Origen 248AD responding to Celsus (a skeptic of Christianity) From this remark, it would seem that Celsus supposes that the appearance of Christ to His disciples after His resurrection was like that of a spectre flitting before their eyes; whereas these gods, as he calls them, in human shape always present themselves to those who desire it. But how is it possible that a phantom which, as he describes it, flew past to deceive the beholders, could produce such effects after it had passed away, and could so turn the hearts of men as to lead them to regulate their … Continue reading Origen vs Celsus

AND foreseen, predicted and prophecied in the Holy Bible before Christianity went worldwide! No small prediction at all. To foresee and predict the most worldwide religion in the history of the world before it was is quite the prediction. Here is GROK helping me out: Furthermore, this astonishing global expansion was not some happy accident of history—it was explicitly foreseen, predicted, and prophesied in the Holy Bible centuries before Christianity ever left the borders of Judea!No small prediction at all. Consider Isaiah 49:6, written around 700 BC, long before Jesus was born: “It is too small a thing for you … Continue reading No small prediction at all

He suffered as one who was wise and perfect, whatever it behoved Him to suffer who did all for the good of the human race, yea, even for the good of all intelligent beings. And there is nothing absurd in a man having died, and in His death being not only an example of death endured for the sake of piety, but also the first blow in the conflict which is to overthrow the power of that evil spirit the devil, who had obtained dominion over the whole world. For we have signs and pledges of the destruction of his … Continue reading We have signs and pledges

Let the ancient sages, then, make known their sayings to those who are capable of understanding them. Suppose that Plato, for example, the son of Ariston, in one of his Epistles, is discoursing about the “chief good,” and that he says, “The chief good can by no means be described in words, but is produced by long habit, and bursts forth suddenly as a light in the soul, as from a fire which had leapt forth.” We, then, on hearing these words, admit that they are well said, for it is God who revealed to men these as well as … Continue reading The chief good

Origen’s response to Celsus’ claim that the philosophers better put truth than does the Holy Scriptures: Now we maintain, that if it is the object of the ambassadors of the truth to confer benefits upon the greatest possible number, and, so far as they can, to win over to its side, through their love to men, every one without exception—intelligent as well as simple—not Greeks only, but also Barbarians (and great, indeed, is the humanity which should succeed in converting the rustic and the ignorant), it is manifest that they must adopt a style of address fitted to do good … Continue reading The philosophers vs Jesus