(October 27, 2013 at 6:37 am)Aractus Wrote: So where's the proper evidence that Alexander the Great existed then?

This tactic is not proof that your god boy lived, so stop wasting our time with it.

And even if a person called Jesus did live and was crucified, you then have to come up with evidence for the miracles and the resurrection.

(October 27, 2013 at 6:20 am)Aractus Wrote: [quote='Thor' pid='532058' dateline='1382808240']Thank you for confirming that no one knows who wrote the Babble.

Quote:an idiot, either contribute, or go practise falling down someplace else please.

Insults... nice.

Of course, you didn't address my point at all. No one knows who wrote the Babble, so why should we take it seriously?

Quote:Maybe you can cite ONE historical document or record written DURING THE SUPPOSED LIFETIME OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT that mentions the life and/or death of this man?

Nice attempt at deflection. For starters, Alexander the Great is not claimed to have been divine. So there is little reason to believe he didn't actually exist. But if you want proof from his actual lifetime, we have coins that were minted during his lifetime that mention his name.

Quote:So there is actual evidence that Pontius Pilate was a real person! Now, as for this "Jesus" guy.....?

Quote:Yes there's evidence, but far less evidence then there is that Jesus was a real person.

And this "proof" would be...?

Quote:My point in this thread is to draw your attention to the fact that you're a complete idiot if you doubt that Jesus was a real person, or doubt any of the other "indisputable" facts.

I would go so far as to say there probably was a guy named Jesus. However, at best, he was a local preacher who generated a small following. After his death, stories about him were wildly exaggerated and the religion based on him took off when Constantine declared Christianity to be the state religion of the Roman Empire. Without Constantine, your little belief system would have either died out long ago, or today would be a fringe religion.

Why do you believe the incredible stories about him are true, anyway?

(October 27, 2013 at 7:37 am)xpastor Wrote: Why am I not surprised that Dallas Theological Seminary where Wallace teaches upholds the authority and inerrancy of the scriptures, in fact, puts it first on their list of doctrines to which students are required to adhere.

A commitment to inerrancy undermines biblical scholarship as the conclusions are predetermined in advance of any evidence. I know whereof I speak having emerged from the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, aka Misery Synod.

The upholder of inerrancy is a priori prevented from considering the possibility of multiple strands of authorship in a document and is required to come up with the most incredible bullshit to reconcile conflicting narratives of the same event. It ultimately leads to the dishonest translations of the NIV, which does not scruple to insert words in the translation which have absolutely no warrant in the original text.

If your point is that he's biased and his work isn't professional in its approach, based on where he teaches, then I'm afraid you've failed to raise a convincing concern. We have a college in Canberra called StMarks which has the exact opposite reputation, yet I know some of the teachers there are extremely evangelical. So don't stoop so low as to try and raise concerns about someone's character and more importantly the quality of their work, base on where they work.

As for that and NIV translation problems, you've just jumped a huge canyon to make that link. Evangelicals don't like the NIV because of the fact that it sways quite a way from a literal reading of the Greek in a number of places.

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(October 27, 2013 at 3:35 pm)Optimistic Mysanthrope Wrote: How about some contemporary coins with his face on?

That's great, but where are the contemporary texts written during his lifetime??

Again, where are the contemporary texts written during his lifetime? All you provided was a link with a list of 9 people (not 3) that wrote about him.

Right. So datable, physical evidence isn't good enough?

(October 27, 2013 at 6:26 pm)Optimistic Mysanthrope Wrote: Right. So datable, physical evidence isn't good enough?

I guess not.