Zone1 Pontius Pilate: An Enigmatic Figure

[ding]

Jesus didn't create Christianity, it evolved over time, guided by his believers.

What do the gospels say Jesus told his disciples to do and what did his disciples do? Or are you going to say they revised that history too? Because it seems your entire argument is that everything was revised after the fact. Unfortunately for you the empty tomb, the behaviors and actions of the apostles immediately following the resurrection, Paul's letters and the Babylonian Talmud independently verify the accounts as they are.

 

[JoeB131]

For those who are familiar: what do you make of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Prefect who eventually gave Jesus over to be crucified?

To be clear, Pilate gave in to the pressure of the temple leaders and crowds rather than judge correctly, and that's a failing. But beyond that, I always feel a little niggle of sympathy for him. Several times he protested the death sentence. He seemed truly perplexed by the urgency of the priests. And he was Roman: he certainly did not have much knowledge of the prophesied Messiah. IOW, we can't have expected him to recognize all the ways Jesus fulfilled them, as priests and scribes should.

On a birds-eye level: I never blame anyone for Jesus' death past my own sins, for which He died. But looking at the story from a human standpoint--Pilate seems the least culpable. What are your thoughts?

The problem is you are taking the Gospel Account at face value.

The non-Christian Sources we have on Pilate indicate he was quite ruthless to the point where Tiberius had to sack him from his position for alienating the Jews to the point of revolt. Tiberius. A generally awful human being who murdered hundreds of his political opponents and even members of his own family!

Even he was saying, "Whoa, man, that's a bit too harsh. you're done!"

So why did the Gospel Writers give him a more sympathetic treatment?

Because by the time the Gospels were written, Christianity had become a separate religion from Judaism rather than just another sect of it. So an account where the Romans are the good guys but the Jews are the bad guys did fit a political agenda.

And it worked. Christianity eventually became Rome's official religion.

Ah, if only that spear hadn't hit Julian the Apostate!

 

[JoeB131]

What do the gospels say Jesus told his disciples to do and what did his disciples do? Or are you going to say they revised that history too? Because it seems your entire argument is that everything was revised after the fact. Unfortunately for you the empty tomb, the behaviors and actions of the apostles immediately following the resurrection, Paul's letters and the Babylonian Talmud independently verify the accounts as they are.

The Gospels were written by people who never met Jesus personally.

All your "proof" was written decades after the fact.