Was Jesus Christ a Real Person in History?

Was Jesus Christ a real person in history, or was he a myth? Did the Jesus described in the New Testament of the Holy Bible really exist or was he a creative invention, a legend that developed over the years out of fiction and fable?

What The Real Historians And Scholars Say

 

What do experts on the matter of whether or not Jesus was a historical real life person say? Does professional non-Christian research, archaeology and scholarship agree that Jesus Christ really existed? 

“Most modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed,”  (Wikipedia: Historicity of Jesus)

“In a 2011 review of the state of modern scholarship, Bart Ehrman (a secular agnostic) wrote: "He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees" B. Ehrman, 2011 Forged : writing in the name of God ISBN 978-0-06-207863-6. page 285”

“Michael Grant (a classicist) states that "In recent years, 'no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non historicity of Jesus' or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary." in Jesus by Michael Grant 2004 ISBN 1898799881 page 200”

“Richard A. Burridge states: "There are those who argue that Jesus is a figment of the Church’s imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that any more." in Jesus Now and Then by Richard A. Burridge and Graham Gould (Apr 1, 2004) ISBN 0802809774 page 34”

“The Gospels and Jesus by Graham Stanton, 1989 ISBN 0192132415 Oxford University Press, page 145 states : "Today nearly all historians, whether Christians or not, accept that Jesus existed".”

The truth is that anyone who has any sort of professional credentials in the study of history and scholarship concerning the time of Jesus agrees that Jesus Christ absolutely existed. There is great debate over exactly what he did and said, but even atheists who have studied the history admit that the man described in the Bible’s New Testament really lived.

The historical evidence, even if you completely exclude the Bible and ancient (early) Christian writings, says that Jesus was a real man from Galilee, widely known as a teacher and healer, and that he was executed on a cross by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish religious leaders on account of heresy, because he claimed to be God. All this happened in the early part of the first century AD and was the cause of Christianity’s birth and rapid spread.

Evidence From Non-Christian Sources

There are records and writings from Roman officials, from Jews, from historians at the time, tons of writing from Christians, and even writing from people who hated and attacked the rising tide of Christianity. Even those people who wanted to kill all Christians admitted and believed that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person for which this new belief system, Christianity, was based. They did not, and could not deny the reality of Jesus Christ.

Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian from the time of Jesus, mentioned him a few times in his historical work “Antiquities of The Jews”. It was written around 93-94 AD, less than a hundred years after Jesus’s death on the cross (around 30-35 AD), and the same time period as all of the Bible’s New Testament writings (the gospels, etc.).

Tacitus was a Roman historian and senator who wrote “Annals” around 116 AD and mentioned Jesus Christ as a real historical person in reference to both the Jews and the hugely expanding Christian presence throughout the Roman Empire. He hated and despised this “new religion”, but even he says Jesus was a real man from Judea who the Romans executed on a cross. Tacitus’ writing also agrees with a number of other things mentioned in the gospels, such as the fact that Pontius Pilate was the overseer of Judea at the time of Christ’s execution and officiated over it.

Josephus and Tacitus are the most obvious non-Christian sources of direct reference to the real life and death of Jesus, but many other references exist from that direct time period as well. Many references to Christ exist in quick passing as having been the originator and basis for Christianity, with Christ’s own disciples (the men who walked with and lived with Jesus for the five years of his ministry) being the founding fathers of the Christian church as a whole. All of these men, who were firsthand witnesses to Christ’s life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection went out into the world spreading the gospel mere days after Christ’s death and resurrection, and ALL of them were killed for doing so. These men believed the reality of what they preached so strongly that they gladly faced death for the personal witness and testimony of Jesus. Some of them were even bringing jailors and fellow prisoners in jail to Christ days before being executed for preaching and spreading an “illegal” religion.

The Bible And Christian Sources

The four gospels of the Bible’s New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are firsthand accounts of the life of Jesus Christ, and have been shown to be incredibly accurate in almost every historical detail (even to the names and positions of officials like Pontius Pilate and religious leaders of the Jews at the time). These gospels, as well as tons of other pieces of writing concerning Jesus and Christianity all existed within a hundred years or less of Jesus’ life. No other historical figure in ancient history has as much written about him so soon after his life and death as Jesus. None! Yet we consider tons of historical figures to be authentic and real based on writings and references many hundreds of years removed from their origins, or based on a single fragment of writing or archaeology. The testimony of Jesus’ life and death overwhelms all other ancient historical figures in the proof of his existence, both in the miniscule time difference between the writings and life of Christ, and in the number of references to his historical life. Nothing else comes anywhere close! There was so much written about Jesus and so many references and quotes from the gospels and New Testament letters within the first few centuries after Christ’s life and death, that you could reconstruct most of the New Testament based on quotations alone.

