The Jesus Freaks Will Hate This

[Minimalist]

Calm, rational, solidly-based demolition of their stupid jesus shit.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/9-thi...bly-wrong/

Jesus has been described as the best known figure in history, and also the least known. If you mentioned the name “Jesus” and someone asked Jesus who, you might blink. Or laugh. Even people who don’t think Jesus was God mostly believe they know a fair bit about him. You might be surprised that some of your most basic assumptions about Jesus are probably wrong.

We have no record of anything that was written about Jesus by eyewitnesses or other contemporaries during the time he would have lived, or for decades thereafter. Nonetheless, based on archeological digs and artifacts, ancient texts and art, and even forensic science, we know a good deal about the time and culture in which the New Testament is set. This evidence points to some startling conclusions about who Jesus likely was—and wasn’t.

[Nope]

Early Christians may have centered on the vertical pole with a crossbeam because it echoed the Egyptian ankh, a symbol of life, or the Sumerian symbol for Tammuz, or because it simply was more artistically and symbolically distinctive than the alternatives. Imagine millions of people wearing a golden pole on a chain around their necks.

That is interesting.

The Jesus of the bible said that he wouldn't know those who didn't help feed or clothe the poor. If Paul hadn't existed, Protestants would not believe in faith alone because that is not what Jesus taught.

We can be confident that at least some of the wise and timeless words and catchy proverbs attributed to Jesus are actually from earlier or later thinkers. For example, the Golden Rule was articulated before the time of Christ by the Rabbi Hillel the Elder, who similarly said it was the “whole Torah.” By contrast, the much-loved story of the woman caught in adultery doesn’t appear in manuscripts until the fourth century.

Glad to see that someone else has noticed a similarity between Hillel and Jesus.

[Thumpalumpacus]

They will hate it, but then they will ignore it and continue clutching their security blanket.

[Norman Humann]

They will hate it, but then they will ignore it and continue clutching their security blanket.

Exactly. They cannot bear the fact that their precious fairy tale isn't supported by rational human beings. If they're catholic, I can almost guarantee that they will edit it out of their brain completely and respond with something along the lines of "you're looking at it wrong".

Jesus is exactly like Santa Claus. A commercialized and idealized version of someone who, if they were real, were far from the sugarcoated description.

[Minimalist]

Glad to see that someone else has noticed a similarity between Hillel and Jesus.

Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him.

Pittacus of Mytilene, 640 BC-568 BC

Beat both of them by six centuries.

[Huggy Bear]

Calm, rational, solidly-based demolition of their stupid jesus shit.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/9-thi...bly-wrong/

Jesus has been described as the best known figure in history, and also the least known. If you mentioned the name “Jesus” and someone asked Jesus who, you might blink. Or laugh. Even people who don’t think Jesus was God mostly believe they know a fair bit about him. You might be surprised that some of your most basic assumptions about Jesus are probably wrong.

We have no record of anything that was written about Jesus by eyewitnesses or other contemporaries during the time he would have lived, or for decades thereafter. Nonetheless, based on archeological digs and artifacts, ancient texts and art, and even forensic science, we know a good deal about the time and culture in which the New Testament is set. This evidence points to some startling conclusions about who Jesus likely was—and wasn’t.

"Calm, rational, solidly-based demolition" you say?
Let's address the very first point of your article.

1. Married, not single. When an ancient papyrus scrap was found in 2014 referring to the wife of Jesus, some Catholics and Evangelicals were scandalized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Jesus%27_Wife

The "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" is the name given to a papyrus fragment with a Coptic text that includes the words, "Jesus said to them, 'my wife...'".[1] The text was alleged to be a fourth-century Coptic translation of what is said to be "a gospel probably written in Greek in the second half of the second century."[2] The current consensus among scholars is that the fragment is a modern forgery.[3]

In April 2014, a careful analysis of the papyrus and the ink showed that the papyrus itself is ancient and dates to between the sixth and ninth centuries.

So evidence created 700 years after the fact is good enough for you in this instance, how convenient.
Talk about being Gullible...

[Norman Humann]

3. Hung on a pole, not necessarily a cross. For centuries scholars have known that the Greek New Testament word “stauros,” which is translated into English as cross, can refer to a device of several shapes, commonly a single upright pole, “torture stake” or even tree.

So I guess it's time for all the Christians to change their crucifixes to poles now...

[FreeTony]

This is the most accurate picture we have of what Jesus looked like. From this image we can definitely conclude that he was white, had long hair and votes republican.

[Huggy Bear]

3. Hung on a pole, not necessarily a cross. For centuries scholars have known that the Greek New Testament word “stauros,” which is translated into English as cross, can refer to a device of several shapes, commonly a single upright pole, “torture stake” or even tree.

So I guess it's time for all the Christians to change their crucifixes to poles now...

Or maybe you guys need to brush up on your Latin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifix

A crucifix (from Latin cruci fixus meaning "(one) fixed to a cross")

Also, show me exactly where in the Bible it describes what the "cross" actually looked like...

[Norman Humann]

Or maybe you guys need to brush up on your Latin.

Hard to brush up on something I never learned, though, speaking personally. No one else in this thread even used the word crucifix, so I don't know why you'd say "you guys".

Also, show me exactly where it describes what the "cross" actually looked like...

Where what says what the cross looked like? The bible?
Well, it uses the word cross, right? And "cross" means "a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half."