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 The Old Testament (Torah) – 3,400 years old

The New Testament – 2,000 years old

The Koran – 1400 years old

The Rig Veda – 3,500 years old

The Bhagavad Gita – 5,000 years old

The Avesta (Zoroastrianism) – written between 1500 and 900 BCE

The Pyramid Texts (Egyptian burial texts)- c. 2400–2300 BCE

Enūma Eliš – (Sumerian creation myth) written around the 13th century BCE 

 

 

B.C. (Before Christ)

circa. 2000? Abraham, founder of Judaism, is alive.

c. 13th century Moses, Hebrew lawgiver, is alive

c. 1100 - c. 500 The Vedas, sacred texts of the Hindus, are compiled.

604 Traditional birth date of Lao-tzu, founder of Taoism.

588 Traditional birth date of Zoroaster's revelation.

c. 563 - c. 483 Buddha, founder of Buddhism, is alive.

551 - 479 Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is alive.

c. 540 - c. 468 Mahavira, founder of the Jains, is alive.

c. 200 The Bhagavad Gita, important Hindu text, is written.

6 or 4 - c. A.D. 30 Jesus of Nazareth, founder of Christianity, is alive.

 

A.D. (Anno Domini)

33? The crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.

64? Peter, disciple of Jesus and, according to tradition, first bishop of Rome, dies.

c. 70 - c. 100 First four books of the New Testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - are written.

5th century Two Buddhist sects - Zen and Pure Land (or Amidism) - are established.

c. 570 - 632 Muhammad the Prophet - whose teachings, recorded in the Quran, form the basis of Islam - is alive.

622 Muhammad flees persecution in Mecca and settles in Yathrib (later Medina); the first day of the lunar year in which this event, known as the Hegira, takes place marks the start of the Muslim era.

936 Traditional date of the arrival from Iran of the first Parsis (followers of Zoroastrianism) in India.

 

How 'bout this?

 A Thought Experiment:

You’re standing on the road in first century Antioch and a passer-by starts going on about a guy who can heal the sick and walk on water. He’s from a podunk town in Galilee and does miracles all the time – fish and bread for thousands this one time, they say.

 

You hear this and more about this Jeshua guy from Galilee and what do you think? 
Gossipy nonsense? 
Twaddle?
Tell me more? 
Do you put any credibility to the story you later heard about this same guy from Nazareth coming back from the dead? 

Recovering from crucifixion? 

Ascending into heaven?

What would you think? 

WTF?  

 

For about half a century, the tales of a healer and magic worker were exchanged by word of mouth. (So were the tales of Simon Magus and Apollonius of Tyana, by the by.)

 

It wasn’t until sometime after Saul had his conversion and name change that anyone wrote anything about this guy. What Saul/Paul wrote tells nothing about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

‘Mark’ was next, writing his Gospel circa 70~80 C.E. (in Greek!) The other canonical Gospels came even later. Until that time, the words and actions of Jesus were the stuff of gossip and anecdote.

How much credence would you assign to gossip and anecdote?