Josh McDowell is a Christian writer who was originally an atheist who went on a research quest during his university days to challenge and destroy the historical argument for Christ’s existence. He dug into the history of Christ and the church and found himself unable to deny its reality and authenticity. He ended up becoming a Christian based in part on the irrefutable historical evidence he found. Before his research, he’d assumed that the whole story of Jesus was a myth with little or no proof to back it up, and that most Christians were complete idiots for having been so completely hoodwinked by “fake religion”. When Christians at university challenged him to really look for himself, his life was changed forever.

In his book, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” (1979), McDowell describes the incredible plethora of ancient manuscript copies of the New Testament and how nothing else comes anywhere close to comparing.

“There are now more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions [of the Biblical writings] and we have more than 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today. No other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers and attestation. In comparison, the Iliad by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still survive.” 

(To get the latest print of Josh McDowell’s book about the evidences for Jesus Christ, check out his more recently updated version, “New Evidence That Demands A Verdict”)

Another great source of information on the historical evidence for Jesus comes from another former atheist (Lee Strobel), a journalist who took on the challenge of studying the historical evidence for Christ and came away from it shocked and transformed. He too became a Christian upon researching this subject. Check out his two books about Jesus, “Case ForThe Real Jesus”, and “Case For Christ”.

If you want even more detail about this subject and the specific references and quotes mentioned in this short write up, check out “Apologetics Press – The Historical Christ: Fiction or Fact?”. 

 Jesus Was Real!

It is absolutely impossible to deny that Jesus Christ was a real man in history. What exactly he did and said, and whether or not he really was the Messiah and Son of God is another (though obviously very important) matter entirely. However as a real man in history, Jesus Christ is one of the most attested to historical figures of the ancient times. No one else comes anywhere close, yet this doesn’t stop us from believing those countless other important famous people of ancient history actually existed. Specific Kings, Queens, religious leaders, army commanders, and so many other people significant and insignificant from ancient history are all accepted as fact, and yet none of them compare to the hard factual proof and evidence (in number of different sources and the minimal time period between the sources and the man) that exists for the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus stands high above the rest.

The reason Jesus Christ gets ignored and denied by some people, is the fact that they either have no clue about the evidence, or they have a heavily biased agenda against Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity. In truth, the denial of Christ’s existence says far more about the mindset and attitudes of the deniers than it does about whether or not Christ really lived. These people need to take a step back and ask themselves why they, despite the overwhelming evidence, so badly want to reject Christ’s existence. It’s not based on proof or truth. So what is it based on?

Egypt A Complete Disaster

I've been following the news coming out of Egypt on my blog ever since Mubarak was thrown out of power 2 years during the Arab Spring. I expected, as many conservative writers did, that Egypt would be taken over by hardlined religious Muslims and that Egypt would become like Iran where freedom is practically non-existent. News out of Egypt continues to be on that same troubling path.


World Net Daily (Feb 7, 2013):  'Insulting Quran' Charges Snares 2 More Children

An Egyptian court is forcing two Coptic Christian boys, ages 10 and 9, to stand trial for “insulting the Quran,”

The two boys will stand trial in Beni Suef, the same town where a woman and her seven children were convicted and sentenced in December to 15 years for converting to Christianity.

In Egypt, children are now going to jail for insulting Islam or for converting to Christianity.


Telegraph (Feb 2, 2013):  Cairo Horrified By Pictures Showing Police Beating Naked Man

Television pictures showing a middle-aged man lying stripped naked and being beaten by police before being hurled into their van rocked Egypt yesterday, the latest gruesome twist in the country's descent into public disorder.

Stories of police brutality against protestors and people disagreeing with Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood are all over the place. Rapes, beatings, threats against family. There's no low that the government doesn't seem willing to stoop to in order to try and silence opposition to its rule.


Telegraph (Feb 5, 2013):  Ahmadinejad Visits Egypt, Signaling Realignment

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s historic three-day trip to Egypt, the first in three decades by an Iranian leader, started pleasantly enough on Tuesday. 

Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi, greeted Mr. Ahmadinejad with a broad smile during a red-carpet ceremony at a Cairo airport. The two talked about the crisis in Syria and how to improve the relationship between their own countries, which has been in a deep freeze since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

For the first time in three decades, Iran's leader has visited Egypt and been welcomed by Egypt's government. Iran is the terrorist capital of the Middle East and one of the worst countries when it comes to repressing its people and freedom. The fact that Egypt is now buddying up with Iran is not at all a surprise.


Reuters  (Feb 17, 2013):  Alcohol Sale To Be Banned In Egypt's New Suburbs

Two years after the Egyptian revolution that ousted an authoritarian regime, liberals are increasingly concerned that the ruling Islamists are out to curb personal freedoms and build a society in their own image.

Alcohol, prohibited by most Islamic scholars, is one area where the new authorities are introducing controversial change.

Nabil Abbas, the vice president of the New Urban Communities Authorities (NUCA), told Reuters on Sunday that the government would no longer issue licences for the sale of alcohol in new residential settlements on the outskirts of Cairo, Alexandria and other big cities.

Egyptians opposed to the country's Islamist leaders condemned the move as an infringement on personal freedoms.

Freedoms that most people in the world take for granted are being blocked and made illegal in Egypt under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Alcohol is just one prime example. The government is out of control, taking over and dominating the country in every way it can, making hardlined Islam the only law. Christian families that have lived in Egypt since Bible times are fleeing for their lives. The economy, which was heavily dependent on tourism, has taken a dive because people are no longer visiting Egypt out of fear.

This result in Egypt should make us all seriously wonder about how truthful and/or accurate the mainstream media actually is, because they saw the Arab Spring as being a wonderful revolution of freedom, democracy and civil rights. Instead it's turning Egypt into Iran, like the non-mainstream media knew it would. So if CNN and the BBC got this so horribly wrong. What else are their so called experts getting wrong in the news they report?...

Draconian DRM And DLC Strip Mining Modern Games

DRM (Digital Rights Management) and DLC (Downloadable Content) are two systems used in computer and console gaming that are quickly being overrun by corporate greed and destroying the rights of paying customers (gamers).

DRM (Digital Rights Management) makes buyers of software (computer games, programs, etc.) jump through hoops in order to use the product they purchased and restricts freedom in the name of reducing piracy and increasing sales. DRM has never successfully stopped a game from being pirated. Hackers are very smart and very quickly come up with clever ways to remove DRM. Meanwhile, the paying customers are stuck handcuffed by the DRM making their game experience at the very least annoying and at worst completely impossible.

DLC (Downloadable Content) is extra content (levels, weapons, armour, costumes, maps, buildings, characters, quests, etc.) that a player can buy on top of buying the original game in order to add extra bits and pieces to the experience. Extra content can be a win/win for both the company that made the game as well as the customers. The company can create extra content and sell it for a couple dollars a month or more after the game has come out, extending a game's longevity and adding more content to expand a player's experience. The player gets more content and the game company makes more money.


DRM Death Squad

The most popular form of DRM these days (when it comes to games) is locking each copy of a game to a single user so that the game can never be traded, sold, given away, or even installed on additional hardware (more than one computer). This is done by requiring the customer to register an online account with the company that made the game (or the online store that the company goes through). Unless the customer registers online (giving a user name, a password, and an active authenticated email address [at the very least]), the game either will not install or will not play. Once the account is activated, the game must then be able to regularly contact that game company's servers to authenticate itself (prove that you are the proper legal owner of the game) every time you start the game and even while you're busy playing the game. If at any point the communication fails (your internet goes down or the company's servers go down), your game automatically stops working and kicks you out.

I have purchased a few games over the years with DRM that frustratingly handicapped the game I bought. In one case, the game stuttered and skipped so bad that it was almost unplayable. I figured out that it was because the game was constantly verifying itself online, even though the game was single player. I got so annoyed and fed up with the awful performance that I finally just downloaded a pirated version of the game so I could play it. It worked perfectly. Another game I bought was constantly locking up and freezing on me. It did this exactly 10 minutes in every single time. Turns out, it was trying to "phone home" to the game publisher to verify that I was the rightful owner. It was failing because I had turned my internet off temporarily (which I often do when playing single player games). Another game I bought wouldn't even install. The game was 3 years old, and though it was a single player game, the game required me to register online and keep an open internet connection. Problem was, the company had disbanded since then and it was impossible to register with them because the company no longer existed. The game I paid for, was 100% useless.

