(November 25, 2014 at 3:26 pm)His_Majesty Wrote:(November 25, 2014 at 7:30 am)Irrational Wrote: But not all individuals referred to in historical sources must be historical figures.
Well then, certain historical figures that you have no problem believing existed: the contemporary sources that we allegely have for thoses guys doesn't mean that they actually existed... the contemporary sources could be lying.
(November 25, 2014 at 7:30 am)Irrational Wrote: And, no, my point is relevant because atheists are non-Christian "sources" as well. Yet, they'll mention God when referring to someone as a believer in God. This does not mean they are implying God exists.
Right, so the sources in question mentioned Tiberius and Pontius Pilate...so that would mean that those two guys didn't exist either.
Maybe you don't realize this, but you're just molding my argument into something you can argue against easily.
I never said that if any individual is mentioned in a historical document, he/she must not have existed.
What I said is that it is not necessarily the case that an individual actually existed just because he was mentioned in a historical document.
It takes more than just second- or third-hand accounts of an individual to accept his historical existence. By your argument, the Greek god Apollo was a historical person. After all, people back in the days often referred to the oracle of Apollo and seemed like they treated him as if he actually existed. But you know you can't accept that he existed just from that.
And one other thing to note, even in the days of Jesus, the evidence for his existence is lacking compared to the evidence for other prominent figures in his time.
