Celsus On The True Doctrine, 178CE

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ADNAN
Farrel, you sent it to the wrong list.

_________

TILL
The following was posted on Adnan's list, and I am forwarding it to this one
to show Terry that fundamental claims of Christianity were contested in the
early years of Christianity.
***************************

CELSUS (178ECE) Wrote"On the True Doctrine," known primarily from the
polemical book, "Contra Celsum," written by Origen of Alexandria in response
the Celsus's questions. Celsus' books, along with those of Porphry and
others, were condemned by order of Valentinian III and Theodosious in 448CE.

The following quotes are taken from Celsus On the True Doctrine, translated
by R. Joseph Hoffman, Oxford University Press, 1987:


SCRIPTURAL REDACTION

"It is clear to me that the writings of the christians are a lie, and that
your fables are not well-enough constructed to conceal this monstrous
fiction: I have heard that some of your interpreters...are on to the
inconsistencies and, pen in hand, alter the originals writings, three, four
and several more times over in order to be able to deny the contradictions
in the face of criticism." (37).

"There is nothing new or impressive about their ethical teaching; indeed,
when one compares it to other philosophies, their simplemindedness becomes
apparent." (53).

"One ought first to follow reason as a guide before accepting any belief,
since anyone who believes without testing a doctrine is certain to be
deceived" (54).


VIRGIN BIRTH



"Let us imagine what a Jew- let alone a philosopher- might say to Jesus: 'Is
it not true, good sir, that you fabricated the story of your birth from a
virgin to quiet rumourss about the true and insavoury circumstances of your
origins? Is it not the case that far from being born in the royal David's
city of bethlehem, you were born in a poor country town, and of a woman who
earned her living by spinning? Is it not the case that when her deceit was
uncovered, to wit, that she was pregnant by a roman soldier called Panthera
she was driven away by her husband- the carpenter- and convicted of
adultery?" (57).

"I could continue along these lines, suggesting a good deal about the
affairs of Jesus' life that does not appear in your own records. Indeed,
what I know to be the case and what the disciples tell are two very
different stories... [for example] the nonsensical idea that Jesus foresaw
everything that was to happen to him (an obvious attempt to conceal the
humiliating facts)." (62).

"The men who fabricated this genealogy [of Jesus] were insistent on the
point that Jesus was descended from the first man and from the king of the
Jews [David]. The poor carpenter's wife seems not to have known she had such
a distinguished bunch of ancestors." (64).

"What an absurdity! Clearly the christians have used the myths of Danae and
the Melanippe, or of the Auge and the Antiope in fabricating the story of
Jesus' virgin birth." (57).

"After all, the old myths of the greeks that attribute a divine birth to
Perseus, Amphion, Aeacus and Minos are equally good evidence of their
wondrous works on behalf of mankind- and are certainly no less lacking in
plausibility than the stories of your followers." (59).


PROPHECY


"Now perhaps you will argue that we have the words of the holy prophets-
that they bore witness concerning you. With due respect, I must ask why you
are to be taken as the subject of these prophecies rather than the thousands
of others who lived after the prophecy was uttered? What can be applied to
you can surely be applied to others." (58).

"...they take as their defense the notion that the prophets of the jews
foretold their christian god. But this is a very old ploy... anyone can
prove anything from so-called prophecy." (106).

Speaking of prophets in his own time, Celsus says: "These habitually claim
to be more than prophets, and say such things as 'I am god,' or 'I am a
son of god,' or even 'I am the holy spirit,' and 'I have come to bring life
for the world is coming to an end as I speak. And the wicked will perish in
the fire for their sins. I shall save you; you will yet see me, for I am
coming again armed with the heavenly powers. So blessed is he that worships
me now. Those who refuse, whole cities and nations, will be cast into the
fiery pit... Those who hear and believe in me will be saved (from the fire.'
This sort of thing is heard all over Judea by these most trivial of
prophets." (107).

"You are fond of saying that in the old days this same most high god made
these and greater promises to those who gave heed to his commandments and
worshipped him. But at the risk of appearing unkind, I ask how much good has
been done by those promises have done either the Jews before you or you in
your present circumstances. And would you have us put out faith in such a
god? Instead of being masters of the whole world, the jews today have no
home of any kind." (125).

"...now with a view to the prophets who, so say the christians, foretold
the story of Jesus beforehand: 'These same prophecies could easily be
applied to a thousand others besides Jesus, for our prophets say that the
one who is to come will be a great prince... the leader of nations and
armies." (64).

"Certainly the christians are not alone in claiming inspiration for the
utterances they ascribe to their god through their prophets. I need hardly
mention every case of prophecy that is said to have occurred among our own
people-- prophets and prophetesses as well... claiming the power of oracular
and inspired utterance." (120).

"In all of these beliefs you have been deceived; yet you persist doggedly to
seek justification for the absurdities you have made doctrines." (65).


"Let's assume for a minute that he foretold his resurrection. Are you
ignorant of the multitudes who have invented similar tales to lead simple
minded hearers astray? It is said that Zamolxis, Pythagoras' servant,
convinced the Scythians that he had risen from the dead... and what about
Pythagoras himself in Italy! -or Rhampssinitus in Egypt. The last of these,
by the way, is said to have played dice with Demeter in Hades and to have
received a golden napkin as a present from her. Now then, who else: What
about Orpheus among the Odrysians, Protesiaus in Thessaly and above all
Heracles and Theseus." (67).


