I have already answered your questions.
1. I have already stated that the Jesus story and cult started some time after or around c 115 CE or after the writings of Philo, Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny the younger but before 138 CE Based on Aristides Apology.
After the writings of Pliny the Younger? Then who was Pliny referring to in his letter to Trajan? Remember, Pliny the Younger died
ca. 113. So, some time before 113 some sect of Christians was already established in Bithynia.
Also, you haven't explained why this cult would have gone out of its way to adopt all the baggage of Jewish associations, if it originated outside Judea.
2. I have already stated that Justin Martyr claimed the followers of Simon Magus and Menander were called Christians. Simon Magus was in the time of Claudius c 41-54 CE. See First Apology
Okay, here's what Justin has to say about Simon Magus in chapter 26 of his
First Apology:
And, thirdly, because after Christ's ascension into heaven the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you, but even deemed worthy of honours. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome:— Simoni Deo Sancto, To Simon the holy God. And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations, worship him, and acknowledge him as the first god; and a woman, Helena, who went about with him at that time, and had formerly been a prostitute, they say is the first idea generated by him.
He says pretty much the same thing in chapter 56. In chapter 26 he says this of Menander and Marcion. I've added bolding to Justin's statement that followers of these men were called Christians.
And a man, Menander, also a Samaritan, of the town Capparetæa, a disciple of Simon, and inspired by devils, we know to have deceived many while he was in Antioch by his magical art. He persuaded those who adhered to him that they should never die, and even now there are some living who hold this opinion of his. And there is Marcion, a man of Pontus, who is even at this day alive, and teaching his disciples to believe in some other god greater than the Creator. And he, by the aid of the devils, has caused many of every nation to speak blasphemies, and to deny that God is the maker of this universe, and to assert that some other being, greater than He, has done greater works.
All who take their opinions from these men, are, as we before said, called Christians;
So, there certainly were more than one set of beliefs, more or less allied, called Christianity. That is a far cry from saying that the word "Christian" was synonymous with "magician," which is what you asserted. Now, do you have any evidence that the Christians Pliny the Younger was prosecuting were either Marcionites or followers of Simon Magus?
