disciples both represent the twelve tribes and judge them. Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Late martyrdom fictions for fictional Twelve
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->the Twelve Apostles belong to the realm of mythology, and their alleged martyrdoms are pure inventions. In the significant words of the eminent Dutch theologians, Dr. Kuenen, Dr. Oort and Dr. Hooykaas,
"All the Apostles disappear without a trace."
-- The Christ, by John E. Remsberg<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria [late 2nd - early 3rd centuries] the glory of martyrdom was confined to St Peter, St Paul and St James.
It was gradually bestowed on the rest of the apostles by the more recent Greeks, who prudently selected for the theatre of their preaching and sufferings some remote country beyond the limits of the Roman empire
-- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->the martyrdom of Peter is generally rejected, and is not claimed until about 170 [the year 170 CE]
-- The Story of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>The Legend of Saint Peter</i> by Arthur Drews (first version translated by Frank Zindler, available from American Atheists) shows how since Peter is a myth and:
the stories about him based on mere midrash, myth, dogmatism, and forgery, the alleged historical foundation of <b>apostolic succession via St. Peter is nothing but a joke</b>. Link<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Writing towards the end of the <b>second century of our era, Irenaeus says that there existed then only four genuine graves of the Apostles</b>, namely, those of Peter and Paul at Rome, that of John at Ephesus, and that of <b>Thomas at Edessa in Mesopotamia</b>.
-- The Twelve Apostles, published by Thomas Scott<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:red'>Multiple death scenarios for many of the Apostles</span>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Ecclesiastical traditions</b> are much at variance with each other regarding the places where the Twelve Apostles died, or were put to death. Thus these traditions variously represent
Peter to have been put to death at Rome and at Edessa,
Philip at Athens and Scythia,
Bartholomew at Cyprus and at Milan,
Judas, the brother of James, in Phoenicia and in Persia,
Simon Zelotes in Egypt and in Mauritania,
Andrew in Scythia and at Patrae in Achaia,
Matthew in Ethiopia and in Persia,
<b>Thomas in Edessa, Scythia, and India.</b>
According to Matthew (xxvii. 5) Judas Iscariot hanged himself, but according to the writer of the Acts (i. 6) Judas fell headlong, and his bowels gushed out.
In reading these stories, any reader who knows that inversion of a story into its opposite is a characteristic of legendary history, must be struck by the numerous instances where the place where the death of one and the same apostle occurred is inverted north and south, east and west, V.C., Rome and Edessa --Scythia and India --Ethiopia and Persia!
-- The Twelve Apostles, published by Thomas Scott, 1870<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Much more on the fictive Apostles and their fictional multiple-martyrdoms<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->That last link contains a section with more info on the many fake martyrdom tales for the Apostles ( http://freetruth.50webs.org/B2c.htm#MartyrdomFictions )
"Ecclesiastical traditions" means "Church traditions" which of course means Church lies. The latest Church 'tradition' for Thomas was a death in India, it was never set there before. Long before that, they had incriminated Persia or Parthia for the murder of the imaginary Thomas. Syrian Christians and the Catholic converts among them are lying, like how <b>all of Christianity</b> is based on lies.
Peter's a myth, so whose bones are these <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> ( http://freetruth.50webs.org/Overview2.htm ) - who did they murder this time...
<b><i>Today:</i> Duplicated relics of St Peter at the Vatican:</b> two skulls of St Peter, bones belonging to more than 2 legs and bones of domestic animals including goats, sheep, cows, swine, and a chicken. Link
Holy saviours Batman!
Who knew that Thomas and those other holy dudes were <b><i>so miraculous</i> that they died over and over and over again in different countries</b>. Poor fictions, they must have been a hated lot. Sorry, 'persecuted' is the word. And the miraculously multiplying skeleton of Peter is not the only Christian 'miracle':
Seven churches had Jesus authentic umbilical cord, and a number of churches had his foreskin (removed at circumcision and kept as a souvenir by Mary), <b>six churches had the six heads cut off John the Baptist</b>
-- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe
It's but another Christian fraud. There's a whole page of them at http://freetruth.50webs.org/B3a.htm