Jesus did not rise from the dead -- My debate opening statement.

[Jehanne]

He simply noted that Jesus had existed and had been executed by a Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Implicit in his silence, Tacitus knew who Jesus was, a religious loon who had been put to death by the Roman authorities, one of many, in fact.

No, he did not.  Tacitus, even if the passage is not a much later interpolation, never heard of anyone named "jesus."  The passage as it exists now refers to "Christus"  ( and more than likely said "Chrestus" originally).  Neither Suetonius, Pliny nor Tacitus ever heard of any fucking "jesus."  In fact, the first Greco-Roman writer to refer to anyone named "jesus" was Celsus writing 6 decades after Tacitus died.

I am not a Roman classical scholar, just some guy positing messages on the Internet.  Having said that, the reference by Tacitus to Jesus is considered to be authentic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus_on...ical_value

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Been there, done that.  Being a former believe myself, I understand their mindset all too well.

Then you might know that believers simply wish to attain eternal life someday for leading a good life. It has nothing to do with evidence.

You behave in an excellent manner according to Gods standards - you become Gods "little angel". And if there isn't a God... Pascal Wager made a good point regarding that problem.

I wish to attain eternal life, also!  But, if such does not exist (and, it almost certainly doesn't), then it's a waste of time & resources, no?  As for the Wager, such presumes a lot, namely, that God exists, that one has the "right" religion to worship God, and that God prefers sycophants who are willing to ingratiate themselves towards him/her/it as opposed to honest individuals who are willing to call "a spade a spade".