allsmiles said::chuckle:
Eye of the beholder. You have yet to show any of your cards as I have done nothing but request to be shown a demonstration of historical evidence of the physical existence of Christ in our timeline and you folks have failed to do so at every turn. Historical belief in Christ is the only evidence that has been presented. Ad hominems abound as does incompetence, cowardice and face saving pride.
So claim the pot all you'd like but you've shown no cards.
jeremiah said:Apparently, you are not as up to speed on the Jesus Myth and the rebuttals as you contend. All of Doherty's assertions and hypothesis have been more than adqequately dealt with, of course that is not just MHO. but also the not so humble opinion of several other scholars in the field.
Regarding historical evidence: I assume you are in agreement with Doherty that the 4 gospels and Acts, can not be used. The Epistles since they don't mention Joseph, or Mary, or Nazerath or Bethlehem et al: can therefore only be used to strengthen the myth. The numerous mentions of His crucifixion and Resurrection in them are explained away, by the Myth hypothesis.
The secular writings of Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny, are entirely suspect { where they mention Jesus} and can not be used either.
A, 1. signed and dated confession by Pilate would be acceptable, a, 2. history of every itinerant preacher of that era by a Roman or Judean historian that would thus include Jesus, or 3. graven images of Jesus, dated to the 1st century, which BTW our faith prohibits, would also be acceptable!
We have no proof according to your criteria, therefore, I fold my hand and you win. Thanks for playing.
Now does anyone else want to play with Allsmiles "stacked" deck.
P.S. Please hurry up and pos rep all your pagan buddies so that you can neg rep me for the third time in two days, for simply listing some web sites and drawing my own conclusions. I consider it a badge of honor. As my non mythological Lord and Saviour said. "If they hated me, they will hate you as well."
Toast said:Sorry to butt into this thread like this. but it seems to me, after reading this entire thing, I agree with Knight in that you allsmiles, have yet to show us how we can know if someone in the past really existed or not.
Perhaps they aren't familiar with the writings of Peter..allsmiles said:You and your compatriots have failed (miserably and consistently) to produce evidence, regardless of my opinion of it, because there is no evidence to present. Either that or you're completely ignorant.
eisenreich said:Perhaps they aren't familiar with the writings of Peter..
But sanctify the Lord God in you hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. -- 1 Peter 3:15
eisenreich said:Perhaps they aren't familiar with the writings of Peter..
But sanctify the Lord God in you hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. -- 1 Peter 3:15
I suppose that question could be divided into two parts: 1. did Peter write the epistles attributed to him and 2. did Peter, the disciple of Jesus, exist?Shimei said:Do believe that Peter existed?
eisenreich said:I suppose that question could be divided into two parts: 1. did Peter write the epistles attributed to him and 2. did Peter, the disciple of Jesus, exist?
1. Considering the cottage industry of pseudepigraphical/pseudonymous books being written in and around the first century, <wiki>most critical scholars are skeptical that the apostle Simon Peter, the fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, actually wrote the epistle, because of the urbane cultured style of the Greek and the lack of any personal detail suggesting contact with the historical Jesus of Nazareth. It contains about thirty-five references to the Old Testament, all of which, however, come from the Septuagint translation, an unlikely source for historical Peter the apostle. The Septuagint was a Greek translation created at Alexandria for the use of those Jews who could not easily read the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Tanakh. A historical Jew in Galilee would not have heard Scripture in this form. If the epistle is taken to be pseudepigraphal, the date is usually cited as between 70-90 by scholars like Raymond E. Brown and Bart D. Ehrman, while a small number of scholars argue for an even later date.</wiki>
2. Since I haven't yet read Doherty's mythicist argument, perhaps AS can jump in on where Doherty stands on the existence of the followers of Jesus. A case could easily be made that the twelve disciples of Jesus were allegory and represented the new twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve could also stand for the twelve signs of the zodiac, as there are various parallels between the story of Jesus and astrology . I'll have to do a bit more research about the sources outside of the gospels that mention Simon Peter. His date of birth, like Jesus is unknown, and the description and date of his death (CE 64 by cruxifiction) are known only through Christian tradition.
Shimie, what are the reasons you believe that Jesus Christ was a real person? Think of the best criteria a historian would use to determine the validity of a person's life and compare that to the evidence of what remains about Jesus. Judging by the way this thread has gone, I'm not expecting you to seriously answer (surprise me!).
Eisenreich, you and I have talked about that in PMs.
Shimei said:Let's start here. Do you believe that Israel exists? Do you believe that Israel existed 2000 years ago?
allsmiles said:Folks, this is exactly what I'm talking about.
Extraneous subject matter. This is nothing more than an attempt to divert attention away from the obvious, that being the incapability of a single Christian on this website to provide even the slightest shred of evidence for the physical existence of their alleged Lord and Savior in our historical timeline.
Look but don't touch fellas. This is about as blatant and ridiculous as it gets.
Shimei said:Right allsmiles. Starting with the country where the man was born. Did the place ever even exist? Why would anyone ever ask that?
Did the writers of the gospels who mentioned Him ever exist? How silly to wonder.
Did people at the time of Christ who mentioned Christ in some way exist? Who cares!
AS, do you feel as though you're talking to a few 12 year-old ADD'ers off their meds..? What is the best evidence you have that your savior, Jesus Christ, was born, lived, breathed, walked, and talked? The more you stall, the worse your case.. If someone asked me, "Well if you're so confident..What's 2+2??". I would say "4, obviously." I would not answer their question with another question, which is all you seem capable of doing.Shimei said:Let's start here. Do you believe that Israel exists? Do you believe that Israel existed 2000 years ago?
Granite said:The mention of Saginaw, Michigan, in a folk tune proves one thing: the authors know it's there. It does not mean the authors are telling the truth when describing a three-day hitchhike there.
Hope you understand the difference.
Shimei said:Gee Granite, you really got me there. Let me go think for awhile.
eisenreich said:AS, do you feel as though you're talking to a few 12 year-old ADD'ers off their meds..? What is the best evidence you have that your savior, Jesus Christ, was born, lived, breathed, walked, and talked? The more you stall, the worse your case.. If someone asked me, "Well if you're so confident..What's 2+2??". I would say "4, obviously." I would not answer their question with another question, which is all you seem capable of doing.
Shimei said:Because He is a historical figure written about before, during and after His time in a place that still exists today. But most people who are not being intellectually dishonest already knew this. :duh:
Let's see, what year is this again?