> Sodom, I thought a logical thinker ought to want to consider ideas,
> especially one as important to the development of western thought as
> Christainity. Instead, I find you doubting that Jesus of Nazereth
> ever even existed. I did some cursory research this weekend and
>
Try this web page:
Where Jesus Never Walked:
http://www.AmericanAtheist.org/win96-7/T1/ozjesus.html
I think the evidence is pretty conclusive that "Jesus of Nazereth" never
existed... because Nazereth did not exist when Jesus was around! The
entire Jesus story is a myth, and people only began to assume it was
real (*literally* real) *much* later.
> discovered that NO ONE in the scholarship even doubted the existence
> of Jesus of Nazerth until the mid-1800s when a bunch of German
> scholars started doubting everything. This spread to some academic
>
Again, no one doubted that the Earth was flat until a few hundred years
ago either. What is your point?
> Before you tell me that my belief in Christ is "faith" not "reason"
you might check into the reasons--his existence, the credibility of
eye witness reports, the credibility of the scriptures in fulfillment
of prophecy--the actual relationship that a person is able to have
with God. Once you looked seriously as these things instead of vain
imaginings--i.e., Jesus didn't exist, he was a myth a legend--as long
as you can dismiss Him without evidence you don't ever have to look
hard at the question: And who do you say I am? After you look at
> the evidence, then make up your mind that is a different thing.
The *entire* point here is that we are *denying* that Jesus said "who do
you think I am?"... it's entirely possible that those were "words put in
his mouth"... or, to go even farther, those words are just another part
of the Jesus myth. All of it was made up.
Memetics even allows us to consider *why* those words would have stayed
around (and thus been incorporated into the Bible a few centuries
later)... it simple, really.
That question is what's called a "question begging" one. In order to
even *answer* it, one must *assume* that Jesus existed.
It just like: "Have you quit cheating on your exams yet". The question
*assumes* something that not all people are willing to agree to.
Because of it's hard to answer nature, it makes great apologetics... as
you yourself have proved by using it here.
I'd say you've let the mind virus lead you astray, Chardin.
ERiC