The Theology of Christmas

[@astphaire]

“Our topic this evening”: 5:35

[@shiraz1971]

Thanks!

[@centre-place]

Thanks for supporting the channel!

[@henriquepontedaluz1961]

Simply brilliant Dr John! Incedible🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@jeffape63]

Happy first day of Yule.

[@wallypritchard2574]

Love JH's lectures!

[@GaryTalbott]

Wonderful as usual. Thank you.

[@centre-place]

Thanks for supporting the channel!

[@NeilEvans-xq8ik]

Merry Christmas! 🤗

[@mrlume9475]

...and seasons greetings to you.

[@andreucfreire1328]

Valeu!

[@centre-place]

Thanks for supporting the channel! We’d love to connect with you in the future, please email us at [e-mail] or join us on our Facebook and Instagram account! Have a wonderful day.

[@marcusdoolette1547]

Thanks once again John. Absolutely love these informative talks. Look forward to the next one. Brilliant.

[@Slapsista]

And a testimonial from me also: I love following my curiosity and listening to these lectures. Lovely to get a sense of your connection to the idea of Christ, John.

[@Cannibaltron]

Looks like a fantastic lineup, can’t wait! Safe travels to Argentina. Merry Christmas and God bless!

[@maria-elenapickett1378]

Brought as a Catholic, I was taught that gold signified royalty and the fact that Jesus would be king.

[@StevenSmolak]

There is hardly a place, not in Christ, or, not in Buddha nature, or any such title and not being such, there are just degrees of being. And sadness is the feeling one gets, seeing another, somehow without this nature... thank you for helping me be more in that place; that I may more fully celebrate Christmas with another. 🙏🏻🌎❤️

[@denaisaacthiswasgreat.thum7598]

Merry Christmas. ❤️🌲

[@panninggazz5244]

Thank you

[@ObjectiveEthics]

John thank you for another great lecture. During the Q&A you mentioned my comments about "Q" but you didn't offer any information on why some scholars support the "Q" hypothesis. I know you did a lecture previously on "Q" so I just watched that. I'm going to politely disagree with your assertion that there actually is a "Q" source. There are a number of scholars that don't think there is a "Q" and they have made very good arguments for that conclusion. Goodacre and Carrier would be good sources to address. In watching your previous lecture you did say that there are good reasons to doubt "Q" so I appreciate that measured approach. As always I enjoy your lectures and look forward to the next one. However, my disagreement with @Sphinx was about their claim that Zoroastrianism was influenced by Christianity which is the opposite of what we know happened. It had nothing to do with "Q" unless I missed something in the chat (I stepped away to eat dinner). Clearly Zoroastrianism provided the influence on Christianity via it's influence on Judaism during the 2nd temple period. You confirmed what I said about Zoroastrianism but stated that you were going to side with @Sphinx. That was a bit confusing. I know that you understand Zoroastrianism is a much older religion than Christianity.

[@andrewsuryali8540]

Zoroastrianism AS IT EXISTS TODAY (especially the Zurvanism branch) is very heavily influenced by Christianity, especially by the gnostic variety. John has explained in another lecture that the claim that Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism and by extension Christianity is very difficult to prove today because we don't know what pre-2nd-temple Zoroastrianism looked like, as during this period the teachings were not codified and were passed down orally. All surviving scriptures of Zoroastrianism that we have today seem to indicate the opposite influence. Scholars generally agree that Zoroastrianism must have influenced 2nd Temple Judaism as it is indeed much older, but the forms of Zoroastrianism that we believe did so are actually reconstructed from bits and pieces found in archaeology and surviving texts of present-day Zoroastrianism and Judaism itself (within and without the Bible). The influence went both ways, and sadly we no longer have the older pre-Christian version to reference.

