Freethought Nation – presented by Acharya S and Truth Be Known, online since 1995

The Star of Bethlehem, Three Kings, Sirius and Orion

Acharya S
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At this time of year, interest begins to increase in the motif of the “Star of Bethlehem” and “Three Kings” who supposedly followed it to the birth place of the baby Jewish messiah. The depiction of the “kings,” “wise men” or magi as three comes not from the Bible specifically…

Jesus the Good and the Chrestians

Acharya S
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In his monograph Chrestos: A Religious Epithet; Its Import and Influence, J.B. Mitchell describes the Jewish “agadists” who engaged in midrash or the reworking of ancient ideas and texts, remarking: By [midrash], remove and fantastic analogies, metaphors taken literally, ambiguities of all sorts, punning included, took the place of accurate…

Acharya S
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In the contentious field of Christian origins, there remain those who – apparently absent of serious study of the subject – continue to insist unscientifically that Egypt, the massive culture that essentially dominated the Mediterranean for centuries, had little to no influence on Christianity. As we know from the enormous…

Acharya S
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Researchers have identified what is believed to be the world’s earliest surviving Christian inscription, shedding light on an ancient sect that followed the teachings of a second-century philosopher named Valentinus. Officially called NCE 156, the inscription is written in Greek and is dated to the latter half of the second…

Acharya S
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In the wake of my release of my ebook “The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus, the daring Danish scholar Dr. Christian Lindtner has come for with a bold statement regarding academia, the Christian church and the mythicist position. Dr. Lindtner received his PhD in Buddhist…

N. B.
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The Mythicist Position: “Mythicism represents the perspective that many gods, goddesses and other heroes and legendary figures said to possess extraordinary and/or supernatural attributes are not “real people” but are in fact mythological characters. Along with this view comes the recognition that many of these figures personify or symbolize natural…

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Non-Religious Minority Largest of Them All Trump signed an executive order for the ‘faith-based initiative’ during the ‘National Day of Prayer’ event May 3rd, 2018 designed to bolster the influence of faith groups in government going further than ever before giving special treatment towards Evangelical Christians, which is entirely unconstitutional…

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Howdy Folks, I’d like to provide all of Acharya’s products here at one spot to make it as convenient as possible for you to locate them. We are coming upon the one year mark since our dear Acharya S/D.M. Murdock passed away on December 25th 2015. We are still grieving…

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Some demented Christians are claiming, of course, that my cancer is “God’s judgment.” Unfortunately for these utter idiots, most cancer cases in the United States are occurring in CHRISTIANS, so are they also being judged by God? But thanks for demonstrating once again what a horrible and unloving “god” you follow!…

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Below is a talk by “countermissionary” and “Jewish apologist” Rabbi Tovia Singer regarding “Jesus mythicism” or the opinion that Jesus Christ is a mythical figure. Initially, I thought Singer would adhere to the typical “historical Jesus” party line, proffering “proofs” that have been rebutted for centuries. I was pleasantly surprised…

Dutch theologian and banned pastor: ‘Christ in Egypt’ is a ‘fantastic book!’

N. B.
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A Dutch theologian who was banned recently from appearing in a local Reform Church for saying that Jesus is a myth drawn from Egyptian religion has stated that he has studied my book Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. Rev. Dr. Edward van der Kaaij ruffled many feathers when he…

What is a mythicist?

N. B.
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Just as declaring oneself an atheist does not make one automatically an expert in religion, seeing Jesus as a myth does not make someone an automatic expert in Christian origins. There are many people calling themselves “mythicists” – i.e., someone who views various biblical/supernatural figures as mythical, not historical –…

Jesus passage in Josephus a forgery in toto, says Greek expert

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I have written a review of the important paper “A Narrative Anomaly in Josephus” by linguist Dr. Paul J. Hopper concerning the so-called Testimonium Flavianum or “Jesus passage” in the works of ancient Jewish historian Josephus. Since this brief passage in Josephus is held up widely by Christian apologists as…

Bart Ehrman errs again – this time about virgin births

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In a blog from December 2014, New Testament scholar and ex-evangelical Christian Bart Ehrman tries his hand at comparative religion and mythology, which is clearly not his forté. Indeed, Ehrman demonstrates abundantly his non-expertise in the subject by making blatantly false claims, so we must wonder why he is pretending…

The Great Jesus Debate goes mainstream

N. B.
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The Great Jesus Debate is now in the MSM at The Washington Post. Unfortunately, the article by Raphael Lataster cites the snippy Richard Carrier, as well as Bart Ehrman and Maurice Casey, all of whom have attacked and defamed me rather viciously. Of course, there is no mention of their…

Bart Ehrman caught in lies and libel?

