RE: Ask a Catholic
June 4, 2015 at 10:43 am
(This post was last modified: June 4, 2015 at 10:45 am by pocaracas.)
Well, considering the evidence we have for Jesus' existence, we'd also have to consider that Gilgamesh existed, Ulisses existed, and maybe even Hercules...
Now, we may debate on which parts of the stories attributed to these characters actually happened, which were later additions to embellish the stories and which are just made up to draw in more people.
I'm willing to give you a Jesus, in the first century, that was followed by other people for his teachings on how to deal with one another, for his wisdom in interpreting the law of Moses in a humanistic way that people could identify with - the people who didn't want to die nor to kill, the people who didn't want war...
Eventually, either he got cocky and messed with the big dogs who did what they always do; or he just got fed up, settled down someplace where no one knew him and lived out his life.
The part where he gets cocky with the big dogs is reminiscent of the teacher's story(oh... both are some sort of teachers, huh?)... so, maybe, maybe (pointless speculation again), that part of the canon came from that previous reference and the actual person just went away somehow.
What I'm not willing to give you is that this Jesus guy did magic: multiply bread loaves, replenish wine bottles, walk on water, revive dead people, cure virus-induced diseases with a single touch, resurrect.... did I miss any? Oh, son of a god.
Can you convince me that the man actually did this magic? What would you use as backing for it? writings on a book wouldn't cut it... or else, Gilgamesh, Ulisses and Hercules could be real people as well.... not to mention some other characters that have popped-up more recently, like Super-man, Spider-man.
Super-man is actually a great example of how a fictional character can evolve. At first, he was just super strong, super fast and could leap over tall buildings... then, at some point, he could fly.... fly in to outer space, even; shoot lasers from his eyes, etc...
Now, we may debate on which parts of the stories attributed to these characters actually happened, which were later additions to embellish the stories and which are just made up to draw in more people.
I'm willing to give you a Jesus, in the first century, that was followed by other people for his teachings on how to deal with one another, for his wisdom in interpreting the law of Moses in a humanistic way that people could identify with - the people who didn't want to die nor to kill, the people who didn't want war...
Eventually, either he got cocky and messed with the big dogs who did what they always do; or he just got fed up, settled down someplace where no one knew him and lived out his life.
The part where he gets cocky with the big dogs is reminiscent of the teacher's story(oh... both are some sort of teachers, huh?)... so, maybe, maybe (pointless speculation again), that part of the canon came from that previous reference and the actual person just went away somehow.
What I'm not willing to give you is that this Jesus guy did magic: multiply bread loaves, replenish wine bottles, walk on water, revive dead people, cure virus-induced diseases with a single touch, resurrect.... did I miss any? Oh, son of a god.
Can you convince me that the man actually did this magic? What would you use as backing for it? writings on a book wouldn't cut it... or else, Gilgamesh, Ulisses and Hercules could be real people as well.... not to mention some other characters that have popped-up more recently, like Super-man, Spider-man.
Super-man is actually a great example of how a fictional character can evolve. At first, he was just super strong, super fast and could leap over tall buildings... then, at some point, he could fly.... fly in to outer space, even; shoot lasers from his eyes, etc...
