CHISTIANS PLEASE EXPLAIN

[Mudhammam]

In the case of Elisha and the bears, I don't see hard historical evidence. The message of the story (“Don't XXXX with God”) is a running theme, and it seems to me to fulfil the same sort of parabolic function as, say, the Good Samaritan.

The Early Church would never have asked the question “Is it true?” of a story. For them, the question was, “What is the truth within this story?”.

The historical evidence for Jesus dying on the cross is utterly overwhelming, by contrast. Criteria of embarrassment, multiple attestation, discontinuity with Judaism...given there's nothing remotely miraculous about a leader of a Jewish sect getting crucified, I can see no good historical argument against.

Indeed, Jesus' crucifixtion is a detail few historians would find objectionable. Unfortunately for us, the early Christians' obsession with the message of the Jesus story overshadowed their interest in the biographical or historical details of Jesus' life and death.