(November 5, 2010 at 7:01 pm)solja247 Wrote:Quote:Perhaps you should ask what makes Jesus different from Noah and Adam? If you're willing to concede that some of the Bible may be either fiction or, at best, metaphoric, why not Jesus?
Historical sources
AND
"I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself, Caesar, and Alexander should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant – Jesus – should be able to stretch His hands across the centuries and control the destinies of men and nations" (Napoleon).
The problem with a quote like that is that it is un-sourced... as opposed to this one which seems to say the opposite and is sourced.
Quote:Religions are all founded on miracles — on things we cannot understand, such as the Trinity. Jesus calls himself the Son of God, and yet is descended from David. I prefer the religion of Mahomet — it is less ridiculous than ours.
* Letter from St. Helena (28 August 1817); as quoted in The St. Helena Journal of General Baron Gourgaud, 1815-1818 : Being a Diary written at St. Helena during a part of Napoleon's Captivity (1932) as translated by Norman Edwards, a translation of Journal de Sainte-Hélène 1815-1818 by General Gaspard Gourgaud, t.2, p.226
Napoleon died in 1821 so his opinion on the subject from 1817 is quite late in life. Perhaps what we are seeing here is another example of what Robert G. Ingersoll meant when he said:
Quote:Orthodox Christians have the habit of claiming all great men, all men who have held important positions, men of reputation, men of wealth. As soon as the funeral is over clergymen begin to relate imaginary conversations with the deceased, and in a very little while the great man is changed to a Christian -- possibly to a saint.