I was raised in Governor’s Harbour in the Bahamas by my Danish father and English mother.
Governor’s Harbour – still the same.
I had ten years of boarding school: De Carteret in Jamaica, and Stowe in England. As the schools were nominally Anglican (i.e. Church of England) they taught religion – the life of Jesus without reference to the Roman occupation of Palestine. They also taught history – including the history of the Roman Empire, without reference to the life of Jesus.
At Stowe I realized that Christianity is only believable if you don’t contextualize Jesus within the Roman occupation.
My fascination with religion and history was also stimulated by the conflicting viewpoints of my parents. My mother believed in everything: reincarnation, flying saucers, the Lost Continent of Mu, you name it. My father was a journalist, and he believed nothing and no one.
Robin Helweg-Larsen
Two strongly conflicting opinions on everything at home, no real opinions about anything expressed by school. I guess that’s a good start, for thinking for yourself.
(That’s part of it. Also, I like writing! You may have noticed some poetry in this blog. My other blog focuses on formal verse, as you might guess from its site – formalverse.com – which is connected to my position with Sampson Low Publishers as Series Editor for Potcake Chapbooks – form in formless times.)
If you have a concern about any posting or comment being factually incorrect, please contact me. Please provide details of who you are, how I can contact you, what your interest is, and what your concern is. If something has been written that is factually incorrect, it will be addressed. Anonymous complaints will be ignored.
The Gospel According to the Romans 
I like your first chapter. Is your novel a Kindle ebook? I found your book’s title in the message you posted in the historical fiction section of the Kindle community.
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Thanks, David – the Kindle is in process, it appears I neglected a step. Should be up in a couple of days.
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1. What are you pricing the Kindle at? With a 70% royalty you can make as much on a $2.99 Kindle as on a $20 hard cover.
2. The problem is, how do you become visible to internet searches among 16,000 titles in the historical fiction category?
3. Are you going to list your book in the spiritual-religious-Christian category as well as in historical fiction? The process seems to be complicated and I haven’t managed to do it yet. It probably wouldn’t do me much good anyway. We seem to be birds of a feather.
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Robin, actually Stonehenge is not 500yrs older than the Great Pyramid…both are about 3000 BC. The GPyr is usually dated to ca 2500 BC but see the results of the G Pyr C-dating Project [Harvard] which show results 4-500 yrs earlier. The wooden boat at the foot of the G Pyr has also been C dated to ca 3000 BC.
For a new contrarian view of pre-Christian history check out BEFORE THE DELUSION by Wm Gleeson, just published in UK. Radical stuff but very impressively researched and documented
Regards
RossMelb
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Pricing is always an issue, isn’t it? I see quite a few references to $2.99… The Kindle conversion isn’t complete yet, I expect to get a status update next week.
I think visibility has to come from networking, and connecting to interest groups who will give you support or promotion.
There’s a religion-atheism category, I’ve decided to list as that along with fiction-historical, at least on Amazon.com – which I trust carries through to other parts of their empire.
Good luck with yours!
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For what its worth- I found your book by way of a facebook ad- no doubt targeted to me due to being an atheist or listing books by well known freethinkers (voltaire, betrand russell, sagan, etc). I’ve spent a few minutes googling the title and will now read the first chapter and likely buy the book. I’m the type that will tell friends or post something here or there if I like the book. In short- your facebook campaign was effective in getting my attention!
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Many thanks for the information, Joe – advertising is always a shot in the dark, and therefore it is always very welcome to hear a direct response. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, and that the rest of it more than meets your expectations. Let me know!
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I too came here via facebook
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Hi Craig – See anything you like? (Now I feel like a storekeeper of odd ideas.)
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I am nearly finished reading “The Christ Conspiracy….the greatest story ever SOLD.” It is something you might enjoy in looking at the “history” part of religion.
I like your writing. Good character development and narrative, dialogue.
I’ve been sailing on a live-aboard catamaran we owned for a few years, and enjoyed Governor’s Harbor and the Bahamas in general.
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Thanks, Bob, I’ll definitely look into it. I have a lot more to write about, especially regarding what Paul did to the Judaism of Jesus.
And of course I’m delighted that you found and enjoyed Governor’s!
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I can’t wait to see that one! I had a debate just last week with a kindly old Christian who kept quoting Paul (or the psuedo-Pauls) in place of what Jesus supposedly said. Remarkable! I am grateful for organized minds that can collate all this material. It runs around in my head but never quite makes it to paper. Two books come to mind along these lines. One was “Paul the Conver” and it was well written but from a scholarly Jewish point of view and the other was by a Rabbi (sorry just move and books are all over the place as I write) who proved definitively that Paul or Shaul of Tarsus was not a Rabbi. Anyway, there it is.
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Hey Andrew, I’ll look for “Paul the Conver”, and I’d be glad of details on the other one when you run across the name. Thanks!
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It always amazes me how many Christians quote from the writings of Paul but think that they are quoting Jesus. Even more so how they do not notice that Paul’s writings have nothing to do with the sayings of Jesus.
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Please let me know if you do write a book on what Paul did to the Judaism of Jesus. I am extremely curious to see how you would piece it all together. I have a few ideas myself.
