(January 21, 2017 at 8:43 pm)Firefighter01 Wrote: If you believe that Jesus existed, you would have to say that he could not of picked 12 worse marketers of his supposed ministry if he tried. These 2 dimensional dummies were just made up as his fall guys and made very little impact in the society that they were supposed to evangelise.By what measure could you possible be using that blatantly ignores the net result of a 2000+ year old ministry, for the sake of a hand fulls of unconfirmed flyby night cults that most likly never made it past the death of their leaders let alone 2000 years.
Quote: After Jesus's death, over 80 cults sprang up in the area over the next couple of centuries.Source Please.
Quote:Some of the more prominent were Simonians, Montanists, Marcionites (Marcion was also a docetist, he wrote the first type of Bible), Ebionites, and Phibionites.Ah.. you mean denominations. Don't get me wrong some were indeed cults but others were no different that the followings in and amongest the diciples themselves...
So what if that was the whole point of Jesus Choosing who He did? So that no one person would take power over the church? That it remained a scattered like a shot gun blast rather than a sniper's target. Meaning In the way the church it currently set up it can 'hit/reach out to more people than if it were a set standard of rules as with islam and Judaism.
Quote:How could people so easily be converted away from Christianity when the "truth" was firmly known and confirmed by all the miracles, resurrection and ascension?Because there isn't any one set of rules that govern the church. That there is freedom in doing what our personal best is. Whether that is in the way of understanding or in work.
Quote:Regarding the disciples, Paul never calls them by that name,Not a fan of actually reading the bible huh? In Gal 1 Paul acknowledges peter and James were Apostles of Christ. Which after the ascension they were known as. Why? Because the word disciple refers to a student who is learning. An Apostle is a servant sent out to complete a task. Once Jesus ascended their student status was over.(teacher had left) When Christ gave them the great commission they then became apostles.
Quote: and is silent on Jesus's ministry and life before the trial.Again not true. Luke via the book of acts records the gospel of Paul. In a sense Luke was Paul's scribe, and his gospel is that of Paul Himself.
Quote:He only knows of him via an apparition, even after speaking with a couple of the the disciples whom he calls apostles. Hardly anything is known about their lives, where they were born and what became of them after the resurrection. Only two of them have their deaths recorded in the Bible: James, whom Herod killed “with the sword” (Acts 12:2) and Judas Iscariot, who either hanged himself or fell and burst open - which ever contradictory account you believe in.your just all over the place huh?
No real points to make just empty assertions...
What about steven the first who got stoned to death?
