(August 18, 2015 at 9:23 am)Redbeard The Pink Wrote:(August 18, 2015 at 8:35 am)Irrational Wrote: Sure, ok. Do you want to come up with a reason for them being unnecessarily sneaky?
This is about plausibility, rob. You want to muse about Jesus' nonexistence, you're free to do so, lol.
Analyzing motivations is part of what scholars do.
As I stated above, people who are convinced of their religious convictions are not always above using deceitful tactics to convince others. The rationale often goes something like, "I know this to be true, and I'm convinced that everyone should believe it's true, so if they don't believe on the same evidence I do, I'm willing to come up with whatever evidence it takes, even if I have to make some of it up. The most important thing is that people believe."
I used the example of faith healers, some of whom truly believe in Jehovah and are willing to "help him along" by fabricating miracles for people to believe in. Not every charlatan is an atheist or even a skeptic.
I don't think you're addressing what I actually said earlier couple posts ago.
I don't dispute that charlatans can be sincere believers in God. The authors of the gospels could be charlatans for all I care, the question still remains:
Why Nazareth if it could have been much much easier to just stick to Bethlehem?
