Lao Tse
Verified User
but you have control over going away.I don't have any control over your posts.
but you have control over going away.I don't have any control over your posts.
but you have control over going away.
It may very well be that there was a historical Jesus. As a non-believer I'm A-OK with that being the case. And indeed many scholars now believe he was historically real. I think the key point is that we know vanishingly little about him from contemporary sources. I ASSUME the wonderful teachings attributed to him are, indeed, his, but I don't think we can necessarily count on the Gospels (the "Synoptic" ones) as being accurate histories given their inconsistencies, the fact that they were written decades after the events and all written from some particular bias for a particular audience.
And I can easily dismiss the miracles and the coming back to life stories.
EdwinA:The witnesses to Jesus's existence and ministry were almost entirely Jewish. We know most Jewish scholars would destroy any evidence of his existence whenever they found it, it's a frequent practice with them in those days, denying anything outside their post-Ezra cult as not existing. But, we have the 4 Gospels and Paul, all Jewish or a disciple of educated Jews in Luke's case, and some scholars hold the opinion that Luke was also a Jew. Then there are the followers, numbering in the thousands and known to already exist in those years and soon after his death.
Even Bart Ehrman, an oft cited critic of Christianity, wrote a book proving he was a real person.
Did Jesus Exist? (Ehrman book) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
DArrell Bock has written extensively on the evidence that the orthodoxy regarding the NT books are indeed valid and can be trusted, as opposed to the Gnostic rubbish and the silly nonsense that Constantine rewrote a lot of stuff in the 4th Century.
The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities
IS JESUS WHO YOU THINK HE IS?Perhaps you've heard the recent buzz about "alternative Christianities" and "new gospels." Speculations have shown up in magazines, documentaries, popular fiction, and even on the big screen. Much of the controversy stems from a library of ancient texts found...www.barnesandnoble.com
See also Joachim Jeremia's excellent econmic and social history Jerusalem In The Time Of Jesus, which extensively verifies that NT texts are indeed contemporary writings and there are no anachronisms in them, making it impossible for them to have been in some later century. He extensively footnotes the book and used entirely Jewish sources.
AS for whether he was a 'divine' son of God or not isn't relevant to the issue of whether he really existed or not; the fact is he did indeed exist, and was a well educated rabbi to boot..
Prove miracles did happen.Go ahead and dismiss to your heart's content. Until you can prove the miracles and the resurrections did not happen, your comment is simply that of an unbeliever. Nothing more.
Seems human reproduction medical pseudoscience is about as great a miracle as flaming flying chariot gravitational pseudoscience......Prove miracles did happen.
There are no inconsistencies in the Gospels.
Jesus' 1st Century disciples reported various incidents from different viewpoints. Those are not inconsistencies; it's simply reporting the same incident from a different angle.
Go ahead and dismiss to your heart's content. Until you can prove the miracles and the resurrections did not happen
, your comment is simply that of an unbeliever. Nothing more.
it is your obligation, but it cannot be done.Then explain his different genealogies? And why would it matter what line Joseph had if he wasn't the father?
Different genealogies are not just the same thing from a different view point.
I am under no obligation to prove a negative.
Pretty much by definition.
Kafka:Then explain his different genealogies? And why would it matter what line Joseph had if he wasn't the father?
Different genealogies are not just the same thing from a different view point.
I am under no obligation to prove a negative.
Pretty much by definition.
Jesus's life started off as a spirit son (an angel). His spirit life force was transferred into the human Mary. Joseph was not his biological father. So what is your point?
My point is that two different accounts representing the real life of Jesus show different geneaologies which means the people who wrote the Gospels were NOT necessarily working from the same set of data indicating that it's possible that a lot of the back story of Jesus was...sorry for this...made up.
Kafka:
Jesus's life started off as a spirit son (an angel). His spirit life force was transferred into the human Mary. Joseph was not his biological father. So what is your point?
Joseph was not his biological father.
Yes, there are timeline inconsistencies, among others. Why is that a problem? The gospels can still be read and the lessons understood.There are no inconsistencies in the Gospels.
Yes, there are timeline inconsistencies, among others. Why is that a problem? The gospels can still be read and the lessons understood.
One big one was the more-than-a-decade between Jesus having been born and Jesus still not yet born.Like what?
* In Matthew, Jesus is born sometime prior to 4 BCE and is visited by wise men from the east. Those same wise men visit Herod the Great and reveal that the true king of the Jews has been born. Herod has all children under two years of age killed.
Irrelevant.Never established he actually managed to kill them all.
Correct.In Matthew, Jesus is born sometime prior to 4 BCE.
Yes, but it is a decade before 6 CE.4 B.C. is later than 6 B.C.,
Irrelevant.
Correct.
Yes, but it is a decade before 6 CE.
Irrelevant.