If you want to be a professional historian, there are two rigid requirements. You must be UNABLE to:
1) Think; and
2) Count.
To give one of many examples of Requirement 1, you must accept the idea that the people in Northern Europe did not know how to read and write before the Romans taught them to write.
There are, of course, many runic inscriptions on stone in Northern Europe, but historians agree that that is the only writing that was done in Northern Europe.
If you THOUGHT about it, it would seem a little strange that people could write highly complex statements on rock but nowhere else. Where did they LEARN to write? There are no Primers etched in Northern European stones.
Obviously only a true retard would accept that idea.
So much for Requirement 1.
As for Requirement 2, the entire theory on which Israel is based (on which the official Christian doctrine of the Diaspora is based) collapses instantly if you face the fact that there were six million Jews in the Roman Empire.
Nobody who can count can make a living as a historian or as a theologian.
Here is another reason why a person who can count cannot be a professional historian: anybody who has the slightest acquaintance with the American Revolution has heard every discussion of it breathlessly repeat Sam Adams’s numbers:
One in three Americans was for the Revolution, one in three was neutral, and one in three was a Tory.
There were thirteen colonies. If the average was that one in three was a Tory, then some states would have a solid majoirity of Tories and some would have more Revolutionaries.
But by 1776, every single one of the thirteen colonies had tossed out their Royal Governors. If Adams’s numbers had been correct, at least six of the thirteen would have kept their Royal Governors.
Then there is the simple fact that that split is far too convenient. Exactly a third for one side, exactly a third for the other side, and exactly a third neutral?
Don’t be ridiculous!
Unless you want to be a historian and get paid for it.
#1 by Chris on 11/12/2004 - 10:55 pm
From whom do you get your count of “six million Jews in the Roman Empire” in what time frame?
#2 by Bob Whitaker on 11/12/2004 - 11:47 pm
I got it on the Internet.
Ever heard of a search engine? Yahoo? Google?
You really should apply for a job as a professional historian.
#3 by Richard L. Hardison on 11/13/2004 - 12:26 am
After reading idiots like McPherson,Davis and Pitcavage, I agree with you Bob.
#4 by Chris on 11/13/2004 - 1:22 am
You are already the professor-professional holding down that job. I’d never qualify under your definitions.
#5 by Ralph Jones on 11/13/2004 - 6:43 am
The seven million Jews in the Roman Empire (it’s not ALWAYS six million) first became known to me in the Encylopedia Judaica, which would seem like an authorative source. You got that figure from me. Later I learned in the Times Literary Supplement that this figure, even though it appeared in the Encyclopedia Judaica is, in fact, extremely controversial. The author of the TLS article gave several reasons why, the best one being that there is no record of any mass killings. There were gas chambers in the Middle Ages, but I don’t know about any in the Roman Empire. I asked Kevin MacDonald about the *SEVEN* million, and he doubted it and also the general idea (which I got from Larry Brown’s The Might of the West and passed on to you) that the Jews were ever a proseletyzing religion. It would be best to stop repeated things you got from me as consensus opinions until you can get better confirmation. You, of all people, should not say something is true because you found it by googling.
You wouldn’t claim such truth status for the National Enquirer or the Thunderbolt. Also, Adams’ famous remark referred to the War of 1812. I’ve seen this correction many times. 1812 is, when you think about it, far more plausible than the Revolutionary War.
#6 by Don on 11/13/2004 - 10:04 am
This raises another question. To what extent do these people actually believe their own BS and to what extent are they con artists. Include the entire crew of social scientists, politicians, clergy, etc.
It helps if the consumers are gullible enough to fall for anything, or at least too lazy to want to verify the validity of the assertions made.
I tried my own little experiment with this recently. Here are the details.
The girl involved is 27, has a degree in the social sciences from a university, and could get into graduate school for additional degrees if she wished. She knows me reasonably well.
The subject of Halloween came up. To have a little fun, I professed ignorance about it. Mind you she knows that I have lived in modern society, have a fifteen year old son, have gone to schools, have a television set, and am not the village idiot.
So I asked this question. Does Halloween occur every year, or once every four years like leap year? I expected the others to just laugh and continue on with the conversation.
She took this as a serious question. Honest to God. And she started to set me straight.
Is this fertile ground for the academic fools or con men or whatever the hell they are? Gullibility is far more dangerous to the health of our people than flu.
Why Johnny Can’t Think is a flu shot for the mind.
#7 by Bob Whitaker on 11/13/2004 - 12:24 pm
Chris, please accept my apology for that stupid and inexcusable comment I made. You were asking for a reference and I took it as a challenge. I’ve been fighting too many people for too long.
There is no excuse, just an apology.
#8 by Horace on 11/13/2004 - 12:25 pm
If I am not mistaken, doesn’t Genesis 2:21 say: And on the sixth day God created 6 million Jews, each with nine lives. And he said to them: “Go and be persecuted, that you may never lack for propaganda against your enemies.” And the six million Jews said: “We will go and become victims nine times, after which comes Armageddon.”
Thus ended the sixth day.
#9 by Jimbo on 11/13/2004 - 12:39 pm
Your apology to Chris is very admirable, but there is no excuse for not providing an authoritative reference, since you’ve been challenged by several.
I don’t doubt that there was a quite large contingent of “Jews” outside Palestine, as the book of Acts shows the large number who returned for Pentecost. Also, the Septuigent was made for the large number of them in Alexandria and elsewhere who spoke only Greek.
The term “Jew” should be properly translated “Judean” which is akin to South Carolinian, as a reference to where one is from. The context in which the word is used in the NT is important as well. This poor translation by the KJV divines has allowed for much confusion.
#10 by Bob Whitaker on 11/13/2004 - 5:57 pm
Ralph, you say there were seven million and not six?
We need to check this out.
Send me their names.
#11 by Bob Whitaker on 11/13/2004 - 6:24 pm
Ralph, I got that figure from Google.
I read the Might of the West a dozen times myself. Did you know the writer? I only spoke to him once on the phone.
Many translations of the New Testament refer to “Jewish converts” fighting with the Apostles. I suspect they were removed from other translations for a reason.
You sound like you are saying there couldn’t have been seven million Jews in the Roman Empire because there is no record of mass killings.
Are you SURE you read the Might of the West? He said that those Jews became Christians.
You must be joking when you say those millions of Jews couldn’t have existed because there was no record of mass killings. I can’t tell, because people who desperately want all the Jews to have been in Israel really come up with nutty stuff, and they MEAN it.
A theologian with an earned Th.D. told me all the Greek Jews were Gnostics, not Jews, which is one terrific anachronism. And he MEANT it.
Read the article I just wrote about this. That is really all I have to offer on the subject. My opinions are nothing but my opinions.
#12 by Richard L. Hardison on 11/13/2004 - 11:07 pm
The term “Jew” originated during preRoman imperial times and meant “one who practices the religion of Judah.” It is not an ethnic or regional label like “South Carolininian,” but a religious label. In reality “Jews” do not exist today as it is impossible to practice the religion of Judah without the temple. Hebrews do exist, but not Jews.