<b>THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE CRISIS OF CHRISTIANITY</b>
An Eastern View of a Western Crisis
N. S. Rajaram
EXCERPT:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Since the Jews (and Christians) do not recognize their God as man, he wanted to be recognized as their messiah. Eusebius and the assembled priests dutifully complied. <b>Eusebius is said to have ingratiated himself with his emperor by proclaiming: "It is as if the religion of Abrabam is at last fulfilled - not in Jesus, but in Constantine!"</b>
So Constantine, Pontifex Maximus, the Divine Pagan Emperor became the Messiah of the Chosen People; <b>he was willing to grant a small portion of his divineness to Jesus the Messiah. And this is what Eusebius and the assembled priests conferred upon Jesus through their vote: </b>this at least is my reading of the events leading to Constantine assuming the position of the Head of the Church. He was in a sense an earlier-day Henry VIII. Eusebius was Constantine's Cardinal Wolsey, except there was no entrenched religious authority to challenge him. But he retained his position as the head of Rome's pagan religions - as Pontifex Maximus.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Classical sources also suggest that Alexander's march on India was less than successful. <b>According to Plutarch, Alexander left behind "many deceptive memorials of his expedition to exaggerate the glory of his expedition and conquests in India." </b>Plutarch also tells us that Alexander suffered a heavy defeat at Mallianas - the modern Multan - and barely escaped with his life. He was saved by the bravery and loyalty of his Macedonian companion Pucestes who sacrificed his own life to protect his leader.
His Indian expedition had cost him fully three quarters of his army, and he also had a mutiny on his hands - hardly the record of a victorious campaign. Upon returning from India, Alexander, now a spent force, died in Babylon in 323 BC. His 'empire' in the east collapsed like a house of cards. The Indian garrisons he had left behind were annihilated, and the hastily appointed Greek Satrap Philip was also killed. When Alexander's successor Seleucus Nicator tried to establish himself in the east, he suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Sandracottus[3] to whom he was forced to cede a large part of the eastern domains conquered by Alexander; a good part of these territories lay beyond the Indus in Central and West Asia. All this is clear evidence of the ephemeral nature of Alexander's exploits in the east. It is necessary to recognize this fact to follow the course of the history of West Asia in the succeeding three centuries leading to the birth of Christianity.<b> Where Alexander's interest lay mainly in Persia, the field of action of the Seleucids, including their Hellenising efforts were confined to Egypt and the Levant. </b>This was a major contributor to the Jewish rebellions that were a constant feature in Palestine.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The elimination by Paul - of the Law - from the Qumranian version of the Doctrine of the Faith essentially freed the Christian clergy from any accountability. </b>Where in Judaism, even the highest authority was subject to the Law, in Christianity, Popes and other high priests have been a law unto themselves in the name of God. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
An Eastern View of a Western Crisis
N. S. Rajaram
EXCERPT:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Since the Jews (and Christians) do not recognize their God as man, he wanted to be recognized as their messiah. Eusebius and the assembled priests dutifully complied. <b>Eusebius is said to have ingratiated himself with his emperor by proclaiming: "It is as if the religion of Abrabam is at last fulfilled - not in Jesus, but in Constantine!"</b>
So Constantine, Pontifex Maximus, the Divine Pagan Emperor became the Messiah of the Chosen People; <b>he was willing to grant a small portion of his divineness to Jesus the Messiah. And this is what Eusebius and the assembled priests conferred upon Jesus through their vote: </b>this at least is my reading of the events leading to Constantine assuming the position of the Head of the Church. He was in a sense an earlier-day Henry VIII. Eusebius was Constantine's Cardinal Wolsey, except there was no entrenched religious authority to challenge him. But he retained his position as the head of Rome's pagan religions - as Pontifex Maximus.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Classical sources also suggest that Alexander's march on India was less than successful. <b>According to Plutarch, Alexander left behind "many deceptive memorials of his expedition to exaggerate the glory of his expedition and conquests in India." </b>Plutarch also tells us that Alexander suffered a heavy defeat at Mallianas - the modern Multan - and barely escaped with his life. He was saved by the bravery and loyalty of his Macedonian companion Pucestes who sacrificed his own life to protect his leader.
His Indian expedition had cost him fully three quarters of his army, and he also had a mutiny on his hands - hardly the record of a victorious campaign. Upon returning from India, Alexander, now a spent force, died in Babylon in 323 BC. His 'empire' in the east collapsed like a house of cards. The Indian garrisons he had left behind were annihilated, and the hastily appointed Greek Satrap Philip was also killed. When Alexander's successor Seleucus Nicator tried to establish himself in the east, he suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Sandracottus[3] to whom he was forced to cede a large part of the eastern domains conquered by Alexander; a good part of these territories lay beyond the Indus in Central and West Asia. All this is clear evidence of the ephemeral nature of Alexander's exploits in the east. It is necessary to recognize this fact to follow the course of the history of West Asia in the succeeding three centuries leading to the birth of Christianity.<b> Where Alexander's interest lay mainly in Persia, the field of action of the Seleucids, including their Hellenising efforts were confined to Egypt and the Levant. </b>This was a major contributor to the Jewish rebellions that were a constant feature in Palestine.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The elimination by Paul - of the Law - from the Qumranian version of the Doctrine of the Faith essentially freed the Christian clergy from any accountability. </b>Where in Judaism, even the highest authority was subject to the Law, in Christianity, Popes and other high priests have been a law unto themselves in the name of God. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->