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In Did Jesus Exist? (p. 24), New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman quotes my book The Christ Conspiracy and refers to an image of a bronze sculpture of a cock, commenting in brackets (except for my “sic”): “’Peter’ is not only ‘the rock’ but also ‘the cock’ or penis, as the…

Jesus Christ is a mythical figure

N. B.
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The “Jesus Christ” of the New Testament is a fictional compilation of characters, not a single historical individual. A compilation of multiple “people” is no one. When the mythological and midrashic layers are removed, there remains no historical core to the onion. The evidence reveals that the gospel story is…

Jesus holding Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection

Newly discovered ancient Christian magical spell reveals Egyptian influence

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An ancient Christian magical spell or charm from the sixth century has been found in an old papyrus manuscript housed at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England. The discoverer, Dr. Roberta Mazza, believes the Greek charm, originally unearthed in Egypt, was part of an amulet to be worn or…

Moses or Dionysus?

N. B.
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In case you missed the release of my latest book, Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver, here’s some info. My book is comprehensive, covering every major and many minor aspects of the story of Moses and the Exodus. In Did Moses Exist? I demonstrate scientifically that the…

Petition to the UN to protect freedom from religion and barbaric blasphemy laws

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If you haven’t signed this petition started by Michael Sherlock to ensure freedom FROM religion and barbaric blasphemy laws, please do so and share it. Note that I edited the letter that will be delivered to the United Nations high commissioner for Human Rights, and my name is appended to…

Bigotry in the nonbelieving and mythicist fields

N. B.
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I’m essentially the lone female scholar of notoriety in the field of mythicism, and I can guarantee you that my treatment is not unlike the first woman sports announcer in the locker room, the first female stock trader, or any number of “firsts” in which women have been harangued relentlessly.…

Martyr for mythicism: Rev. Robert Taylor

N. B.
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When the Church of England’s Rev. Robert Taylor (1784-1844) began preaching Bible mythicism – the view that significant biblical figures are mythical, not historical – from his popular pulpit during the 1820s, he was subjected to a sustained campaign of abuse that lasted for many years. He was convicted twice…

Acharya S
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In case you haven’t gotten copies of the enclosed ebooks, be sure to take a look. At this slow time of the year, I am still in need of assistance for my Moses project. As one can imagine, in consideration of the massive amount literature written about the subject over…

A Pre-Christian ‘God’ on a Cross?

Acharya S
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While I am moving closer to the publication of my Moses book, I could use some assistance, so I’m offering a brand-new, 40-page ebook entitled, “A Pre-Christian ‘God’ on a Cross? My paper examines a famous artifact of a crucifix with the inscription “Orpheos Bakkikos.” A Pre-Christian ‘God’ on a…

Mythicist book about Bart Ehrman and the Christ myth

Acharya S
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The collaborative rebuttal of Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist? is available both in Kindle and hard copy. This one-of-a-kind volume is entitled Bart Erhman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist? (Cranford, NJ: American Atheist Press, 2012). The book includes…

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Here’s a brand-new, hot-off-the-presses publication of mine! It’s a review and study guide of a book by Dr. Michael Lockwood entitled Buddhism’s Relation to Christianity. You can support my work by obtaining a copy of this 23-page PDF, which reveals the Buddhist roots of Christian doctrines and traditions, including purported…

2,750-year-old solar-aligned temple discovered in Israel

Acharya S
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This discovery predates the composition of much of the Bible, other than folkloric tales passed along mainly orally for a couple of centuries, perhaps. Note that the sun’s rays are considered to bring or reveal the “divine presence” in the temple. As scholars and students of ancient religion and mythology…

Anahita, virgin mother of Mithra

Acharya S
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I am delighted to announce that I have had an article published in a scholarly reader called Anahita: Ancient Persian Goddess and Zoroastrian Yazata, which contains the articles of many respected scholars in the field of history and Iranian studies. My article, “Was the Persian Goddess Anahita the Pre-Christian Virgin…

Maya mythology and its relationship to Christianity

Acharya S
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In December 2012, I made a marvelous trip to Mexico, where I spent 10 days amid Maya (and “Toltec”) ruins in the states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo. The main archaeological site we visited repeatedly was Chichen Itza, a Maya site in the Late Classic period (c. 600-900 AD/CE) built…

Robert M. Price: What I think of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

Robert M. Price
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About a decade ago, I wrote a harsh review of a book called The Christ Conspiracy by one Acharya S. The book set forth the Christ Myth theory, of which I am also an adherent, but it took a very different approach. I felt the need to distance myself from…

Why do the Maya believe Christ is the sun?

