After I know this how could I leave the church?

[Ben Davis]

Hi Ben

As a Christian, I would be wary of putting too much weight on this. As a Christian, this can be used as secondary supportive material. But if you're not a Christian there are ways to reject it. I think the primary reason for being a Christian, or at least starting to walk down that path, is always the question of whether you find Jesus a compelling character: a person, or even an idea, that you think leads us somewhere better than where we are right now.

Hi Michael,

It's the OP's claim, that the writings of Tertullian are a good reason to accept that Christian claims are true, that I'm railing against. One has to have a pretty low standard of evidence to consider those writings conclusive. It may not be a position that you hold but Tertullian is an authority figure and since obedience to authority is a virtue in Christianity, it's easy to understand why some would consider this claim as historic evidence of Jesus' divinity. By any honest standard, it's most certainly not.