(March 4, 2015 at 3:51 am)robvalue Wrote: The thing is, there are so few points on his timeline that there is any hope of pinning to him with any accuracy, that it leaves about 99% of his life up for grabs.
Bingo. And all the supposedly "known" things about Jesus, which I maintain are dubious but let that go, are so general that he could be anybody.
"Yeshua" was a common name. There were many religious leaders, doomcriers and messiah-wannabes since Judaism itself was in crisis. Pilate crucified a lot of Jewish leaders. James was a common name, as underscored by so many of them in the NT itself. Lots of guys had brothers.
And even if we can be sure that this Historical Jesus existed, is he even the Gospel character Jesus anymore?
We may as well retell the story of Dr. Who. Only lets get rid of the TARDIS. And the traveling through time and space. And the sonic screwdriver. And the regeneration. And make him human instead of an alien.
Or we could just as easily retell the story of Harry Potter. Only get rid of all the magic and the fanciful creatures.
Or how about we retell the story of Superman only without the costume, super powers, alien ancestry and all that?
The miracles and the divinity ARE the story of Jesus. Take them away and you tell a different story about a different person.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