[@ObjectiveEthics]

@@andrewsuryali8540 If you are interested in learning about Zoroastrianism and how we know it heavily influenced 2nd temple Judaism I would recommend you read Cecil, Flowers, Carrier or Meher. The ideas of a Messianic figure, heaven and hell, monotheism (monolatry) and more all come from Zarathustra and his reforms to the more ancient forms of Zoroastrianism. Scholars believe that Zarathustra lived around 1,500 bce. Zoroastrianism was the reason that Judaism changed from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion during the 2nd temple period. Hundreds of years before Christianity. Christianity was developed by using influences from Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Greek Stoicism. There really isn't a uniform "gnostic" sect of early Christianity. There are certain fringe groups of Judaism like the Eseens but there isn't any unified theology that we would call gnostisism. Do you happen to recall which lecture specifically where John makes those claims?

[@DuNguyen-c5i]

Merry Christmas

[@eddiemartin1671]

Great 👍

[@Darisiabgal7573]

The issue of Zeus, Cronos and Ouranous represents to me three versions of the same god. And when one realizes this the Aphrodite story makes more sense. An, the patron diety of Uruk emerges as the coastal settlement in the Ubaid as it grows. I conjecture that the city is the merger of middle/lower euphratean culture and ubaid. It is unclear which of the two villages takes the high position, but one god, the sky god, dominated and the other goddess, innana became a mistress to him. The importance of Anu is that through Uruk new settlements gained acceptance and through inanna kings gained annointment (through copulation). Uruk rises at the beginning of the copper age but they lack minerals (except mud) and so Uruk is involving itself in trade and trying to organize along its periphery trade routes to places that have copper. One of these places is the northern flanks of the upper tigris. And we know know that they are familiar with the places because early ubaid shows stong cultural links to Hassuna and Samarrah culture. And so that there is a persistence of Jemdet Nasr (l. mesopotamian) culture in remnants of Samarra culture in places like Tel Shemshara. At the tel there is extensive evidence of East West trade and production industries the link to the Ararat mountains. On the northern reaches of the mountains developes around the end of the fifth millenium BCE kura Araxas culture. For all intents and purposes this cukture is protoindoeuropean and also for all intents and purposes within a few hundred years the bronze age developes between these trading boundaries (Jemdet Nasr and Kura Araxas). It seems likely that the IE god Djues pater is simply a reworking of An, a god involved in trying to improve trade. IOW in the beginning Sumer had rather anicable relationships to the NNW, but their reach to the NW was limited to the southern reaches of the Ararat mountains. The big push westward started at the end of the fifth millenium and it did not go well. The major river port on the Euphrates, shurrupak, flanked the river. The city was razed, and not long after flooded (another epic story). The colony of protoMari was abandoned. Around the 26th century BCE Mari had been restored and its kings were now had sufficient strength to push westward. The west offered wine, olive oil, copper, obsidian. It also offered the end market of Egypt. The problem that was in its way the Eblaite confederation. Ata first, with a litlle saber rattling Ebla conceded to allow mari to trade through. Meanwhile everything began falling apart in Sumer. King Zagasi broke the order of things, and he was replaced. Sargon then made his daughter a high priest of the Inanna cult and booted An out of his white temple, Ishtar as she would now be known became a war goddess and a power goddess. So we can see Aphrodite her severing the testicles. She emasculated her great grandfather. But either Sargon or the Ur III dismanteled tye trading confederation. But by the time Sargon gets to Canaan the benevolent trading god Anu has already been planted by the traders on high places, hes a tabernacle god of sojourners and wanderers. And so El, the most high is already established in the western pantheon relatively immune from the cyclical dynastic theologies of the East. It should be noted the El survived several attempts to kill him. The hittites and hurrians tried. That failed. The isra'elite god survived at least to the seventh century, when King Yosiah finally killed him, but as we learned later his kingdom was exiled and in Jeremiah we learn that his reforms were not popular and the peoples that negotiated effectively with the Babylonians remained. Margaret Barker suggests that the notion of a higher father persists in the galilee and is reflected in the extended use of father imagry in the new testament. So that Aphrodite is an Avatar of Ishtar gains her power buy emasculating the older version of the sky god.

[@AnthonyJohnson-rd1rd]

Why is your video not your KZbin channel

[@davidfolts5893]

Unfortunately, time travel is impossible because we would have to return not only to over two thousand years in time but also to the location of where Earth was in space as our galaxy hurdles through space. Too bad, as I would have loved to see the event. Thank you, John, for your humble brilliance.