Acharya S
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In my ebook Jesus as the Sun throughout History, I provide evidence that the New Testament figure of “Jesus Christ” has been perceived as the “sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:2) since the formation of Christianity, appearing in numerous solar roles, possessing an abundance of solar attributes, and perceived by a…

Suetonius, represented in the Nuremberg Chronicle

Does Suetonius refer to Jesus?

Acharya S
6

Hot off the presses! Here is a MAJOR piece of the Christ-myth puzzle. I have taken a lengthy article and broken it down into different essays, with numerous links both to these other articles and to references, citations and annotated footnotes. You will see the other new articles in this…

Anti-free speech efforts blaspheme MY religion

Acharya S
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To the rabid rampagers globally attempting to silence us through their violence and through the imposition of “blasphemy” and “defamation of religion” laws designed to shut up criticism of the very ideology that causes them to rampage violently, your efforts at curbing my free speech are blasphemous against my religion,…

Christianity and the summer solstice

Acharya S
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From the below article at Examiner.com, it looks like somebody’s been reading my work. Except: “the sun mimics the death and resurrection of Jesus!” Is that what they teach at Harvard Divinity School, that the sun is mimicking Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during the winter solstice? Couldn’t it…

Acharya S
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The question dared to be asked and answered in a new book by the indefatigable Robert Spencer: Did Muhammad Exist? And he does a great job of answering that question, very scientific, based on serious documentation. He has all the bases covered well, indeed, from what I have seen, which…

Does early Church father Justin Martyr quote the gospels?

Acharya S
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In his new book Did Jesus Exist? (23), referring to my discussion in The Christ Conspiracy of the second-century dating of the New Testament gospels, Bart Ehrman summarizes a contention in my work about whether or not the early Church father Justin Martyr (fl. 150 AD/CE) mentioned or quoted the…

Does Josephus prove a historical Jesus?

Acharya S
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(The following is part of a 30+page rebuttal to the material in Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist? directly discussing my work.) Ehrman on Josephus’s Testimonium Flavianum Here I will address Ehrman’s section on the Jewish historian Josephus’s supposed mention of Jesus in the “Testimonium Flavianum” (Antiquities 18.3.3 [Whiston]; 18.63).…

The Son-Sun pun strawman

Acharya S
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In his book Did Jesus Exist?, Bart Ehrman singles me out for especial berating, suggesting repeatedly that I am “making things up” and placing me in a category of mythicists whose writings constitute “sensationalist claims that are so extravagant, so wrongheaded, and so poorly substantiated that it is no wonder…

Archaeologists unearth ‘unparalleled’ pre-Christian temple in Norway

Acharya S
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A fascinating discovery is shedding light upon pre-Christian Scandinavian religion and early Christian inroads into Norway. In the Norwegian press, this highly important find is being called “unparalleled,” “first of its kind” and “unique,” said to have been “deliberately and carefully hidden” – from invading and destructive Christians. Located at…

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In my first published book, The Christ Conspiracy (1999), I provided an image from the birth cycle of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III (1386/1388-1349-51 BCE), found in the temple of the god Amun at Luxor, Egypt. Like many others before me, including professional Egyptologists, I contended for a possible influence…

Bible morality or depravity?

Barbara G. Walker
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(Following are biblical verses compiled by independent comparative religion scholar and Freethought Nation guestwriter Barbara G. Walker, concerning the supposed “morality” of the Bible. The paraphrases and commentary are Barbara’s, while the original verses are linked. For more of Barbara’s Bible investigations, see MAN MADE GOD, especially the section on…

God in the Box to be shown at ArcLight Cinema!

Acharya S
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UPDATE: We made it into the top five, so we’re in! Look for the showing on November 7-10 in Hollywood. Here’s the ArcLight channel on Youtube with the Film Festival playlist. ArcLight Cinema in Los Angeles is having a vote on films/ documentaries to show in its theaters. One of…

Acharya S
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Great news! The long-awaited documentary “God in the Box” is going to be screened at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana! See if you or someone you know can make it – you might just recognize a familiar face… “God in the Box” is a fascinating film made by…

Our Lord and Savior Quetzalcoatl born of a virgin and crucified!

