(July 7, 2014 at 9:19 pm)Blackout Wrote: Solely considering the historical perspective and reliable inductive evidence, did Jesus Christ exist? Under what circumstances? What's the safest conclusion we can reach?
No one name Jesus Existed at that supposed time - the letter "J" did not exist in ANY language - and in proper English we do not translate proper names.
Certainly a human that fulfilled all of the claims of the religion about the christ DID NOT LIVE. THere is simply no basis for the supernatural claims of religion.
Based on the actual evidence we have - the christ is nothng more than a highly exaggerated fictional character from a book of religous MYTH and LEGEND. He is similar to James Bond.
Certainly it is possible that a human being was the BASIS for the otherwise fictional character - just as there are real Secret Agents that formed the basis for James Bond. However - that information has never been established and they have had 2000 years to do so. THe fact is - there is NOT a single document that can be dated to the supposed time of the christ that even mentions his name. He is not mentioned in the Dead sea scrolls which date from that time - he is not mentioned by any Jewish or Roman Historian who actually lived at that time. For a person who supposedly spoke to MULTITUDES - there is simply no first level evidence of his existence at all.
Then - you can dissect the story and find LOTS of things that do not add up.
Example - the Romans only crucified Traitors, Pirates, and enemies of the state - and they NEVER gave back the bodies for burial - to prevent them from becoming martyrs. The bible does not show the christ being any of those. They did not crucify thieves - they sent them to the lions - so the story of the thief is nonsense.
The bible is clear that Mary was pregnant before marriage - AND that Joseph had no relations with Mary until after the birth. A man born out of wedlock would not be considered as a teacher - and would have been shunned by the jews. He certainly would not have been allowed into a jewish temple to teach. And the christ was a heretic to the Jewish religion - and would have been stoned to death long before the supposed crucifixion.
I could mention dozens of problems that indicate that the story of the christ was "created" as fiction by humans
