Jesus teachings, assuming he was even real, boil really down to being a decent human being.
You don’t need a religious institution to live by that principle, you don’t even need to be a believer of anything supernatural, you don’t even have to believe he existed. Just be a decent human being, it’s really not that hard.
All those people and their labels, but they always end up just being control freaks and hypocrites, all throughout history. And then they wonder why others turn their backs on them.
We can say that he lived with overwhelming certainty. Details are fuzzy and miracles either misinterpreted or made up but there was a guy by his name who was baptised by John the Baptist, travelled around arguing theology and collecting followers, and was crucified.
If a Historian were to write a book about Churchill today would you judge it just as unreliable as Tacitus, who wrote some what 70 years after Jesus’ death, wasn’t a Christian, had access to Roman state archives, and is generally considered to be a reliable historiographer? The man was a Senator if Christians had made up the crucifixion he would have called them out on it. We would see tons of Roman authors add libel to the list of reasons to discriminate against Christians. It would’ve been a whole thing.
Also what’s so exceptional about the mere existence and death of some random itinerant preacher that would require a particularly high standard of evidence? No historian is saying that he got resurrected or something.
If a Historian were to write a book about Churchill today
There’s very throughout recordings of Churchill and his life already, even from the time he actually lived.
Also what’s so exceptional about the mere existence and death of some random itinerant preacher that would require a particularly high standard of evidence?
The entire religion formed around his person? His “wonders”? If there’s such a big fuss being made about his life, then surely you’d have records of said life from when he was still alive, not very long after his death.
WTF do supposed wonders have to do with whether he lived or not?
If someone says “The pope can perform miracles” and I say “there’s no proof of that”, does that imply that I deny the existence of the pope? Do rumours of miracles even begin to make the existence of a person sitting on a chair in Rome less likely?
As to the fuzz about him: There were tons of itinerant preachers back them, not many were made martyrs by the Romans. Also, you know, I wouldn’t call it entirely unlikely that Jesus, as a person, was an exceptionally swell and nice guy, people liked him, considered him wise or even divinely inspired. People having followers certainly isn’t out of the ordinary, it’s been known to happen.
Or is the existence of Stalin suddenly up in the air because Tankies form a religion around the guy?
WTF do supposed wonders have to do with whether he lived or not?
Simple. If someone today would walk on water or turn water into wine, then it would be talked about everywhere, but not ages after their death. No idea why you find this so hard to comprehend.
Or is the existence of Stalin suddenly up in the air because Tankies form a religion around the guy?
No? There’s literally records of him existing, including video evidence. Stop being willfully obtuse. This is just bad faith bullshit arguing and you know it.
Simple. If someone today would walk on water or turn water into wine, then it would be talked about everywhere, but not ages after their death. No idea why you find this so hard to comprehend.
And people who don’t do it and thus aren’t talked about that often therefore don’t exist? Of course the historical evidence regarding Jesus is not on that kind of scale for the simple reason that there’s no such thing as miracles. He got crucified and that rallied a popular movement which caused trouble in the Roman Empire that’s why we have independent (i.e. non-Christian, non-believer) evidence of his existence. That is, he made just enough of a splash to be recorded.
There’s literally records of him existing, including video evidence.
And there was enough contemporary evidence to convince Tacitus that Jesus existed, that those troublesome Christians didn’t simply make him up completely. As said: The man was a Senator, not a Christian, had access to state archives, and generally was quite thorough. He would’ve caught Christians lying about someone getting crucified.
And people who don’t do it and thus aren’t talked about that often therefore don’t exist?
It means that the Jesus person that the bible talks about and that formed this entire global religion didn’t exist, which in turn invalidates the entire Christian religion (although you can apply most of the same logic to other religions too, of course).
He did say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," which would, at the very least, necessitate believing he existed.
Depends on how you want to interpret & translate it, not that I really care either way. If the afterlife were real and you’d deny entry to good people simply for not believing in Jesus, then you’re not even worth the worship anyway.
Jesus teachings, assuming he was even real, boil really down to being a decent human being.
You don’t need a religious institution to live by that principle, you don’t even need to be a believer of anything supernatural, you don’t even have to believe he existed. Just be a decent human being, it’s really not that hard.
All those people and their labels, but they always end up just being control freaks and hypocrites, all throughout history. And then they wonder why others turn their backs on them.
We can say that he lived with overwhelming certainty. Details are fuzzy and miracles either misinterpreted or made up but there was a guy by his name who was baptised by John the Baptist, travelled around arguing theology and collecting followers, and was crucified.
Yet all his records appear only like a hundred years after his alleged death. I don’t find that to be convincing credibility.
If a Historian were to write a book about Churchill today would you judge it just as unreliable as Tacitus, who wrote some what 70 years after Jesus’ death, wasn’t a Christian, had access to Roman state archives, and is generally considered to be a reliable historiographer? The man was a Senator if Christians had made up the crucifixion he would have called them out on it. We would see tons of Roman authors add libel to the list of reasons to discriminate against Christians. It would’ve been a whole thing.
Also what’s so exceptional about the mere existence and death of some random itinerant preacher that would require a particularly high standard of evidence? No historian is saying that he got resurrected or something.
There’s very throughout recordings of Churchill and his life already, even from the time he actually lived.
The entire religion formed around his person? His “wonders”? If there’s such a big fuss being made about his life, then surely you’d have records of said life from when he was still alive, not very long after his death.
WTF do supposed wonders have to do with whether he lived or not?
If someone says “The pope can perform miracles” and I say “there’s no proof of that”, does that imply that I deny the existence of the pope? Do rumours of miracles even begin to make the existence of a person sitting on a chair in Rome less likely?
As to the fuzz about him: There were tons of itinerant preachers back them, not many were made martyrs by the Romans. Also, you know, I wouldn’t call it entirely unlikely that Jesus, as a person, was an exceptionally swell and nice guy, people liked him, considered him wise or even divinely inspired. People having followers certainly isn’t out of the ordinary, it’s been known to happen.
Or is the existence of Stalin suddenly up in the air because Tankies form a religion around the guy?
Simple. If someone today would walk on water or turn water into wine, then it would be talked about everywhere, but not ages after their death. No idea why you find this so hard to comprehend.
No? There’s literally records of him existing, including video evidence. Stop being willfully obtuse. This is just bad faith bullshit arguing and you know it.
And people who don’t do it and thus aren’t talked about that often therefore don’t exist? Of course the historical evidence regarding Jesus is not on that kind of scale for the simple reason that there’s no such thing as miracles. He got crucified and that rallied a popular movement which caused trouble in the Roman Empire that’s why we have independent (i.e. non-Christian, non-believer) evidence of his existence. That is, he made just enough of a splash to be recorded.
And there was enough contemporary evidence to convince Tacitus that Jesus existed, that those troublesome Christians didn’t simply make him up completely. As said: The man was a Senator, not a Christian, had access to state archives, and generally was quite thorough. He would’ve caught Christians lying about someone getting crucified.
It means that the Jesus person that the bible talks about and that formed this entire global religion didn’t exist, which in turn invalidates the entire Christian religion (although you can apply most of the same logic to other religions too, of course).
The gospel according to Wheaton:
And lo, Jesus said to the people, “don’t be a dick.”
He did say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," which would, at the very least, necessitate believing he existed.
Depends on how you want to interpret & translate it, not that I really care either way. If the afterlife were real and you’d deny entry to good people simply for not believing in Jesus, then you’re not even worth the worship anyway.
Matthew 10:34-36