Imagine this kind of system on anything else you purchase. Your DVD player has to be online and every 10 minutes it must verify that you are the rightful owner of each and every DVD you play. Or you have to register your email address, user name and password in order to start using that brand new toilet, car, stereo system, or lightbulb. Or each and ever time you start up your car, it must first authenticate itself and all of its parts online with the manufacturers before you can drive anywhere.

The whole point of all this is to handcuff and lock paying customers directly to the company that created and published the game. If anything goes wrong anywhere in the process for whatever reason, the game you paid for simply stops working and you're out of luck. There is no freedom to simply play what you bought. You are tied down and hobbled by draconian DRM. You have effectively given up your rights as a paying customer. You purchased the game, but only get to play that game so long as the company who made it allows you to do so.


DLC Strip Mining

DLC (Downloadable Content) "strip mining" is basically cutting features and chunks from a game in order to sell it later as "extra content" for more money. This can be levels, maps, characters, equipment, game play features, quests, costumes, and all kinds of other content that has been intentionally excluded from the game in order to make customers buy it on top of the game's full price tag. There are some absolutely horrendous examples of this going on lately. Some of the worst is when the content already exists on the DVD of the game that you bought, but you can't access that content without paying extra to have it unlocked. That's right. You bought the game, and this content is already on the disc, but you can't use it unless you pay more. Capcom is notorious for this. Another example of horrible DLC is when your game gives you a quest or mission, but then you can't play that quest or mission because it was cut from the game and requires you to pay extra for it.

One last example comes from Diablo 3. The game has an online auction house where you have to pay real world money to buy and sell digital items in the game (weapons, armour, etc.). Blizzard, the company that made the game, will automatically take a percentage cut of the money for each and every transaction. But what's REALLY bad about this is that players have realized that the whole last section of the game is impossible to play without buying high powered items from the auction house. So you cannot play and beat the full game without spending more real world money at the auction house. The monsters are intentionally made too powerful for you to defeat unless you pay for better gear.


Example In The Extreme:  New SimCity

The new SimCity game (due out this year, 2013) is a prime example of BOTH these systems ramped up to their full powerful maximums.

It has come to light that the game will not only require a constant internet connection, but that your saved games are actually run and stored on the servers of Electronic Arts (the company that is publishing the game). So if you lose your connection to their online servers for some reason, you lose your progress on the game. When customers heard about this a number of them were rightfully outraged, saying things like, "Hey, Electronic Arts! Our own computers have a wonderful little device called a hard drive that's absolutely perfect for storing saved games on and it requires no internet connection at all to work." Games have been able to save to your system/hardware since before the 1980s, but because of EA's super powered DRM, the new SimCity will not allow that.

And how about DLC? Turns out, the new SimCity game is "nickle and dime-ing" tons of content that used to be included in previous SimCity games. For example, the land space for your cities in the new game is severely limited, only equivalent to a few city blocks. Previous SimCity games, even as far back as the 1990s, let you build huge sprawling cities. No more. Why? Because EA (Electronic Arts) wants to sell you that extra land space as DLC. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. There are tons of features that used to be included in SimCity games that have been cut and made DLC so players have to pay extra for them.

This is corporate greed and power tripping in the extreme! I've been a fan of the SimCity games since the 1990s, but what I'm learning about the new SimCity is infuriating me and I will NOT be buying it.

Game Piracy Saves A Failed Game

Pirates aren't so bad after all. ;-)

A funny thing happened when a tiny little puzzle game called Gerblins got pirated online. Non-pirated downloads of the game shot up!

The little game, upon release, was a catastrophe. Absolutely no one bought it. Then, after months of no sales at all, the game suddenly out of the blue began getting downloads. What happened? The game got pirated and uploaded to Torrent websites. People started downloading it and playing it for free. The people who made the game saw this and thought, "Well, at least SOMEONE is playing our game," and decided to not make a fuss about it. Within no time at all, the game went from no one downloading it at official market websites to thousands of people downloading it at official online stores.

What happened? Market awareness and user experience. People played it, liked it, told their friends about it, and began downloading it from the official marketplaces. People discovered that it was actually pretty fun, all thanks to it being pirated online. Pirating literally saved their dead game, all because it expanded the availability of that game and opened the doors to more players.

