Why do atheists even bother about debating Jesus?

[TaraJo]

With as much as the Jesus people shove their religion down our throat, it's hard for us to NOT learn a thing or two about their theology.

Even at school, a local community college, I'm not free. There's a church group that comes by periodically and preaches to people. Even when I told one of their people that I'm not interested in hearing their fairy tails, he still insisted on sitting at my table and opening up his bible (this was the point where I got up and left). Then, over the past week or so, the schools' GLBT group got permission to put fliers on the bulletin boards telling people about our group. Most of them were taken down and replaced with the same Jesus fliers the church people like to pass out.

And my general rule still is as follows: religious people leave me alone and don't preach to me and I won't tell them how silly their religion is. If they break that and they preach, I'm probably going to tell them some of the sick, sadistic stuff in the Bible and some of the absurd verses and some of the direct contradictions. Yes, I know these things and they aren't even hard to find. The reason non-believers see them isn't that we study the Bible especially hard; it's that we're willing to look at it with a critical eye.

[Zen Badger]

Its always healthy to talk about our Lord, be it for or against Him. I don't see any reason why Atheists shouldn't talk about Jesus Christ?

And your lot have yet to provide any documentary evidence that he ever actually existed.

[Zone]

There's no problem with Jesus existing it's more a question of whether he was actually God (something decided by councils) in human form or whether he had any form of divine or supernatural power of any kind. King Arthur may have existed, it doesn't mean he had a magic sword that he pulled out of a stone. We will know more about the historical Jesus than we do King Arthur, his actual name would have been Yeshua.

[Zen Badger]

There's no problem with Jesus existing it's more a question of whether he was actually God (something decided by councils) in human form or whether he had any form of divine or supernatural power of any kind. King Arthur may have existed, it doesn't mean he had a magic sword that he pulled out of a stone. We will know more about the historical Jesus than we do King Arthur, his actual name would have been Yeshua.

We do? Then provide some contemporary accounts of his life and doings please.

[Ryantology]

It's something to do.

And, pointing out the smaller absurdities in the Christian story help illustrate the grand absurdity that is the Christian story.

[Zone]

We do? Then provide some contemporary accounts of his life and doings please.

We don't have contemporary accounts of Hannibal of Carthage either but there's reason to think he didn't exist. And other historical figures such as Julias Caesar have had supernatural events and powers grafted onto them. There was a Roman Emperor who was claimed to have restored the sight of a blind man by rubbing his spit into the mans eyes. Roman Emperors were meant to be divine as living gods you see. The first written accounts of Jesus in the Bible are dated around 50-60 AD we're not talking hundreds of years so I would suppose he existed.

[Zen Badger]

We do? Then provide some contemporary accounts of his life and doings please.

We don't have contemporary accounts of Hannibal of Carthage either but there's reason to think he didn't exist. And other historical figures such as Julias Caesar have had supernatural events and powers grafted onto them. There was a Roman Emperor who was claimed to have restored the sight of a blind man by rubbing his spit into the mans eyes. Roman Emperors were meant to be divine as living gods you see. The first written accounts of Jesus in the Bible are dated around 50-60 AD we're not talking hundreds of years so I would suppose he existed.

I'm not asking about anyone else, I'm asking about jesus.

And these written accounts about him were.......?

[Zone]

I'm not asking about anyone else, I'm asking about jesus.

The standards you apply to any other historical figure ought to apply to Jesus as well, otherwise it'sd a double standard.

And these written accounts about him were.......?

The letters of St Paul these were were written before the gospel accounts about 20 years after Jesus death.

[Nine]

The standards you apply to any other historical figure ought to apply to Jesus as well, otherwise it'sd a double standard.

Most historical figures aren't worshiped by a quite ridiculous number of people.

[Brian37]

Why do we bother? You don't even have to make this about religion. We bother because people vote and people run governments and as long as one values their own freedom, muddling in ignorance allows others power over you.