(March 31, 2015 at 5:40 pm)Cephus Wrote: No, unsupported stories about a Galilean named Jesus influenced others that then organized a church. This says nothing about whether or not those stories are factually true, which is really the whole point of this thread. Much of the influence that church has had on the world has come from force and indoctrination, not by convincing people that the stories are actually so. We have no more need to disprove the existence of Jesus than we do to disprove the existence of Harry Potter. Unsupported claims of all kinds can be rejected, solely by citing their lack of supporting evidence. Jesus isn't supported, thus it rests entirely on the shoulders of the believers to show why any of us ought to take this ridiculous story seriously.It's not even a matter of believers versus non, as most non-believers acquainted with the data find many supporting evidences for Jesus' historical existence. You can dismiss them but then you do have the burden of citing why, or you risk being ignored altogether.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
