Existence of Jesus

[DD_8630]

EDIT: Oh, I don't believe Jesus existed because there is no evidence that suggests he did. Burden of proof and all that.

lol I understand the burden of proof. But I think its different to making vague judgements. Or then, - I guess we might as well assume NONE of the people in the bible existed. Even if there's perhaps a good chance that (some of them) existed its just they were exaggerated in the bible?

Or is there historical evidence of at least some, or ONE of the people in the bible? Somewhere? lol. I know nothing of this.

If there isn't any evidence at all. Then shall we just assume that every single character in the bible didn't exist whether they are exaggerated or not?

Isn't the burden of proof with making strong positive claims in science - different to what goes on in a book?

The burden of proof is not restricted to science: it extends to any claim that is not the null-hypothesis (e.g., if I claim there are no fairies, and you claim there are fairies, the burden does not fall on me, since mine is the null).

The Bible is a collection of documents which make a vast number of direct and indirect claims. The Book of Exodus mentions Egypt a fair number of times, which is an indirect claim that Egypt exists (or, at least, existed). Now, it just so happens that Egypt does exist, which adds credence to the associated parts of the Bible.

This is why I don't say "I don't believe in the Bible" or "The Bible is false", because it isn't: there are parts which we know to be true, parts which we know to be false, parts which are plausible, parts which are fantastical, etc. It's also worth pointing out that verifying one claim tells us nothing about the plethora of other claims.

Perhaps we should be skeptical but think that its not very likely (perhaps) that every single person and character and thing that happened in the bible is a lie.

See above. It is only through third-party sources that we can ascertain whether a particular passage is reliable: for example, the bits on Egypt are more reliable than those on Eden.

And yes, it is exceedingly logical to doubt any claim presented to you. Why should you believe that Adam, Noah, Moses, David, or Jesus, ever existed? Indeed, why should you believe Socrates, Queen Victoria, or the Scarlet Pimpernel existed?

Although I guess its not necessarily THAT unlikely!

I have no reason to believe it. But I don't really have any reason to doubt it either when the statements in there are more reasonable or its easily possible that 'Jesus' or whatever character did exist but was just exaggerated.

Ah, but doubt is the logical stance to take. Doubt everything, even the words I write :p

I dunno. I don't believe Jesus of the bible existed. But I think its perhaps likely that the 'Jesus of the bible' was just exaggerated.

And perhaps as likely as 'him' not existing at all?

I dunno.

Thoughts?

Well, I don't believe that Jesus existed for the same reason I don't believe fairies exist. It's not that there's any evidence suggesting they [/i]don't[/i], but rather that there's no evidence that they do. I am an aJesusist, an afairyist, an achocolateteapotist, etc :p