RE: Atheist Bible Study 1: Genesis
October 30, 2018 at 1:46 pm
(This post was last modified: October 30, 2018 at 1:47 pm by TwoCultSurvivor.)
I work in courts all the time. I cover them for a major metropolitan newspaper.
From a court of law perspective, no, you cannot prove that Jesus existed as a figure in history.
Certainly not "beyond a reasonable doubt," and likely not "by a preponderance of the evidence."
Courts do not allow "hearsay" testimony, and ALL the evidence about Jesus' historical existence is hearsay.
I'm including Tacitus, for whom Jesus was a throwaway line in a comment about a different subject entirely.
I'm including Josephus, whose most famous reference to Jesus is a fraud and whose second-most famous reference is incongruous with the legend we're discussing.
I'm not saying Jesus never existed. I think it's likely he did: but the evidence requires us to accept second, third and fourth hand accounts as reliable.
That can happen in history.
It cannot happen in court. There's more proof that the South American caravan has Middle Eastern lepers headed to the USA than there is that Jesus existed, as far as courts would be concerned.
From a court of law perspective, no, you cannot prove that Jesus existed as a figure in history.
Certainly not "beyond a reasonable doubt," and likely not "by a preponderance of the evidence."
Courts do not allow "hearsay" testimony, and ALL the evidence about Jesus' historical existence is hearsay.
I'm including Tacitus, for whom Jesus was a throwaway line in a comment about a different subject entirely.
I'm including Josephus, whose most famous reference to Jesus is a fraud and whose second-most famous reference is incongruous with the legend we're discussing.
I'm not saying Jesus never existed. I think it's likely he did: but the evidence requires us to accept second, third and fourth hand accounts as reliable.
That can happen in history.
It cannot happen in court. There's more proof that the South American caravan has Middle Eastern lepers headed to the USA than there is that Jesus existed, as far as courts would be concerned.