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Hi Jason, I appreciate your supportive comments. I wish I had the time and freedom to do the Paul book – yes, it is clearly there to be done. But I’d have to spend a full year in the Eastern Mediterranean to get a sense of what he was up to, and spend that year studying his writings and the background materials. I find it easier to write sarcastic little poems about him instead!
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Letting you know, I’m nominating you for the versatile blogger award. Rules on my blog here.
http://aheathenspath.wordpress.com/the-versatile/
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Fun! Thanks, Heathen!
Any other candidates out there for Versatile Blogger? Let me know too!
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Hey Robin! Thank you for leaving me a message on my Crazy Bible blog. I hope as you read you will discover there are Christians who are in pursuit of Truth, who read the Bible for themselves (and don’t simply take every preacher at their word, or give them all their money…I mean, dang I gotta enjoy a some sushi or a meat lover’s pizza from time to time…and last I checked, no one was handing out those treasures for free) and who are not afraid to admit that reading the Bible can lead to far more questions than answers.
In the meantime, I will read through your posts as I’m able to, and if I feel it’s worthwhile, will post a thought from time to time. I’m not much one for arguing on the internet (there’s enough crappy arguments happening in real life as it is) but I will read what you write as often as I’m able to.|
Take care my new fellow internet adventurer.
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Hey Mac – I’ll be glad to follow where your reading and thinking leads you. Mine led me all over the place, and led even to changing countries as a side effect.
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We would love to be in touch once again, after so many years – Val Morin, Vancouver etc. …. and we laughed and revelled in your blog. Good to see your mind is as quirky, sharp and truth-seeking as ever!
Rodney/Raghava/Raghunath, Usha/Frances and Penny/Murali/Janaki
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The timing of this note… you will laugh… I will have to post a note on omens! I am struggling to find a mechanical explanation. Give me a day or two. And I want to catch up with you guys.
I’ve been in Kenya for a week with Eliza, we have been training a small consulting group to run our workshops. Tomorrow it’s back to Bahrain and then Saudi, probably for a couple of months, setting up (or helping set up) a business there. Life continues to be strange, rich, diverse, interesting!
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Robin, you’re a delight. I want to hear some more of that wit. You’ve been all over the world. I do wish you’d share more about your adventures (don’t pretend you don’t have them!) Take care my friend.
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You mean “Mu” is not real? Great blog, thanks
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Robin,
Thanks for a great blog! Your findings very nearly mirror my own as far as the historical Jesus is concerned.
Please don’t misunderstand this as self promotion, but you might be interested in my book, The Open Tomb; Why and How Jesus Faked His Death and Resurrection. Many of the conclusions you have drawn in your work are similarly drawn in the book and historically verified.
All best regards,
David Mirsch
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You have some interesting ideas on this site, but unfortunately they are untrue. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, how do I know? He miraculously healed car crash injuries to both of my knees. Injuries that were worsened through medical malpractice / gross negligence, and the collusion of the medical fraternity et al. I was healed by way of two dreams, one given to my father-in-law, and the other after the laying on of hands,which included spiritual warfare. I went to bed with injuries that had plagued me for over four years, and awoke from an amazing dream to be totally healed! Don’t believe me? Go to my You Tube site = adysaxman77 and see my video testimony ‘Jesus Heals’ parts 1, 2, and 3. I challenge anyone on this site to disprove my healing, or give a valid reason as to how crash injuries to both knees, neglected in such a way, should then be completely healed during one night’s sleep. Thanks for taking the time to read my reply, and I look forward to hearing yours.
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A god who would heal your injured knees, while not bothering about millions of children dying of famine, warfare or AIDS, isn’t worthy of respect. Get some life experience and develop a broader and less selfish perspective.
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I recommend you read the Quran (mainly the part about Jesus)
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Various subsequent religions such as Islam and the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) have come up with additional stories about Jesus that happen to substantiate their beliefs. I have read the stories in both those literatures. I don’t find any historical justification for them.
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Dear Robert,
To your blog I came through a search for Jesus ben Pantera. Congratulations for your research. Maybe you don’t know how close to reality you are. I did not read much on your blog, for I immediately ordered your book.
Now only a couple of questions: do you know Bertrand Dubourg? And Daniel Massé? Did you know that there is even less evidence of the existence of Paulus?
There are also some interesting readings with the German critical school.
Best wishes,
Olivier
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Hello Olivier, thank you for your enthusiasm, and for mentioning those authors. No, I am not familiar with them, but I will look for them.
Let me know what you think of the novel!
Best wishes,
Robin
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Hi Robin, I have no complaint, just many wonderful memories. I was on Eleuthera 1961 – early 1963. I remember The Buccaneer and your mother so well. In fact, I was regularly behind the bar at the Buccaneer on Sat. evenings. I have recently been trying to research any links to those far away days and came across your site. I leave my contact details with hope that I will not be intruding by any further contact from myself.
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Hello. This was a quote from your book and I am sure that this is not true as written in the KJV. What book did you get this from so I can see why you wrote this? Thanks.
Steve
“So Jesus was not crucified at the wish of Jewish authorities, or of the Jewish people”.
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Steve, crucifixion wasn’t a Jewish punishment, it was a Roman punishment used for slaves and low-status criminals, and for rebels and insurrectionists. I recommend Bart Ehrman’s books in general, and you might like to try his blog: https://ehrmanblog.org/why-romans-crucified-people/
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