Gamasutra:  How Piracy Saved Our Dying Mobile Game

No Used Games For New Consoles = Sales Suicide

It is coming to light that Microsoft and Sony's new game consoles (probably coming out by the end of this year, 2013) may no longer play used games. All games will be locked to one system and one online user account.


The "Evil Used Games Market"

The console game industry in the past 2 years has shrunk dramatically. People are just not buying many games anymore. They're spending their money on the rare few that really interest them and not bothering with the rest. Because of this, tons of game companies have had to close up shop in the last 2 years because no one bought their game that they spent millions of dollars making.

Here's an idea... Make a good unique game! Not the hundredth rip off of Call of Duty! Make a game that people really want and that's worth the price of admission ($60), and people will buy it.

Game publishing companies have been working over time pumping the idea that what's killing them is the re-sale market where people buy and sell games used. They argue that instead of buying a game new for $60, people are just waiting and buying it for a cheaper price used. I do not argue with that logic, because I have no doubt that some people do think that way. Heck, I've often thought, "That game looks like it might be good, but there's no way I'm paying $50 or $60 for it. If it comes down to $40 or less I might get it." Whether used or new on discount, I'd buy it for the cheaper price, but not the new price, because I just don't want that game bad enough. To me it's not worth the high price tag, especially when so many of the games these days contain 10 hours or less of actual game play while others for the same price easily provide 30+ hours of fun.

Most game publishers hate the used game (re-sale) market. Why? Because a person can buy their games for cheap and not a penny of the money spent on the used game goes back to the game publisher. You can buy a game for $60 new, then sell it to someone else (or a used games store) and the game publisher gets no money from that re-sale. Of course, in reality, tons of things you purchase can be re-sold (used underwear anyone?... ew). Tools, bicycles, books, clothes, furniture, televisions, stereo systems, kitchen appliances, cars, car parts, clocks, paintings, pictures, instruments, toys and on and on the list goes. And you never have to pay the original manufacturers or inventors a dime for the previously used/enjoyed product. But game publishers hate the used games market and are doing everything they can to crush it.

This, however, could absolutely DESTROY the console game industry as we know it!


How To Kill Used Games

So how would the up and coming game consoles by Microsoft and Sony prevent used games from working on their systems? There's a number of ways, but the most likely way is to lock the game directly to the first system it gets played on. From that point on, the game won't work on any other system (any other internal serial number or online user account). Each game basically has one license and that license is locked to you and can NEVER be transferred to anyone else. The game will regularly check that you are the authenticated owner of the game by verifying itself against your signed in online account and your machine's ID. If it doesn't pass the check, the game won't play.


Consumer Creep And Awareness

The biggest reason why killing the used games market will seriously cripple the console game industry is all a matter of marketing and brand awareness. The saturation level or consumer awareness of these games will greatly evaporate if used games disappear. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. To put it simply, the more people that play your game, and like it, the more they'll spread the word and show it off, and the more other people will hear about it and think about picking it up (new or used). Used games account for a big piece of that pie. Kill used games, and you kill all the post-release viral-like consumer creep of interest.

Gangnam Style, a music video and song by a rapper in South Korea, has made the singer (Psy) world famous and has made him and his record label tens of millions of dollars that they never would have seen if the song and video hadn't gone "viral". How did that happen? Everyone could watch the video free on YouTube, and they LOVED it. Massive success! But what if there was no such thing as YouTube and there was no way to access the video except directly from the music studio or Psy's own website?...


Future Sales

Imagine a game company puts out a game and it does ok, selling enough to make a little profit when all is said and done. The company decides to make a sequel. If the first game was well received and popular, the next game (if done well) will probably be popular as well, maybe even more popular than the first. That potential increase, however, is a drop in the bucket compared to the potential increase you'd have if your first game was out there available on the used games market. Because chances are good that the people that played your first game and enjoyed it used, will rush to buy your next game brand new and at full price. Destroy the used games market, and these customers absolutely vanish.

And what about the people that buy new games with the money they recuperated by selling their other purchased games? The psychological barriers to buying a new game increase dramatically if the player can't re-sell his purchase. This customer is more than likely going to buy half as many games as he would have if he could re-sell them. He might even buy only 2/3 the games since his risk vs reward has escalated so high and he can't recuperate any of his spent money by re-selling. The game companies will have then effectively taken a regular customer who might buy many new games a month and squashed him down to buying 1 or 2 (on average) a month, or less.

