Why be good?

[Randy Carson]

And your credentials as a professional historian are...?

My degree from the University of Vienna.

And as for your Luke quote, that's standard procedure for the time in question. It's basically a plea for being taken seriously.

Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD?

Published in peer-reviewed journals? Any books you've written? Or how about an online article or two?

TimOneill is a forum member and a historian by training (though not by profession), and people disrespect him here all the time.

So, having a history degree is not much by itself. I'm gonna need a little more than that before I know I'm talking to a real historian.

You do understand that, I hope. Nothing personal.

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Could the evidence and statements of the authors of the gospels be corroborated if one were so inclined as to put forth the time and effort?

Certainly. But corroborating a story requires primary sources, and, most importantly, not starting out with the conclusion that that they're real.

You Christians aren't so good at that last part. 

Unfortunately, this line of reasoning that you've embarked on works just as well for the Greek gods, the Roman gods, Mithra, Allah, Zoroaster, Ahura Mazda, Amun Ra, Isis, Thor...

Mike-

What you're saying would be true of people who grew up in Christian homes, etc.

But there are countless examples of people who were atheists for most of their adult lives...famous atheists even...who came to a theist or deist point of view. Some of them did so after specifically setting out to prove that the Bible is not true or reliable, etc.

Now, if you REALLY want to go god by god through the list you've posted, I'm not the guy to do that with. But other Christians have worked through all of them in mind-numbing detail. It's slow going...but each of these gods has been investigated carefully and the parallels to Jesus are simply overblown.