Acharya S
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One of the gods I highlighted in my book The Christ Conspiracy, and even more so in my book Suns of God, is the Mesoamerican deity Kukulkan or Quetzalcoatl. In Christ Con, I included the fact that mainstream scholarship does not allow for contact between the “Old” and “New” Worlds,…

Is Jesus obsolete? Christians debate the need for a savior

Acharya S
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There has been much debate of late about whether the biblical Adam and Eve were “real people” or myths. A number of Christian scientists, for example, have conceded that DNA studies cast serious doubt on the biblical account of Adam and Eve, indicating that the story is indeed mythical. Obviously,…

‘Earth Clock’ measures hours, months, solstices and equinoxes

Acharya S
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This awesome modern gem emulates ancient astronomically aligned megalithic sites in measuring many important temporal and calendrical aspects, including the hours of the day and months of the years, as well as the cardinal points, solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarter days. While the stones may look simple, the calculations are complicated!…

Our Lord and Savior Ursus

Acharya S
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Readers familiar with my work in comparative religion will know that for years I have asserted that most of the germane characteristics of the Christ tale long predate the Christian era. In this regard, the following information regarding apparent Stone Age religion ranks among the most important I have yet…

Who Was Jesus? Revised edition!

Acharya S
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I’m delighted to announce that the new edition of my book Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ is now available! The revision includes a new cover and style changes to the book block, including a new font. I’ve also fixed the few typos and errors, as well as added…

New Orleans. We saw five of these buses heading down Esplanade in a row. Truck with announcement of the of

Is Jesus coming soon? Is the end near?

Acharya S
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UPDATE 2013: As we know, this event came and went without incident, except that several thousand people apparently sold or gave away all their belongings but were not raptured off the planet. Harold Camping, however, has gone since then to meet his Maker. RIP. UPDATE: Be sure to join us…

Did Washington and Jefferson believe Jesus was a myth?

Acharya S
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Okay – be prepared to have your socks knocked off! I hope you feel better, smarter and freer after reading this newest article of mine. It’s very long – I trimmed some fat, but I just couldn’t hold back all this juicy mental nutrition! Did Washington and Jefferson Believe Jesus…

The Gospel Dates | When Were the Gospels Written?

Acharya S
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What are the most accurate dates for the canonical gospels in the New Testament as we have them? Are these texts really the faithful accounts of eyewitnesses written shortly after Jesus’s advent? Or does the evidence point to the gospels as anonymous compositions dating to the late second century? The…

Isis as the Great Virgin in the Temple of Seti I

ISIS IS A VIRGIN MOTHER!!!

Acharya S
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This article is the second in a series that includes my essay, “HORUS IS A SUN GOD!!!” Here I provide the ancient testimony and primary sources for the contention that Isis, the mother of the Egyptian god Horus, was considered and deemed a virgin long before Jesus was a twinkle…

HORUS IS A SUN GOD!!!

Acharya S
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I wrote that title in all caps, because no matter how many times that fact is repeated, no matter how much evidence is proffered, the mistake, inaccuracy or downright lie is constantly being put forth that Horus was NOT a sun god. This blatant error is made not by professional…

ZEITGEIST Sourcebook: Part 1–The Greatest Story Ever Told

Acharya S
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Please support my work by passing this sourcebook around. This collaborative effort between Peter Joseph and D.M. Murdock/Acharya S presents 105 pages of primary sources and the works of credentialed authorities backing up the first part of the original “ZEITGEIST” film. Includes a bibliography with over 150 sources, nearly 350…

New reviews of ‘Man Made God’ by Barbara G. Walker

Acharya S
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Here is my latest missive sent out on my mailing list. Hi there! I hope you’re having a terrific summer. I wanted to share with you some great reviews of Barbara G. Walker’s new book Man Made God. As you may recall, I published this magnificent and enlightening work, editing…

A minister reviews ‘Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection’

Acharya S
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A courageous and reputable minister has come forth in order to share his profound and mind-bending experience with my book Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. While some may become perplexed by what he has to say, I hope you will join me in congratulating him for having the insight…

Preachers, priests quietly embrace the Christ myth

Acharya S
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I have decided to spill a few beans here – not all, but a few of the “mysteries” that have been created around my work and the Christ-myth field in general. Here’s a major secret – are you ready? As you can tell from the title of this article, the…

Dead Sea Scrolls prove the Bible unoriginal

Acharya S
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Over the years, news items have circulated about how “hints” and “insights” contained in the original texts among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in caves near the ancient site of Qumran can be found in the Bible. In other words, certain ideas in the scrolls also appear in the…

Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection

Archaeologist endorses ‘Christ in Egypt’

Acharya S
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I just got a wonderful endorsement for my book Christ in Egypt from a terrific and respected professor of archaeology, Dr. Ken Feder. Feder has written for Skeptic magazine as well as Skeptical Inquirer. Because of his book Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience In Archaeology – which has…