With no used games market for buying used games or selling my old games, I'd be reduced to buying 1 or 2 console games every few months. In which case, I'd seriously consider not buying a game console (and I'm a gamer!), because the value just wouldn't be there for me anymore. Not at hundreds of dollars for the system, and $60 plus tax for each and every new game. As it is, a number of games I would have bought over the past two years I never bothered with because of this whole "punish used game sales" mentality locking out content from used games. And I am NOT alone in this. A number of hugely successful games have come out with well reviewed sequels that contained new restrictions (some harsh) on used games and the games absolutely tanked.


The Bottom Line

The more difficult you make it for people to purchase and enjoy your product, the less people will consider it, buy it, play it, talk about it and buy future products your company puts out, period. You become everyone's enemy, the greedy corporation, the "bad guy" who thinks consumers are all cheats and liars deserving of punishment. You disrespect your consumer base, you make it a pain for people to legally purchase and use your product, and you kill customer satisfaction. In such a case, your game better be freakin' amazing or else no one is ever going to bother with it. In fact, people won't even think about it because no one is bothering to play it in the first place.

The game industry is going the way of the movie industry. People are becoming much more careful about the entertainment they spend their money on. Movie attendance, despite a huge population boost in the last few decades, is actually WAY down, and only the big popular few movies get a good (great) turn out anymore, while the rest get almost nothing. This is how the game industry is going, fast, and blocking used games will push this trend over the edge at lightning speed. Adapt for the better, or the open market will destroy you.

Microsoft and Sony... If you want to kill your consoles and the entire industry they're based upon, then by all means, ban used games. My prediction, if the new consoles block used games, is that the entire industry will shrink up to 30-40% (or more, from where it is right now) in 5 years or less. It'll literally implode.

Egypt Still Burning

Protestors riot when Egyptian court sentences 21 previous rioters to death, January 26 2013.

It has been almost exactly 2 years since the "Arab Spring" ousted President Mubarak from power, and Egypt is still burning.

The Mainstream Media in the Western World showered the Muslim Brotherhood with heaps of praise leading up to (and after) its landslide victory in the national elections. Countless big name reporters talked about how the moderate, freedom loving, hardly religious anymore, modern Muslim Brotherhood was going to lead Egypt into an era of prosperity and peace. Major newspapers and networks had many special reports on how the Muslim Brotherhood was a force of peace and moderation and that it was going to help build Egypt into a nation comparable to many in the west. Meanwhile, many conservative writers who know the reality of the Middle East worried that Egypt would end up just like Iran with an all powerful theocracy ruling the nation with a Sharia-based iron fist. In that case, freedom, civil rights and peace would be destroyed, the exact opposite of what the Mainstream Media glowingly expected.

Sure enough, Egypt's President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood quickly went down the road of hardlined extremism, as I noted in a previous blog post (Arab Spring Backfires In Egypt). He basically made him and his government immune to all judicial and lawful checks and balances. Whatever the Muslim Brotherhood wanted would be law, with no need for the messiness of democratic councils or regulation. This move prompted riots and protests throughout Egypt as people compared Morsi to the ousted former President Mubarak. Meanwhile, Egypt voted on and widely accepted a new constitution that was entirely based upon Muslim Sharia law and in no way comparable to the constitutions of western nations when it comes to freedom and justice.

This past week (January 26, 2013) Egypt's federal court decided what it was going to do about the people that rioted last year at an Egyptian soccer game (which was partly based on discontent with President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood). 21 of the 73 people charged have now been sentenced to death (usually done by hanging). The rest of the rioters still await their sentences.

The Blaze:  Egyptian Court Sentences Nearly 2 Dozen to Death For Soccer Violence
 
In response to this shocking news, MORE riots broke out across Egypt and resulted in another 50 deaths. Meanwhile, Morsi went on television practically screaming his rage at the protestors and is threatening to do everything in his power to stop and crush them. He has since announced a State of Emergency over the newest riots, which allows him to bring in the Egyptian military. Martial law for the Muslim Brotherhood win!...

The Blaze:  Egypt's President Declares State of Emergency As Violence Intensifies

This is "democracy", "freedom", and "moderation", Middle Eastern style, exactly as conservative bloggers and news reporters expected and dreaded. Meanwhile, the Mainstream Media in the west is doing its very best to stick to its original angle on Egypt and the Arab Spring by painting the new batch of rioters as a small group of anarchists who aren't happy no matter what happens. Amazing isn't it? Rioting Egyptians were praised and honoured by the media in the Arab Spring to throw out the harsh dictator Mubarak, but now under the harsh tyranny of the Muslim Brotherhood, the media vilifies the protestors. Of course this makes the protestors all the more furious. They never got the freedom they hoped for and to top it all off, their biggest ally, the western media, is now against them.


