(July 5, 2016 at 8:12 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote:(July 5, 2016 at 7:00 pm)SteveII Wrote: Sure, I was raised in a Christian home. My father was/is a pastor in fact. There was never really a time I did not believe what I was told.
However, decades later, I see no reason to stop believing what I believed back then for other reasons. It is not special pleading because there are compelling reasons to reject Smith's and Mohammad's claims and they do not have to do with whether miracles happened or not. I treat the NT claims differently because they are different.
How are the NT claims significantly different than those of the Quran or the hadith?
BTW, I have read the Richard Carrier article previously. I looked up the 3 "major evidence" individuals and did not see more than a few similarities to Jesus or the foundations of Christianity. Looking those people up independently shows how Carrier was stretching to make a point.
If you think his point was that these individuals resembled Christian narratives beyond the point that both involve incredible claims of miracles and other incredible acts, then I think you must have approached his article with a great deal of bias. It appears you missed his point completely.
I understood the point Carrier was trying to make: people are gullible. My point was that I felt the circumstances surrounding these examples were stretches. For example, Apollonius - other than the Adana Inscriptions, written around 220AD, 200 years after the guy, we know next to nothing. So when Philostratus wrote it, he would have had access to the gospels and the life of Jesus. Read the Historical Fact part of the Wiki articles.
In addition, what has changed til today? People still believe all kinds of things and will follow anyone who offers hope or a better ____.
