Was Jesus the Bastard Son of a Menstruate and Promiscuous Woman from 100 BCE?

[michaelsherlock]

How can Bart Ehrman argue that even though the Gospels originated through religious biases, proven fictions, interpolations and forgeries they can still prove that the historical Jesus was real?

I've seen 'oral tradition' at work. This story that I'm going to tell you has not been stretched by me in the least bit:

I went to a university camp before my first year which was for meeting new people. Things got a little messy with alcohol and what not as you can imagine.

The first morning after the first night I woke up and urgently had to go to the toilet. As I walked into my dorm the guy sleeping on the top bunk unconsciously let go of his bladder as he slept. His urine went straight through the mattress and a huge stream wet the bed underneath, with no one in it. I laughed my head off and told him when he woke up what he did. This is what I saw 2 years ago.

Just two weeks ago I bumped into him at university after not seeing him for about a year and a half. He was with other friends that I hadn't met. Long story short, he was talking about that incident and he retold the story but this time... "...and I wet the guy underneath me. He was all like 'what the hell'?!".

This doesn't compare to the grandness that is an entire religion, but my point is that oral tradition means nothing. People will add what they want whenever they want. It happens all the time.

I think your example is an excellent one. Also, in his recent interview with NPR (April 1, 2012), Bart Ehrman said:

"Mythicists' arguments are fairly plausible... According to them, Jesus was never mentioned in any Roman sources and there is no archeological evidence that Jesus ever existed. Even Christian sources are problematic – the Gospels come long after Jesus' death, written by people who never saw the man.... Most importantly...these mythicists point out that there are Pagan gods who were said to die and rise again and so the idea is that Jesus was made up as a Jewish god who died and rose again.... The mythicists have some right things to say... The Gospels do portray Jesus in ways that are non-historical."