Quick Addition to Original Blog Post...

Canada Free Press:  Egypt Erupts Against The Islamist Regime Favored By Obama

Last Sunday Obama said these shockingly self congratulatory words in a Sixty Minutes interview.

“You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there.”

Keep deluding yourself there President Obama. You created a monster. Unless that was the plan all along, Egypt's "Arab Spring" (so far) is an absolute disaster.


Related Blog Posts:
Arab Spring Backfires In Egypt
Offend Islam, Cause Riots And Violence
Innocence of Muslims?

Arab Spring Backfires In Egypt

Democracy in flames: protesters in Alexandria ransack the offices of President Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement

The "Arab Spring" in 2011 swept across the Arab part of the world and resulted in the overthrowing of a number of long standing dictators and powerful families that ruled Middle Eastern countries. The western media praised this uprising as a democratic revolution, and the US government widely supported the large-scale demonstrations and even militia groups that went to war with their governments in areas where a more peaceful resolution did not happen (ie. Syria, which is still locked in deadly violent civil war). The media praised the revolts against long standing governments as a new modern democratic wave, one that would pull these countries into the direction of freedom, civil rights, accountable government, and overall social progress. Egypt was the biggest and most notable country where these protests against a long-standing dictatorship rose up.

However, while the mainstream media was falling all over itself praising the wave of government toppling protests across the Middle East, many conservative writers were warning that this was looking all to familiar to what happened in Iran decades ago. Iran turned into a theocratic nightmare where extremist Islamists took over from a generally moderate leadership in massive social protests that the United States supported under President Jimmy Carter. Iran has been one of the most repressive and backwards Middle Eastern countries ever since. Instead of freedom, government accountability, civil rights and social progress, Iran stepped farther and farther back into heavy-handed government repression of the general populace. Iran traded bad and suppressive leadership for evil and cruel leadership. It traded generally stable dictators for radical terrorists. The same thing happened in the Gaza Strip when democratic protests broke out years ago there, also supported by the Western Media and many governments. The result? The terrorist organization Hamas won elections and slaughtered all opposition and has ruled with an iron fist ever since.

But that wouldn't happen THIS time, the mainstream media assured everyone. Egypt was going to be the beacon of new Middle Eastern freedom, a new wave of liberty and modernity... The former government was thrown out and protestors celebrated in the streets! Democratic elections were held all across the country and for the first time in decades, political parties other than the ruling dictator had a real chance of winning! Signs indicated before the elections that the Muslim Brotherhood, a large group of Islamic opposition to the former President of Egypt and heavily suppressed under his rule, would become the bulk of the new Egyptian government. Again, conservative writers warned that this was starting to look more and more like Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. But the media told everyone in the west that this was not the case, that the Muslim Brotherhood was these days a much more moderate, secular and progressive group, not at all similar to the hardlined religious leaders that had taken over Iran decades before. Anyone who's done any research into the Muslim Brotherhood and that was not blinded by starry-eyed dreams would know that this was mostly garbage. The Muslim Brotherhood very clearly wants the return of a powerful Muslim Caliphate like what existed centuries ago throughout the Middle East when Islamic government reigned supreme. The Muslim Brotherhood also has ties to Hamas, Al Qaida and other well known Islamic terrorist groups. Only the progress of time would tell which side in this debate was actually right.

So far, things do not look good.

The Muslim Brotherhood won the elections quite handily, easily taking the majority of the national vote. Minority groups such as the Coptic Christians and secularists barely made any splash at all, despite the mainstream media claiming that the Arab Spring was largely secular (non-religious) in nature and intent. President Morsi, of The Muslim Brotherhood, has recently been a beacon of terror, repression, religious intolerance, and government domination over its citizenry. Minorities such as the Coptic Christians have been fleeing Egypt in record numbers. Morsi recently passed government legislation that effectively makes him and whatever he does untouchable by the new law and justice systems of Egypt.

