Why be good?

[Randy Carson]

What on earth does that have to do with the assertion that we were responding to?

Or can you just not help yourself when presented an opportunity to proselytize?

Go fuck yourself, Randy.

The only response I have for people who insult my integrity is scorn and contempt. Violence certainly doesn't enter into it, unless they don't like being told to fuck off.

How that is germane to the veracity of the NT escapes me ... probably because it isn't.

The slinking dog with its tail tucked looks a lot like a bag of popcorn.

I started that set up at 8:00am this morning, I checked all the way to the river. I played my hand perfectly. You were all in, and I took your stacks.

Now, if you begrudgingly get that, then a tip o'the cap out of respect, ya know? 

While you're still cursing me, you haven't even begun to address the implications of the analogy I just suckered you into. You folks make all kinds of truly pathetic arguments against the gospels, but when I turn the tables on you to demonstrate dramatically how and why your arguments fail (and more importantly, why we can believe the gospels), you have nothing but epithets. And no chips.

But if you don't get it, then I suggest you read the post where I turned over my cards again. And again. Until you do. 

The four gospels were written by folks who were being just as sincere and and honest as all of you were when you wrote about your personal experiences with "atheists in foxholes". And just as I can believe what you wrote is true - just as anyone else can believe what you wrote is true - with a degree of probability, so can you believe the writing of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Making that point is what this was all about.

+++

A final note: Mike, yes, I did misread your post when you wrote, "Yes, if I deemed the threat (which you proposed) to be real."

I was being pressured by several people (including CD and Stimbo) to get to the point, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could maintain the tension. So, I read your post quickly and mis-characterized your position, and while I don't think that undermines the overall points about general reliability and believing the eyewitness accounts that people write about their experiences, I do regret the error. Please accept my apologies. I should point out, however, that the apostles refused to deny what they knew to be true, and it cost them their lives.