A Curious Fact About the Relics of the Machabees
Relics of Machabees Venerated at Church of St Peter’s Chains For 1500 Years Were Dog Bones
While reading about the Machabees, I ran across the following in the Answers.com encyclopedia entry.
"The history of the supposed relics of the Machabees is obscure: it is not known either when or by whom they were brought to Rome, where they were housed in the church of St. Peter's Chains. Modin and Antioch, according to Jerome, also claimed their relics. In the 1930s it was discovered that the 7 bones at Rome believed to be theirs were in reality canine remains; so they were immediately withdrawn from the veneration of the faithful."
Link to cite on Answers.com
It seems to be the case that knowledge amongst devout Catholics includes assertions about Jerome's report of the transfer of the bones from Antioch to Rome.
"Before the reform of the General Roman Missal today was the feast of St. Peter's Chains. It celebrated the dedication of the basilica of St. Peter ad Vincula in Rome which was built in about 432 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome and consecrated on August 1. It was also the commemoration of the Holy Maccabees. The seven Machabees were brothers martyred with their mother under Antiochus Epiphanes in about the year 150 before Christ. There is an account of their wonderful death in the Old Testament. Their relics venerated at Antioch in the time of St. Jerome, were translated to Rome in the sixth century, to the church of St. Peter's Chains."
Link to Cite on catholicculture.org
If Jerome (347-420) can be trusted, then the dog bones were venerated by the faithful for approximately 1500 years before someone noticed they were dog bones. :)
If the Christian God does exist, then why did not the so called Holy Spirit see fit to inform some high ranking cleric that his flock was venerating dog bones instead of pre-Christian martyr bones? If there is an actual spiritual reality to Christianity, wouldn't the Christian God be keen on preventing snafus such as the Machabeeian-dog-bone mix up? Although this incident was corrected in the 1930's, still for 1500 years, many millions of deeply faith believing religious people were venerating dog bones. If a Holy Spirit exists and if it infuses and indwells the central emotional-intellectual core of the Christian Believer, then it would assuredly have acted in accordance with its alleged guiding purpose to have all humans come to Christian belief. To that end, it would, if it were to be a rational and reasoning being, act accordingly in harmony to that end by ensuring Christians hold a proper, correct, and uniform set of doctrines. By proper and correct, I mean doctrines that do not include absurdities like worshiping or venerating dog bones.
According to adherents.com reporting that the “World Christian Encyclopedia”, by David B. Barrett published by Oxford University Press informs the reader that: The 2001 edition, successor to his 1983 first edition, which took a decade to compile, identifies 10,000 distinct religions, of which 150 have 1 million or more followers. Within Christianity, he counts 33,830 denominations.
With so many Christian denominations and sects it seems unlikely that an actual set of doctrines can be identified as being the norm. Despite this and even if we were to presume that 99% of all these groups were self-deluded, there would remain in excess of 330 sects. Of those, the divergence of opinion is very likely profound. It seems intuitively obvious that it would be difficult to find a majority that share common kerygma, soteriology, Christology, and eschatology. This is not at all what is expected if there were to be an actual existing lattice structuring Christian Theology. The evident schizophrenic diversity of doctrinaire opinion within “Christianity”, nevertheless, constitutes just what is expected under naturalism and atheism. This is strong evidence that Christianity is false.
While reading about the Machabees, I ran across the following in the Answers.com encyclopedia entry.
"The history of the supposed relics of the Machabees is obscure: it is not known either when or by whom they were brought to Rome, where they were housed in the church of St. Peter's Chains. Modin and Antioch, according to Jerome, also claimed their relics. In the 1930s it was discovered that the 7 bones at Rome believed to be theirs were in reality canine remains; so they were immediately withdrawn from the veneration of the faithful."
Link to cite on Answers.com
It seems to be the case that knowledge amongst devout Catholics includes assertions about Jerome's report of the transfer of the bones from Antioch to Rome.
"Before the reform of the General Roman Missal today was the feast of St. Peter's Chains. It celebrated the dedication of the basilica of St. Peter ad Vincula in Rome which was built in about 432 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome and consecrated on August 1. It was also the commemoration of the Holy Maccabees. The seven Machabees were brothers martyred with their mother under Antiochus Epiphanes in about the year 150 before Christ. There is an account of their wonderful death in the Old Testament. Their relics venerated at Antioch in the time of St. Jerome, were translated to Rome in the sixth century, to the church of St. Peter's Chains."
Link to Cite on catholicculture.org
If Jerome (347-420) can be trusted, then the dog bones were venerated by the faithful for approximately 1500 years before someone noticed they were dog bones. :)
If the Christian God does exist, then why did not the so called Holy Spirit see fit to inform some high ranking cleric that his flock was venerating dog bones instead of pre-Christian martyr bones? If there is an actual spiritual reality to Christianity, wouldn't the Christian God be keen on preventing snafus such as the Machabeeian-dog-bone mix up? Although this incident was corrected in the 1930's, still for 1500 years, many millions of deeply faith believing religious people were venerating dog bones. If a Holy Spirit exists and if it infuses and indwells the central emotional-intellectual core of the Christian Believer, then it would assuredly have acted in accordance with its alleged guiding purpose to have all humans come to Christian belief. To that end, it would, if it were to be a rational and reasoning being, act accordingly in harmony to that end by ensuring Christians hold a proper, correct, and uniform set of doctrines. By proper and correct, I mean doctrines that do not include absurdities like worshiping or venerating dog bones.
According to adherents.com reporting that the “World Christian Encyclopedia”, by David B. Barrett published by Oxford University Press informs the reader that: The 2001 edition, successor to his 1983 first edition, which took a decade to compile, identifies 10,000 distinct religions, of which 150 have 1 million or more followers. Within Christianity, he counts 33,830 denominations.
With so many Christian denominations and sects it seems unlikely that an actual set of doctrines can be identified as being the norm. Despite this and even if we were to presume that 99% of all these groups were self-deluded, there would remain in excess of 330 sects. Of those, the divergence of opinion is very likely profound. It seems intuitively obvious that it would be difficult to find a majority that share common kerygma, soteriology, Christology, and eschatology. This is not at all what is expected if there were to be an actual existing lattice structuring Christian Theology. The evident schizophrenic diversity of doctrinaire opinion within “Christianity”, nevertheless, constitutes just what is expected under naturalism and atheism. This is strong evidence that Christianity is false.
5 comments:
The splintering of Christianity is certainly proof that the holy spirit is either just messing with Christians or he just doesn't exist. ;)
Hello mike: Its a good thing that Christianity is so obviously bogus, for otherwise, there would be no chance at all to convince the vast numbers of deeply deluded believers that they are following after lies.
This demonstrates just how carefully Christians have traditionally examined the claims of their religion, and the depth of the fraud which has continually been perpetrated against the faithful by their ecclesiastical overlords.
Surely the most disturbing thing is not the circus and theatrics (relics in general) but the story (http://www.conorpdowling.com/46/the-holy-maccabees) as an guide to living with God. One reading has fear-filled followers, scalped to placate their easily offended god.
Surely the most disturbing thing is not the theatrics of relics but the story (http://www.conorpdowling.com/46/the-holy-maccabees) as an guide to living with God. The obvious reading has fear-filled followers being scalped to placate their easily offended god. And yet for the fourth century, the Maccabee martyrs were role models.
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