[Daily Beast (Dec 3, 2012)]:  Egypt To President Morsi: No Dictators Allowed

On Nov. 22, as Americans sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, Egypt’s first post-revolution president, Mohamed Morsi, issued a decree exempting all of his decisions from legal challenge. The move was a stunning power grab that quickly earned him the nickname “Egypt’s new pharaoh”—a title once bestowed upon his defunct predecessor. Hundreds of thousands of disbelieving Egyptians flooded city streets from Alexandria to Aswan with a familiar cry: “The people want the fall of the regime!” Tahrir Square came alive once again with tents and bullhorns and a howl so loud—so impassioned—that it was dubbed the “19th Day” of last year’s revolution. Angry female protesters returned in masses to Tahrir, resilient after months of deteriorating security that included repeated incidents of harassment and sexual assault.

Because of this and the severely deteriorating conditions of safety and law in Egypt under the new government, many people have once again returned to the streets in mass protest of the new government that they just elected into power with a huge democratic majority. Why? Because the promises made are evaporating in almost every single direction. Protesters are saying that at best, absolutely nothing has changed since President Mubarak was ousted. The reality, however, is that freedom and safety has significantly decreased and government repression of the masses has greatly increased. An example of how the government is running things in Egypt now can be summed up in a few very recent news reports.

[Daily Mail (Dec 1, 2012)]: Muslim Brotherhood 'Paying Gangs To Go Out And Rape Women And Beat Men Protesting In Egypt'

Egypt's ruling party is paying gangs of thugs to sexually assault women protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square against President Mohamed Morsi, activists said.
They also said the Muslim Brotherhood is paying gangs to beat up men who are taking part in the latest round of protests, which followed a decree by President Morsi to give himself sweeping new powers.

[The Blaze ()]: Mob of 300 Reportedly Strips, Assaults 3 Women Near Mosque In Tahrir Square

... it is difficult to ignore the overwhelming number of sexual assaults reported not by lone criminals, but by frantic mobs.  The vicious attack on U.S. journalist Lara Logan during the advent of the so-called “Arab Spring” nearly two years ago has only been followed by a further deterioration of the rights of women and minorities under Muslim Brotherhood leadership, it seems.

[Telegraph (Nov 29, 2012)]: Egyptians Want Democracy, But Is Their Country Turning Into Iran?

Islam and democracy are not natural bedfellows, and Mr Morsi’s insistence, particularly in his meetings with Western politicians, that he has no desire to become Egypt’s “new pharoah” and is fully committed to upholding the country’s new democratic principles, does not square with his recent pronouncements. These assurances have been undermined by Mr Morsi’s blatant power grab, in which he announced that, in future, all presidential decrees will be immune from legal challenge.
The timing of this declaration is troubling, as the country is engaged in drawing up a new constitution which, in normal circumstances, would require the approval of the establishment. By placing himself above the judiciary, Mr Morsi has awarded himself the power to sanction the new constitution irrespective of any objections secularists may raise.

A similar pattern of behaviour was evident in Iran following the overthrow of the Shah, when Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of Islamic Republic, succeeded in imposing a new constitution on the Iranian people which was based more on the will of God than the rule of law. At a stroke, the pro-democracy aspirations of ordinary Iranians were crushed by the creation of an Islamic theocracy. As Khomeini himself warned secularists when the new constitution was drawn up: “Revolt against God’s government is a revolt against God, and a revolt against God is blasphemy.”

Essentially, President Morsi's government has made itself immune to any challenges to its power and authority. It gets the final say in everything, no matter what the democratic parliament says. Since people have returned to the streets to protest this, the government has sent in gangs of violent attackers to rape women and beat men in the streets to shut them up and terrify them into silence. On top of all this, Morsi's government is now rushing through Egypt's new constitution which reads like a large scale religious fatwa, based mostly on Islamic Sharia Law and NOT in any way conducive to western principles of liberty, freedom, civil rights, or anything else that the western world has appreciated for the past few centuries and more.

Egypt is very quickly becoming another Iran, exactly as conservative pundits and writers warned from the very beginning. The signs were strongly there from the start. Maybe now the governments and mainstream media will finally wake up to the monster they've gleefully and blindly supported.

[Reuters (Dec 6, 2012)]: Egypt Demonstrators Reject Mursi Call For Dialogue

Thousands of supporters and opponents of Mursi had fought well into Thursday's early hours, using rocks, petrol bombs and guns. Officials said 350 were wounded in the violence. Six of the dead were Mursi supporters, the Muslim Brotherhood said.