(September 15, 2016 at 10:40 am)Firefighter01 Wrote: Yes, if you think that he was a normal human, he would have normal parents. Not the Jesus of the Bible. His father was supernatural and was himself. His mother was a virgin. If you discount the supernatural and I would hope you would, according to the Bible accounts, the family relationships were poor to non-existent.You are mistaken on this. Divinity of Jesus is a theological matter somewhat embedded in the gospel of John, but not at all present in the epistles of Paul, and the Synoptic gospels are at most neutral on that issue. Jesus himself specifically says he is not divine: [Mark 10:18/Matthew 19:17/Luke 18:19] and John 5: 30. Furthermore Jesus specifically says he isn't trying to displace the Law of Moses and reaffirms the authority of the Jewish God and his Law in the strongest possible way (Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17).
(September 15, 2016 at 10:40 am)Firefighter01 Wrote: No, Paul's focus is not on the historical Jesus, it's all about the spiritual Jesus of the scriptures. If he was concerned at all about Jesus being historical he would have gone back to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples to validate his conversion apparition. Instead he doesn't think that its important to meet up with the disciples to learn about Jesus' ministry and parables, he goes of to Africa and Damascus to teach his own version of the scriptures, which doesn't make any sense if he believed in a historical Jesus.
No it isn't because the gospels haven't been written. And Paul did know the disciples of Jesus personally - something that the gospel writers most likely did not.
(September 15, 2016 at 10:40 am)Firefighter01 Wrote: I think that the Romans would have let the Jews administer their own laws, as long as it didn't conflict with theirs. Which means that they should have stoned Jesus to death for blasphemy in the first instance if this would have been an actual account. Regarding the bias of scholars who have been indoctrinated from childhood into a belief that Jesus existed and are being paid to study in religious colleges, I think that speaks for itself on being prejudiced, don't you?
No I don't think so, and your argument is so absurd. There are a great many Bible Colleges which are very neutral in terms of religious belief. Secondly, no one gets "paid to study" - they have to pay themselves in order to learn and study. Thirdly - what indoctrination? There are plenty of non-religious scholars, and there are plenty of scholars who's published works has shaken the Church while being vindicated by others. Are you claiming that Finkelstein is indoctrinated too?
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke