Does a God exist?

[pocaracas]

Steve, my boy... you are wrong:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotheology

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sherme...anguage=en

First, you intuitively believe, then you consciously acknowledge that belief.... your "choosing to believe" purports to this second stage... or some other that comes later.

The NT delves in circular logic there, wouldn't you think?
Here's a marvelous tale that happened.... And here's the tale of the people who believed in the marvelous tale.
Certainly, no reason to think they'd be lying... -.-'

Specially, when you know that "the early church" was no such thing... I think Minimalist will eventually lecture you on that, but [spoiler alert] it was mostly made up in the second century [/spoiler alert].

Sure... there were Essenes in the first century who may have seen their long awaited Teacher arisen in the person of Jesus... (note the "may" - there's nothing of consequence written about this).


Tell me, did the authors of the Vedas claim to have knowledge that they didn't really have?
Did the authors of the Egyptian book of the dead claim to have knowledge that they didn't have?
(should I go on for other authors of other religious texts from other religions?.... I'm sure I can come up with a few... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_text)

Did/do they all hold false beliefs? How shocking!!  

I'm not seeing how either one of those links support your conclusion. Do you "intuitively believe" or have an intuition based on your existing knowledge? If you have to intuitively believe everything prior to a proper belief, how would you ever learn something new?

Oh... you need something a bit more serious?
How about this?:
https://books.google.pt/books?id=a1ueBAA...in&f=false

Learning involves information flowing to you.
After you have acquired that info (or while you're still acquiring it), you form an intuitive opinion of it... and then rationalize it.

Believing the NT authors is certainly not circular.

I don't think that's what was being said...
Believing in the NT stories because of other NT stories that claim that the first NT stories were accurate is...ok.. not circular... but fallacious.

I won't see what Minimalist has to say on the subject but are you taking the position that the early church did not exist? Then you must believe in the vast conspiracy theory. On what basis do scholars think that to be the case?

Tell me, what is the oldest known piece of writing that mentions this Early church? What is the oldest known piece of writing by a member of this early church?
The list in here might help:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Church_Fathers

Also... are you aware of how many "early churches" existed?
have a read:
https://books.google.pt/books?id=URdACxK...&q&f=false

By what logic do you discount the truth of 27 different text because you can find stray texts that were not true in other times and other places? Each text has to stand up to scrutiny on its own merit.

huh? Other texts that were not true?

Let's look at those 27, then.
Why are the Essenes, the third most numerous jewish "class" in Jerusalem, not mentioned in any of them?
The Essenes... those that preached a message so close to what the apostles and Jesus supposedly preached that it boggles the mind! Why were they left out of the NT?
No reason to lie...

Read more... specially the section on "Moreh ha-Zedek":
http://www.shareintl.org/archives/M_emer...eacher.htm
"
The Teacher of Righteousness is called in Hebrew Moreh ha-Zedek -- one entrusted with the Law and sent by God to lead his people in the way of truth. The root word zedek is also found in "Melchizedek" -- the King of Righteousness, and in "Sons of Zadok" -- Righteous Priests. In the spring of 1950 Andre Dupont-Sommer, Professor of Semitic Languages and Civilizations at the Sorbonne, presented to the academic community a paper about the Moreh ha-Zedek which caused a sensation.

"Jesus," he claimed, "appears in many respects as an astonishing reincarnation of the Teacher of Righteousness. Like the latter, he preached penitence, poverty, humility, love of one's neighbor, chastity.... Like him, he was the Elect and the Messiah of God.... Like him, he was the object of the hostility of the priests.... Like him, he was condemned and put to death. Like him he pronounced judgment on Jerusalem, which was taken and destroyed by the Romans for having put him to death.... Like him, he founded a Church whose adherents fervently awaited his glorious return.... All these similarities -- and here I only touch upon the subject -- taken together constitute a very impressive whole."

It must be emphasized that Dupont-Sommer never suggested the Teacher of Righteousness was Jesus, but called him a prototype.
"

Hence why I initially said that the "early church" could have been an evolution of the Essene cult.