MERGED: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Part 1) & (Part 2)

[pocaracas]

The possibility... never forget that it's not established that such a man existed for real.

The vast majority agree that he did exist, pocaracas. Jesus of Nazareth's existence is about as certain as any other historical figure. Anyone that says otherwise comes from a very small percentage of historians, and secular individuals on atheist forums who don't have a freakin clue on what the historical consensus is regarding the subject matter...either way, it is the minority.

A Jesus existed, I grant you that... not THE Jesus of the bible.
I keep telling you about another person who lived about a hundred years before christians claim Jesus existed, a person who, it is written, did many of the things that were later attributed to Jesus.
This other person may have been the one who started the cult.... a cult which then spread out... and, by the time your gospel writers put the pen to the paper, there were already more than one hundred years of spreading of the notion that the ruling jewish priests were abusing their power... the good old allure of the conspiracy theory... or the underlying dissatisfaction with the ruling priesthood.

As you can see, the case can be made that christianity arose and spread so much precisely because of a very human fault: greed. And general dissatisfaction of the people with that greed.
This problem is resurfacing, today, but slightly differently:
(please take a while to listen to this video)

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yeah.... so?

The further you get away from the timeline of the events, the more legendary hocus pocus will result. The belief in the Resurrection was something that was held extremely early, which makes it more trustworthy than crap written hundreds of years later.

What if that resurrection tale was already circulating for hundreds of years, prior to it being integrated in the Jesus myth?
This has been told to you a few times: in that region, there were people who believed in other gods or demi-gods who also went through a death and then made a comeback.

derp... christian stuff is jewish stuff.
You ever seen the acronym INRI?
What does the last I stand for, huh?
I was showing you a story already in circulation about 100 years before J.C.'s alleged birth... a story which shares way too many details with the J.C. myth.
One more ember in the fire that destroys the credibility of those eyewitnesses still alive after the year 60AD.

Ummm, huh?

Are you saying you don't know what INRI stands for?
A 29 year old apologist doesn't know?

I know... that is why you believe in the fairy tale and I don't.

Well, believing that life came from nonlife and reptiles changed to birds, that is worse than a fairy tale...that is voodoo.

What does that have to do with what we're talking about?
How about you start a thread where we can educate you on how the Universe is thought to have developed, and, with it, the Earth, the moon, the building blocks of life, multi-cellular life, plants, fish, land animals, dinos, mammals, birds and, finally, humans.... what come after humans?.. we cannot say.

Could Luke... *gasp*... be lying about that?

Sure, but then again, so could any other person that has written anything regarding events in antiquity. So we shouldn't believe anything that was written at any time pre-camcorder/photo days.

Remember when I said I'd have little trouble believing that a Teacher of Righteousness?
What's the fundamental difference between the claims made about this teacher and those made of Jesus?
[hint]extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence[/hint]

A Lie that, if believed, would boost the credibility of the remainder of the story.... worth a shot... and see where it's brought him!

It could be a lie...but it also could be the truth..I will base my life on it being the truth, and you base your life on it being a lie...we will let the chips fall where they may

If it is the truth, then many many questions arise... questions which lead to some lack of consistency or logicality of the overall story.

A lie that's been believed by many would explain all... and remain "ordinary".

It's an analogy... I thought you people liked analogies...

We do, but the analogy has to bear some similarity to what it is being compared to.

How dare you?!
Harry Potter not bearing similarities with J.C.?
Let's see...
Extraordinary feats: magic / miracles.
Real widely known locations mentioned in the text: London / Jerusalem.
Person telling the story: third / third

I see quite a few significant similarities...

I would much easier believe the story of the Teacher of Righteousness, than J.C.

Then, like...believe it.

Why not?