Atheists being asked about the existence of Jesus

[Acrobat]

I think people look at those who deny Jesus historically existed, like they would flat earthers, or holocaust denialist. We have first hand accounts of someone who met his disciples and brother

We don't have those. We have psuedepigraphy, interpolations, and downright forgery...all swirling around a hellenic mytheme.

No we have those, we have a first hand account of someone who met his brother and disciples, and even had disputes with them. In fact the death of Jesus’s brother, is written of by a Jewish Historian Josephus, whose pretty much the only historian we have writing of that entire period in roman Palestine. And this portion unlike the portion you’re probably thinking of is considered authentic.

The vox populi.  Everyone wants to cram their favorite saying into the mouth of a demi-god, lol.  

Whose favorite sayings? You have multiple texts, with the same sayings and parables, that incorporate unique styles of irony, reversal of expectations, etc.. attributed to a first century jewish preacher named Jesus, and no one else.

Perhaps you might say there was an original writing perhaps the Q, whose authors composed these sayings, who went around preaching them as well. But you’d be back at square one. Whose the author? We don’t know his name, but a variety of writing indicate their author is named Jesus.

The romans also acknowledged the existence of the dragons of britain... and vowed to defeat them. 

Then I guess I should deem all historical persons of the time, who lack any physical archeological evidence, but written of by roman historians, as likely to exist as dragons?  

What events?  The rise of christianity didn't happen until 300ad.  "Jesus" wasn't exactly around to help at that point in time.  They spent their first 1k years as a church purging their own myths......and textual criticism has spent the last 200 pointing out the legendary.  They had to stomp on a few heretics along the way....oddly enough, people didn't seem to agree about "the events"..and, by people, I mean early christians.


If you want to know about events that shaped the christian movement..consider this.  Following a generation of pandemic...and a the assumption of a new dynasty whose emperor needed to fire all the praetorians plotting to kill him.........christ, as we know him...was born.  It was a culture that improved the sick and poors way of life...and an ideology that was useful to that populations owners..both in the immediate (then)present and near future.  The whole situation with the christian apparatus was a sort of street war between vox and the imperial cult, the same man heading both sides of that culture war for a time.

No the NT Writings were composed far earlier than 300ad.