(August 30, 2012 at 10:58 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: How can theists equate Julius Caesar with Jesus when it comes to existence? Julius wrote down stuff AND issued coins with his face on it, two things that Jesus wasn't capable of. The latter is obviously an unfair comparison because of the position Julius was in, but the point is that his existence is undoubtedly proven.
Not only that... but the nature of the claims aren't even similar. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
While some of the history of Julius Caesar may have been embellished, there are not claims of a supernatural nature - no claims of resurrection or other miracles or magic. I'll add, that if there were such claims, it seems likely that few today would believe them. What we know about Caesar is consistent with what we know about Rome. There is little reason to doubt that that historical accounts are substantially true.
Yet, for Jesus, we have no contemporary accounts, very little outside of the NT (and the authenticity of some of those writings is in doubt), no artifacts, no records, nothing, nada, bupkis. We also have some very extraordinary claims of a supernatural / divine nature. We should expect more evidence to support belief in such claims, and we have much, much less.
Comparing the two is ludicrous.
