RE: Prove Christianity, not Theism in General
March 22, 2013 at 2:06 am
(This post was last modified: March 22, 2013 at 2:13 am by radorth.)
(March 21, 2013 at 11:32 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: I would like for once to see an actual argument that would attempt to prove specifically Christianity and not just basic theism.
As for the historicity of Jesus, Durant said it best:
"The contradictions are of minutiae, not substance; in essentials the synoptic gospels agree remarkably well, and form a consistent portrait of Christ. In the enthusiasm of its discoveries the Higher Criticism has applied to the New Testament tests of authenticity so severe that by them a hundred ancient worthies -- for example, Hammurabi, David, Socrates -- would fade into legend. Despite the prejudices and theological preconceptions of the evangelists, they record many incidents that mere inventors would have concealed -- the competition of the apostles for high places in the Kingdom, their flight after Jesus' arrest, Peter's denial, the failure of Christ to work miracles in Galilee, the references of some auditors to his possible insanity, his early uncertainty as to his mission, his confessions of ignorance as to the future, his moments of bitterness, his despairing cry on the cross; no one reading these scenes can doubt the reality of the figure behind them. That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospel. After two centuries of Higher Criticism the outlines of the life, character, and teaching of Christ, remain reasonably clear, and constitute the most fascinating feature of the history of Western man."
In a word, you can't make this stuff up. Inventors would have hidden probably a quarter of the NT.
As for proving the existence of the Christian God, you would have to have an experience like I did, and he would have to know you were ready to give up illicit sex and pot. Otherwise, why would a rational God bother?
I have asked unbelievers on many occasions to consider this hypothetical:
Suppose Jesus returned and healed 95% of all the terminally ill people in the world. Would you follow him and wholeheartedly try to obey his commandments, i.e. the Sermon on the Mount?
Guess what 95% of them said.
So you see "proof" is of no use at all.
