RE: Christians - What would you do if it were discovered Jesus never existed?
September 4, 2015 at 3:49 pm
(This post was last modified: September 4, 2015 at 3:53 pm by Redbeard The Pink.)
(September 4, 2015 at 1:02 pm)Drich Wrote:(September 3, 2015 at 11:44 pm)Cecelia Wrote: Hypothetical here. I'm sure some don't want to answer with anything other than "That would never happen," I'll get to that in a moment.I unlike most of you, do not like others doing my thinking for me. I don't take an expert at his word, simply because he is deemed an 'expert.' An 'expert is so because generally speaking, they make their living doing what they do, and can be swayed with the right motivation. I would ask to the 'evidence' and make my own conclusions.
Say that some evidence surfaced that strongly suggested that Jesus never existed. Evidence that was so strong that even many Apologetics accept it. The Historical Jesus didn't exist, and most historians accepted that as a fact.
What would you do?
Would you convert to Judaism?
Would you ignore the evidence? (I'll assume this is your answer if you say "That would never happen")
Would you stop believing in god altogether?
I'm curious as to what people would think they would do. Other Atheists can say what they think people would do. Personally I think a few would convert to Judaism, and many would ignore the evidence. I'm curious about what their logic would be behind their choice if such strong evidence surfaced? I mean many people deny that the world is billions of years old despite all evidence suggesting otherwise.
I would also have a lot of questions as in:
What does the evidence of someone not existing look like?
Any testimony can be dismissed, or cancled out by contrary testimony.
The lack of records would only be valid if ALL records of that time were accounted for.
So Im logically at a loss at how one can establish how a specific indivisual in the sea of human History can be proven to never existed. At the very best all that can be said is this person existence has not been confirmed. And if we are talking about Christ, then everyone else of that time frame is also suspect, because their is more data on Him and anyone of that period.
We're talking hypothetical here, Drich. It's a hypothetical situation with a hypothetical piece of smoking-gun evidence. We've asked you to play pretend long enough to answer a question, and your answer is basically, "I don't have enough imagination to pretend that, so I can't answer the question." Nice one.
To answer the OP, I used to be a Christian (yes, a True Christian, fuck you people), and I encountered evidence that convinced me Jesus of Nazareth most likely did not exist as a historical person, and when I did I immediately de-converted to atheism. While a lot of Christians are prone to sticking their fingers in their ears, they're not all beyond hope. I wasn't.
Verbatim from the mouth of Jesus (retranslated from a retranslation of a copy of a copy):
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you too will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. How can you see your brother's head up his ass when your own vision is darkened by your head being even further up your ass? How can you say to your brother, 'Get your head out of your ass,' when all the time your head is up your own ass? You hypocrite! First take your head out of your own ass, and then you will see clearly who has his head up his ass and who doesn't." Matthew 7:1-5 (also Luke 6: 41-42)
Also, I has a website: www.RedbeardThePink.com