[@Sundae_Times]

*hurtles

[@deborahszafraniec4829]

Some are putting forth the idea that we don't live on a ball hurtling through space, but a simulation, sort of like the holodeck in star trek, or like the Matrix, although we are not batteries for some evil entities. If we are living in a simulacrum then time travel could be possible!

[@davidfolts5893]

​@@deborahszafraniec4829There is also a case for alternative universes where we exist following a different timeline repeated in various iterations into infinity or at least until that universe ends. In that sense, we never die but exist somewhere else. If a universe can pop into and out of existence, hyperbole, I know, why can't we?😀

[@deborahszafraniec4829]

@@davidfolts5893 You are entertaining some advanced thinking! I like it!

[@davidfolts5893]

Thank you.😀

[@RiggenbachDE]

Referring to 1:37:50, I suppose that for the person who asks about "the second coming of Jesus in the cave", "the cave" is the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. So, not pentecoste, but easter.

[@tammikibler]

Are these lectures listed in chronological order anywhere? Sometimes I miss a lecture and I'm at the mercy of the YT algorithm to someday recommend it to me. Yes, I subscribe and the bell is ticked, but I have a lot of subscriptions and if I missed a week, I'm scrolling forever to find a missed video. It appears the lectures are listed in alphabetical order on your website--and categorically as well. The playlist on your channel is not in an order I can perceive. Popularity perhaps? When I look at the videos tab on your channel, it appears the lectures do not appear. Anyway, if I suspect I missed a lecture a week or two ago, how do I check? Is there a chronological list?

[@pisse3000]

If you go to the "live" tab on the KZbin channel you'll find them in that order.

[@tammikibler]

@@pisse3000 Thank you!!

[@centre-place]

Thanks for watching out lectures and for bringing this to our attention. They are now listed by date on this playlist kzbin.info/aero/PLEnqfPnCRxLKqM_A7vmYc9xZ2xZcg-itw

[@cpthardluck]

Sorry if my question about Elohim and Mary were insulting to your church. I didnt think y'all even identified with Mormonism.

[@cae02]

Now I want to fast forward to the Q&A

[@cpthardluck]

@@cae02 He suggests that Elohim and Mary having sex is from Bringham Young and neither his church or modern/mainstream LDS believe that anymore. IDK, I just learned it from "The God Makers."

[@ralfpijnaker151]

Merry Saturnalia

[@charliebrownie4158]

I would love for you to do the same kinds of things showing the pagan backstories of Islam and the moon Jinn who was transformed into allah the moon demon?

[@Marlene837]

All Hail the Taco Bell!😆

[@laszlonemet4425]

Teii Anyone he ownes the world an let him hold in this believe over all time:thats Jewish practice to keep tradition; His-Story/Storage tellers/inventors

[@vickyrowe393]

Ancient order of foresters 1928 they stole from rich an gave t poor they dressed like Santa. They take pilgrimage t lieutenant little John t yew tree they wore red coats with white trim and big black steel toe capped shoes what on earth is he banging on about

[@wicekwickowski3798]

lk

[@myrkwood4741]

Its Nardugan tradition stolen from central asia

[@pamelastetor8803]

Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, Xmas is not true. Saturnalia, study history, break your traditions.

[@Sundae_Times]

Cope

[@anthonymarlowe6986]

Theology is just a religious word for mythology no evidence for imaginary beens. I say beens sarcastically instead of beings.

[@Sundae_Times]

I don't believe in God either, on account of being a grown-up and mentally stable and having an IQ. I also don’t believe in Santa, goblins, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.

[@TheJgibbons]

A virgin is always an "alma", but an "alma" is not always a virgin. You can't fault the translators into finding a Greek term conveying the idea of "alma and you can't definitively state that "alma" is never used in reference to a virgin, which you do. I've seen you do this before, when discussing Josephus' translations, to bolts your agenda. .

[@andrewsuryali8540]

The heck? A virgin isn't always an alma (young woman). There are 90-yr-old virgins.

[@ithelpdeskcomhar8236]

I don't give a F, christmas is for the children

[@cleggyclark6238]

OK

[@dougwulf6684]

Thanks!