Can the real atheists please stand up?

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke

A Growing Number of Scholars Are Questioning the Historical Existence of Jesus.

Along with a growing number of Ad Populum fallacy arguments?

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
A Growing Number of Scholars Are Questioning the Historical Existence of Jesus.

Today more and more, historians and bloggers alike are questioning whether the actual man called Jesus existed. Unfortunately, many of the writings we do have are tainted, the authors being religious scholars or atheists with an axe to grind. One important point is th ...[text shortened]... ://bigthink.com/philip-perry/a-growing-number-of-scholars-are-questioning-the-existence-of-jesus

Question: "Did Jesus really exist? Is there any historical evidence of Jesus Christ?"

Answer: Typically, when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies the question with “outside of the Bible.” We do not grant this idea that the Bible cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus. The New Testament contains hundreds of references to Jesus Christ. There are those who date the writing of the Gospels to the second century A.D., more than 100 years after Jesus' death. Even if this were the case (which we strongly dispute), in terms of ancient evidences, writings less than 200 years after events took place are considered very reliable evidences. Further, the vast majority of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them) were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years after Jesus' death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.

It is also important to recognize that in A.D. 70, the Romans invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally burned to the ground. We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus' existence was destroyed. Many of the eyewitnesses of Jesus would have been killed. These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.

Considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following:

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of His followers.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.

In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources: Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus), but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed, worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).

There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.

https://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html

Originally posted by @tom-wolsey
You're suggesting God hasn't shown up and impressed any of us with his awesome power. Do you know that to be true and if so, how?

I don't know it's true, either way. I do know that according to the bible even when god walked the earth many people met him and still didn't believe! Very weak showing. The magic parts of the jesus myth somehow completely evaded the attention of the secular world, exactly as if the myths were not truths. So why the fk should rational people buy into the story?

And on the other hand, there are hundreds of religions, each with their own collection of myths. Why should rational people elevate any of them?

Originally posted by @apathist
I don't know it's true, either way. I do know that according to the bible even when god walked the earth many people met him and still didn't believe! Very weak showing. The magic parts of the jesus myth somehow completely evaded the attention of the secular world, exactly as if the myths were not truths. So why the fk should rational people buy into the s ...[text shortened]... each with their own collection of myths. Why should rational people elevate [b]any of them?[/b]

<<The magic parts of the jesus myth somehow completely evaded the attention of the secular world, exactly as if the myths were not truths.>>

I believe the Pharisees attributed the miracles Jesus performed to demonic possession.

Since you love commenting on the Bible so much, why not read it?

Originally posted by @apathist

And on the other hand, there are hundreds of religions, each with their own collection of myths. Why should rational people elevate any of them?

People will always elevate their own religion. It's the one thing religions have in common.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
People will always elevate their own religion. It's the one thing religions have in common.

That is the most ignorant statement I have ever seen from someone with a supposed theology degree.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
That is the most ignorant statement I have ever seen from someone with a supposed theology degree.

Fair enough Daniel. Reap what you sow.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
That is the most ignorant statement I have ever seen from someone with a supposed theology degree.

Ghost is really losing it. His autobiographical lies being exposed is causing him to crack up.

Any day, he’ll totally lose his marbles and “pull a divegeester” by changing his profile pic and claiming to be someone else.

Ghost has such an active imagination it’ll be interesting to see who his new persona is.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Fair enough Daniel. Reap what you sow.

Ah, threats from the troll whose autobiographical lies being exposed is causing him to lose his marbles.

🙄

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
"So many Christians are like this, and these people scandalize others," Pope Francis said during morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, according to Vatican Radio. "How many times have we heard -- all of us, around the neighborhood and elsewhere -- 'But to be a Catholic like that, it's better to be an atheist.'

Thank goodness, I’m not a Catholic (nor do I think much of Catholicism aligns with the Bible) or I might be offended by that.

Originally posted by @romans1009
Thank goodness, I’m not a Catholic (nor do I think much of Catholicism aligns with the Bible) or I might be offended by that.

"Thank goodness, I’m not a Catholic..."


Or indeed a Christian.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
"Thank goodness, I’m not a Catholic..."


Or indeed a Christian.

You wouldn’t know.

And I understand how angry you are at your autobiographical lies being exposed. You’ve twice threatened to contact Becker’s friends in real life and are now stalking me across the SF.

You’re mentally ill, Ghost. I guess as a coping mechanism you falsely claim to be a mental health professional, but your behavior in here gives away the fact you’re nuttier than a bowl of mixed nuts.

Originally posted by @romans1009
Ah, threats from the troll whose autobiographical lies being exposed is causing him to lose his marbles.

🙄

I wish you'd stop this.

You continue down this road at the cost of losing any credibility you have left.

It's comments like this that cause people to devalue anything you say.

Originally posted by @suzianne
I wish you'd stop this.

You continue down this road at the cost of losing any credibility you have left.

It's comments like this that cause people to devalue anything you say.

He has 0 left. It's been that way for weeks.