THE END OF THE WORLD


"They [christians] postulate, for example, that their messiah will return as
a conqueror on the clouds, and that he will rain fire upon the earth in his
battle with the princes of the air, and that the whole world, with the
exception of believing christians, will be consumed in fire. An interesting
idea--and hardly an original one. The idea came from greeks and others--
namely, that after cycles of years and because of fortuitous conjunctions of
certain stars there are conflagrations and floods, and that after the last
flood, in the times of Deucalion, the cycle demands a conflagration in
accordance with the alternating succession...This is responsible for the
silly opinion of some christians that god will come down and rain fire upon
the earth." (77).

"It is equally silly of these christians to suppose that when their god
applies the fire (like a common cook!) all the rest of mankind will be
thoroughly scorched, and that they alone will escape unscorched-- not just
those alive at the time, mind you, but (they say) those long since dead will
rise up from the earth possessing the same bodies as they did before. I ask
you: Is this not the hope of worms? For what sort of human soul is it that
has any use for a rotted corpse of a body? ...it is nothing less than
nauseating and impossible."(86).

"In truth there is nothing at all unusual about what the christians believe,
except that they believe it to the exclusion of more comprehensive truths
about god. They believe in eternal punishment; well, so do the priests and
initiates of the various religions. The christian threaten others with this
punishment, just as they are themselves threatened." (121).

"God does not inflict correction on the world as if he were some unskilled
laborer who is incapable of building something properly the first time
around; God has no need to purify what he has built by means of a flood or a
conflagration (as they teach)." (82).

"So too their fantastic story-- which they take from the Jews-- concerning
the flood and the building of an enormous ark, and the business about the
message being brought back to the survivors of the flood by a dove (or was
it an old crow?). This is nothing more than a debased and nonsensical
version of the myth of Deucalion, a fact I am sure they would not want to
come light." (80).


UNORIGINALITY IN CHRISTIAN WRITINGS


"Many of the ideas of the christians have been expressed better-- and
earlier-- by the greeks, who were however modest enough to refrain from
saying that their ideas came from a god or a son of god. The ancients in
their wisdom revealed certain truths to those able to understand: Plato, son
of Ariston, points to the truth about the highest good when he says that it
cannot be expressed in words, but rather comes from familiarity-- like a
flash from the blue, imprinting itself upon the soul... But Plato, having
said this, does not go on to record some myth to make his point (as do so
many others), nor does he silence the inquirer who questions some of the
truths he professes; Plato does not ask people to stop questioning, or to
accept that god id like such and such...Rather, he tells us where his
doctrines come from; there is, in short, a history to what he says, and he
is happy to point to the sources of his knowledge, instead of asking us to
believe that he speaks on his own authority..." (92-93).


"Not only do they misunderstand the words of the philosophers; they even
stoop to assigning words of the philosophers to their Jesus. For example, we
are told that Jesus judged the rich with the saying 'It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of god.' Yet we know that Plato expressed this very idea in a purer
form when he said, 'It is impossible for an exceptionally good man to be
exceptionally rich.'* Is one utterance more inspired than the other?" (94).

[*Plato, LAWS, 743A]

"You christians have a saying that goes something like this: 'Don't resist a
man who insults you; even if he strikes you, offer your other cheek as
well.' This is nothing new, and its been better said by others, especially
by Plato, who ascribes the following to Socrates in the Crito...'ts never
right to do wrong and never right to take revenge; nor is it right to give
evil for evil, or in the case of one who has suffered some injury, to
attempt to get even...'" (113).

"Christians, needless to say, utterly detest one another; they slander each
other constantly with the vilest forms of abuse, and cannot come to any sort
of agreement in their teaching. Each sect brands its own, fills the head of
its own with deceitful nonsense...". (91).

"What do the christians say? They say, "First believe that the person who
tells us these things is god's son... Now if these believers confess Jesus
and others confess someone else, and if they all together have the slogan
"Believe and be saved, or damn you," what is to happen to those who really
do want to be saved? I mean, which path are they to follow, since advice of
the same sort comes from all quarters? Are the ones who crave salvation to
throw dice in order to find out where they should turn?" (93).

As for satan being cast down to earth, "Homer writes as follows of the words
spoken by Hephaestus to Hera: 'Once when I was ready to defend you, he took
my by the foot and cast me down from the heavenly places.' Zeus speaks to
Hera as follows, 'Do you remember when you were hanging on high, when I
attached anvils to his legs and cast unbroken chains of gold about your
arms? You were hanging high in the ether of clouds. Then the gods
struck...but I, seizing him, pitched him from the threshold of heaven, and
he fell helplessly to earth.'" (100).


ON THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

"But if these [Eden, Adam and Eve] are Truly creator's works, can it be that
god should make what is evil? How can he repent when they become ungrateful
or wicked? How can he find fault with his own handiwork, or threaten to
destroy his own offspring? Where is he to banish them, out of the world that
he himself has made?" (102)

"I mean, if it is accepted that all of nature-- everything in the world--
operates according to the will of god and that nothing works contrary to his
purposes, then it must be also be accepted that the angels, the demons,
heroes-- everything in the universe-- are subject to the rule of the great
god who rules over all." (115).






Farrell Till
Skepticism, Inc.
jftill@midwest.net

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