Were Early Christians Really Persecuted? Historian Reveals the Surprising Truth.

[KittyWampus]

82. The Gross Stupidity Of Suggesting That Christians Were Not Persecuted Displays Such Ignorance

I fail to believe Moss is an actual professor with tenure or any academic standing of note.

Going back to the time referenced as "Jesus ben Joseph's" lifetime:

There were three sects to the Jewish religion:

Pharisees
Sadducees
Essenes

For CENTURIES the only sects acknowledged by the Church and history were the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Essenes were not mentioned or known about BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN ERADICATED ALONG WITH THEIR WRITINGS!

To suggest that the Essenes, who trained Jesus ben Joseph (or would have for those who dispute his existence) and were the basis for the mystical sect Jesus spoke to and embodied, were not persecuted is basically stupid. It's unwittingly carrying water for the Roman Catholic Church.

The mystical Christians who followed in Jesus ben Joseph's footsteps were wiped from the face of the earth as an organized group and their legacy lived on only in images and symbolism for those in the following centuries to find and explore in secret. The esoteric Christian Order that has existed since the beginning of this persecution was invisible and accessed by those who could look at signs and symbols and read between the lines to contact the Inner School. The esoteric brand of the Christian tradition began resurfacing as organized groups in the Victorian era. It wasn't until the 20 century that some fragments of the earliest mystical Christians managed to reappear from the caves where they were hidden from mass destruction.

In short, the early Christians who followed Jesus ben Joseph practiced a mystical brand of spirituality which was anathema to both the traditional exoteric Jewish sects AND the emerging "Pauline Church" which went out of its way to both make itself ingratiated to the Romans and simultaneously stamp out any and all traces of mysticism for the next 1500-1800 years.

Anyone who dared practice esoteric Christianity as espoused by the Christ, Jesus ben Joseph, was labeled a heretic for centuries. Even today, we are maligned by the rightwing fundies AND leftwing athiests.