(July 18, 2015 at 10:09 am)lkingpinl Wrote: So I would like to pose two questions to any who wish to answer.
1. Do you believe the person of Jesus Christ existed in history? Why (whether yes or no)?
2. Do you believe that George Washington was President of the United States? Why (whether yes or no)?
1. I don't know. The only proof we have are in religious texts written by people who believed in a savior. If we accept Jesus was a god, why wouldn't we accept that Apollo was real. There are probably plenty of the same type of material to support his existence as Jesus.
It is possible that a man-or men- who preached in first century Israel could be found to support a historical Jesus. I would put forward the Rabbi Hillel as perhaps the man Jesus is originally based. Much of what Hillel wrote sounds similar in thinking and tone to Jesus. Nothing Jesus taught was original but was already found in Jewish thinking
Whether Jesus existed or not, his story was combined with pagan stories to create a new religion.
2. Yes, I believe George Washington existed. He has an actual tomb to visit.
.http://www.mountvernon.org/research-collections/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-tomb/
