Jesus, Myth, etc.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

Is this some sort of big debate I hadn't heard of until now (wouldn't surprise...I'm not a theologian).


[/ QUOTE ]

It's my understanding that it was an issue in academia for a short period of time a long time ago. It's been so thoroughly debunked that it's been relegated to the backwaters of the net for people skimming for some argument to use against Christianity that requires no thought. I've never paid much attention to it until a recent thread and shouting match with a certain someone, so I found this and posted it. It seems like overkill but it's also interesting as it shows how ridiculous some people get in their desperation to attack Christianity.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

I love these "Heres a page with 45 articles, and if someone responds asking why its relevant to read all of them, you're just like OMG I BET YOU DIDNT READ ALL OF THEM" posts


[/ QUOTE ]

I would normally agree with you but there's some background here. I made a new post rather than put it in as a response in another thread so this isn't in a vacuum. The relevance of the post to the other thread is crystal clear but I guess not if you aren't familiar with that thread.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I love these "Heres a page with 45 articles, and if someone responds asking why its relevant to read all of them, you're just like OMG I BET YOU DIDNT READ ALL OF THEM" posts


[/ QUOTE ]

I would normally agree with you but there's some background here. I made a new post rather than put it in as a response in another thread so this isn't in a vacuum. The relevance of the post to the other thread is crystal clear but I guess not if you aren't familiar with that thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is ture, then I can se a decent reason for the thread.

However, can you link the other thread?

[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I love these "Heres a page with 45 articles, and if someone responds asking why its relevant to read all of them, you're just like OMG I BET YOU DIDNT READ ALL OF THEM" posts


[/ QUOTE ]

I would normally agree with you but there's some background here. I made a new post rather than put it in as a response in another thread so this isn't in a vacuum. The relevance of the post to the other thread is crystal clear but I guess not if you aren't familiar with that thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is ture, then I can se a decent reason for the thread.

However, can you link the other thread?

[/ QUOTE ]CMI I believe he was caling out boro, on his jesus myth is an extention or mutation of hecules. Which is in davids Astrology beter than Religion thread. Perhaps I'm just being intellectually dishonest, when I view xtian religion as just another myth. But I'm certain that holding that view won't matter anyway.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]
can you link the other thread?

[/ QUOTE ]
Here

[DougShrapnel]

[ QUOTE ]
For those of you who are actually interested in this question and not just making superficial and absurd allegations you can't defend see this.

Anyone who wants to engage in genuine debate I would be glad to discuss the title question in the light of the information given here. I haven't read it all but plan to over the next couple of years. Yeah, it's voluminous.

So much for intellectual dishonesty and being afraid of nitwits.

[/ QUOTE ]NotReady why are you OK with the accounts of Zeus and Hercules being stories, but not the accounts of jesus? If anything the account of ancient greek myths that humans are capable of perfection and gods are immortal but flawed makes the more accurate description of the world. Rather than god is perfect and is immortal in both directions, and humans are immortal in only one direction. The major difference between the 2 myths, greek mythology and xtian mythology is the perfection of human abilities and the immortality of gods. Everything contained, even if not directly inspiring for the xtain religion, in the bible is nothing original. In fact you can find people who say the the similiarities between the different faiths are evidence that god exists.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

NotReady why are you OK with the accounts of Zeus and Hercules being stories, but not the accounts of jesus?


[/ QUOTE ]

Just think of one thing. Many scholars of history, religion and/or the Bible who are clearly atheists and many who are just liberal Christians acknowledge the high probability that Jesus existed and that the core facts related in the Gospels are true. Only totally insane people actually believe in the reality of Greek mythology.

There are many other arguments for the huge difference but that one thing should suggest quite a lot.

The rest of your post mostly involves theology which I very much disagree with and will discuss if you like, but that would be another thread. I would like to keep this one on the topic in my title.

[ChrisV]

I would bet a large amount of money that NotReady has barely read any of those articles either.

[Mickey Brausch]

Sample rebuttal of the "allegations" against Christian religion. The author rebutts the "allegation" that Easter was adopted from pagan custom :

[ QUOTE ]
The largest danger in the ancient world for the Israelites was idolatry. Now consider this situation: Everyone else around them was celebrating at the Spring Equinox, doing all the usual orgiastic things. Now as a parallel, if you are in a business, and your rival business is having a big sale on April 10, how might you get something out of that and also deflect your rival's success? The answer: Hold an even bigger sale the same day. And that's the "why" of Passover being scheduled on the Spring Equinox (and by this I also mean that God intended it that way when He timed the plagues of Egypt).

[/ QUOTE ]

Lame-o land.

[Mickey Brausch]

[ QUOTE ]
Many scholars of history, religion and/or the Bible who are clearly atheists and many who are just liberal Christians acknowledge the high probability that Jesus existed and that the core facts related in the Gospels are true.

[/ QUOTE ]I am on record as doubting the existence of Jesus Christ, as a historical figure, but that doesn't mean that it would be a very surprising event if it turns out that He actually existed and walked this Earth! The historicity of Jesus lacks credible evidence but believing in it does not make one a gullible or illogical person.

However, the rest of the stuff, i.e. the claims about miracles, physics-defying phenomena, the resurrection, etc, belong clearly in the realm of arbitrary belief, i.e. Religion, rather than logic or science. One can be an agnostic and still accept the historicity of a figure (or an amalgam of figures) denoted as Jesus of Galilee. But for the other Christian claims, i.e. that David Copperfield really eliminated the Statue of Liberty from this world, the Sklansky $50,000 challenge makes the point.

[ QUOTE ]
Only totally insane people actually believe in the reality of Greek mythology.

[/ QUOTE ]Who would you think actually believes (or believed, in antiquity) in the reality of Greek mythology? Not even the Greeks, it seems. Your bedlam would be very sparsely populated.

Please tell me how many ancient Greeks were persecuted because they refused to believe that Greek mythology was about true events.

Mickey Brausch