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http://youtu.be/7QG234o3LHA

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Criticisms In the inscription of the copy of her book to me, Barbara calls me “a great editor,” based on my work on her book Man Made God, which I published through Stellar House. Man Made God was a monumental work, replete with Walker’s fabulous writing, which I edited diligently,…

Acharya S
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Ugh. Someone put me on a “Creationism” group, so I started getting all this nonsensical dreck in my feed, like FAKE images of “giants” that “prove” the Bible to be true. First of all, any “giants” in antiquity would be little different than the tallest tribes or individuals of today.…

Acharya S
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A Egyptian papyrus fragment describing Jesus Christ as discussing his “wife” has been making the news globally of late. The idea of Jesus having a wife is many centuries old, having been circulated beginning in the late second or early third century and popularized in modern times by Dan Brown’s…

Acharya S
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Hi there! Just a reminder of my ebook/PDF special, in case you haven’t gotten a copy yet. If you have, thanks! I hope you are enjoying it. If not, don’t forget that I’ve included in this collection of nine (9) of my PDFs a brand-new article entitled: Was There a…

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We’ve all heard about the ‘End Times,’ as described in the last book of the New Testament, Revelation. We survived Y2K, Harold Camping’s May 21st Judgement Day and his October 21st End of the World but, with Dec 21st 2012 quickly approaching, we’re not out of the woods just yet.…

Acharya S
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Here is one of the funniest emails I have ever received – and, oddly enough, one of the most hopeful! I have removed the particulars, but you get the point. And if anyone wants to donate money so I can fulfill this person’s request, I’d greatly appreciate it. The message…

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Over the years, many people have brought us an endless supply of credentialism, which is an argument that essentially claims only those with PhDs are worth listening to. This credentialist fallacy is often used when the subject of Jesus mythicism is raised. I’ll start with a few quotes: “Few scholars…

Acharya S
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Scholars seek to correct ‘mistakes’ in Bible But the ongoing work of the academic detectives of the Bible Project, as their undertaking is known, shows that this text at the root of Judaism, Christianity and Islam was somewhat fluid for long periods of its history, and that its transmission through…

Acharya S
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In researching for the upcoming revision of my book The Christ Conspiracy, I have come across the following fascinating tidbits. I’m still working out all the details, but I had to share this much. Some of the information, such as the DNA studies, is confusing still. What linguistic and certain…

Acharya S
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Although some people will object to any religion being taught in public schools, and they would be correct if it were simply proselytizing rather than unattached study, I for one believe that human beings should be as educated as possible on all forms of religion, philosophy and mythology as can…

Acharya S
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An absolutely fascinating show about the pre-Columbian settlement and/or exploration of the Americas by peoples from several different parts of the “Old World,” from China to Ireland aired in June and October 2010 on the History Channel. The show was in two parts that explored the mysterious traditions and artifacts…

JH Chrestos
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Religion dooms itself to failure by the exclamation that a god has created the universe and all in it to be as it is understood at the time of the creation of that religion. They have locked themselves into a view that must eventually be exposed by the…

Acharya S
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In August 2010, the Dalai Lama made a somewhat astonishing statement that he could be replaced by a woman, although he did clarify that she “should be attractive.” Never mind the howls of feminists about that last bit, but in his remarks Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader did break with long-held…

Acharya S
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Here’s a short-but-sweet factual description of what the date December 21, 2012 truly represents, composed by noted archaeologist Dr. Ken Feder. In a nutshell, that date simply represents the end of a cycle or series of cycles called baktuns, as related by Feder in an article for the Chicago Tribune…

Acharya S
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We are harangued, harassed and cyberstalked relentlessly. Our personal information is exposed against our will on the internet, endangering us and our loved ones. We are ridiculed, slandered and libeled endlessly, with all manner of hate speech and evil epithets. We are ostracized and censored relentlessly [rp] in sustained campaigns…

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Hi folks, We proudly announce the new “Origins of Christianity” Portuguese Edition on Kindle this Easter weekend, so share and spread the word. Translated by our dear friend, Vinícius Cerva. We hope to translate more of Acharya’s books at some point. Special thanks to Robyn, Mr. Deley and Mr. Bruce…

Author D.M. Murdock/Acharya S is battling breast cancer and needs help

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If anyone would like to assist, please go to my GiveForward.org fundraising page: D.M. Murdock/Acharya S’s Breast Cancer Fundraiser Or, if you would like to donate otherwise via Paypal or credit card, please go here: Donate to the cause! Thank you! (The following is an article I wrote for my…