Regarding Jesus

[DeistPaladin]

That's like saying the story of Alexander the Great is about the myths and legends that grew up about him.

There is an important difference between these two things:

• A story about the supernatural
  
• A story with supernatural embellishments
  

This is a really important difference often lost in discussions about The Historical Jesus as examples like the one you offer are thrown into the mix.

To explain the difference between the two, let me reference a movie that came out about 10 years ago:




The movie was based on Homer's Iliad, with a lot of liberties taken, including the survival of Paris. What was most interesting is it took out all of the supernatural elements. There were no gods, no magic and no mystical protection that Achilles enjoyed.

The movie related what might have been the real story of the Trojan War (disclaimer: we don't actually know that; I'm just saying for the sake of argument, let's assume it is). It's easy to see that once you rip out all the woo, the story is largely intact with the same characters and the same events.

Hence, the Iliad would be a story with supernatural embellishments. Take the embellishments away and you have roughly the same story.

Now, let's compare this with a hypothetical TV Series called "Clark Kent".

This TV series would feature this story:

• Clark Kent is discovered as a foundling by a childless farming couple in Nebraska.
  
• He is raised in a small town.
  
• After he grows up, he moves to New York City and begins his career as a reporter.
  
• In his capacity as a reporter, he becomes a classic muckraker, exposing crime and corruption.
  
• His partner at the newspaper where he works, and later love interest, is a woman named Lois Lane.
  
• At one point, he exposes Lex Luther, CEO of a pharmaceutical company for something something unsafe something fraudulent claims something something.
  
• At one point, Lex Luther tries to poison our intrepid reporter with a concoction called "Kryptonite"
  
• At one point, the editor of his newspaper called him a "super man".
  
• At another point, someone says his sleuthing is "out of this world"
  
• After uncovering some important information on a story, one of his colleagues remarks, "wow, you're faster than a speeding bullet."
  
• Clark Kent is a human being, not an alien.
  
• No super powers.
  
• No costume.
  
• No flying through the sky or leaping tall buildings, etc.
  
• Just a guy who's a reporter.
  

As you can see, I've done my best to create a hypothetical story that ties in as many elements of the classic DC hero as I can while keeping it all down to earth, natural, without any alien aspects or super powers. I've even suggested many tip-of-the-hat references in character dialogue.

Now compare my hypothetical TV series with the DC comic story.

It's a different story about a different character.

The story of Superman isn't a story with fantastic embellishments. The story IS all about the fantastic elements. Take them away and you have an empty shell.

The story of Jesus without the miracles and the divinity is the story of "some guy". Like the hypothetical TV series I suggested, the story ends up being about a different character and having little or no resemblance to the Gospel tale.