MERGED: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Part 1) & (Part 2)

[dyresand]

First off, you don't know what kind of sources Josephus had. He was an adult within 20 years after Jesus crucifixion', during a time when Christianity was still new and spreading throughout the empire and the original disciples of Jesus were still alive.

You don't know what sources Josephus had either. So why is it wrong for Jenny to talk about him in the negative, but when you want to use him as a positive case it's perfectly fine? Double standard much?

Just because he choose to write his historical work much later in his life doesn't change the fact that he was a young adult within 20 years of the cross, which could be traced right back to the time of a specific procurator and a specific Roman emperor.

So, for clarity, what you're saying is that two decades after someone's death is an adequate time delay to be considered a contemporary source? It'd be like if we were only just now getting written records of stuff that happened in the nineties.

Nonsense. The average person during the time of Jesus, in that location, could not read or write. They were illiterate....and Jesus' travels took him to just religious cities, towns, and villages. The only people that could read and write were probably the Jewish authorities, and they were obviously not fans of Jesus to be writing about him.

You know what I'd expect to see, if Jesus really was a person traveling around at that time, let alone an actual guy performing miracles and claiming to be the son of god? Writings from the dominant religion of the time denouncing him. Since when has the first action of religion, when threatened, to be complete silence? This is just you retrofitting what you want to be true into the established facts, rather than approaching the situation as human beings might reasonably behave.

Information was passed through word of mouth...and what I find amazing is the fact that you claim that there is plenty of contemporary sources for other important people during that time, yet the legacy that Jesus left behind far better exceeds anyone in history.

We've been through this before. Jesus' "legacy" had plenty of help from armies of violent, crusading theocratic thugs. You cannot attribute it all to one man.

Man was more peaceful until religion came around. people complain the world is messed up but religion just made the world worse off we never really needed it.