A simple challenge for atheists

[SteelCurtain]

Right? Even if we take the most liberal timeframes of these gospels being written, we would still be doing the equivalent of trusting someone's parent's eyewitness accounts about James Dean's life, followers, and death 60 years ago---then making a religion out of it where every word of it is literal truth.

[Cyberman]

The Gospels can't even agree on basic details, such as when jc was born, his age when he started his 'ministry', or when he died. Couple that with the actual known historical facts of the period which the Gospels get completely wrong and suddenly this "best attested set of events" begins falling apart at the seams.

[robvalue]

Plus two of the gospels were copied off of another one, and the resurrection which is crucial to the story is mainly believed to be a later "interpolation" (forgery).

Never mind, ay?

[SteveII]

Regarding all the comments on my sources I listed. It was clear I was pointing out that even secular scholars believe that Jesus existed to short circuit the inevitable nonsense that Jesus was entirely imaginary. As you most certainly have heard before: most scholars agree that the baptism and Crucifixion really happened.

Reference: Jesus Remembered by James D. G. Dunn 2003 ISBN 0-8028-3931-2 page 339 states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent".

Hearsay evidence is still evidence. It is not allowed in court because it cannot be cross examined. The hearsay evidence could be 100% reliable or it could be 0% reliable. There is no one alive that could give us a percentage. What we do know if that those first century Christians believed the central tenets. They had better reasons and evidence than we do today. Is it irrational to believe the same as people who lived during the time of Christ? Oh wait!!! I know. We have learned recently that dead people don't come back to life and the first century Christians were not privy to this information. Now it all makes sense!

Regarding Bart Ehrmans selected quotes:
• "Paul, by the way, never says that Jesus declared himself to be divine.”
Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross

Need some more:
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 1:1-4

“God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.” Romans 1:9-10

“But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,” Galatians 1:15-16

“I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12

• “the idea that Jesus rose on the 'third day' was originally a theological construct, not a historical piece of information.”
I Corithians 15: 1Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

• “But one thing they all (i.e., E. P. Sanders, Geza Vermes, Dale Allison, Paula Fredriksen, and many others) agree on: Jesus did not spend his ministry declaring himself to be divine.”
So Paul and the gospel writers made that part up. That's nonsense because absolutely none of Christianity make sense if Jesus was not God. Every one of the gospels make the claim. Oh, I know, it was part of the conspiracy.

[The Grand Nudger]

Regarding all the comments on my sources I listed. It was clear I was pointing out that even secular scholars believe that Jesus existed to short circuit the inevitable nonsense that Jesus was entirely imaginary. As you most certainly have heard before: most scholars agree that the baptism and Crucifixion really happened.

People believe many strange things (wouldn't you agree?), I'd rather see some evidence.

[JesusHChrist]

And on top of all the discrepancies and late, non-contemporaneous dates, we have the elephant in the room - the gospels were intended to be, in effect, marketing tools to promote the faith.

A major ax to grind doesn't help in the believable department. Do ya think the author's agenda, might just have got in the way of objectivity a little bit?

[SteveII]

REgarding dating. Here is excerpt from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel#Historicity. Even a 70 year old man might have seen Jesus and read the gospel of John.

Dating
Estimates for the dates when the canonical gospel accounts were written vary significantly; and the evidence for any of the dates is scanty. Because the earliest surviving complete copies of the gospels date to the 4th century and because only fragments and quotations exist before that, scholars use higher criticism to propose likely ranges of dates for the original gospel autographs. Scholars variously assess the majority (though not the consensus[31]) view as follows:

Mark: c. 68–73,[32] c. 65–70.[33]
Matthew: c. 70–100,[32] c. 80–85.[33]
Luke: c. 80–100, with most arguing for somewhere around 85,[32] c. 80–85.[33]
John: c. 90–100,[33] c. 90–110,[34] The majority view is that it was written in stages, so there was no one date of composition.

Traditional Christian scholarship has generally preferred to assign earlier dates. Some historians interpret the end of the book of Acts as indicative, or at least suggestive, of its date; as Acts mentions neither the death of Paul, generally accepted as the author of many of the Epistles and who, according to the ecclesiastical tradition transmitted by Eusebius, was put to death by the Romans shortly before AD 68,[35] nor any other event post AD 62, notably the Neronian persecution of AD 64–65 that had such impact on the early church.[36]

Acts is attributed to the author of the Gospel of Luke, which is believed to have been written before Acts, and therefore would shift the chronology of authorship back, putting Mark as early as the mid 50s. Here are the dates given in the modern NIV Study Bible:

Matthew: c. 50 to 70s
Mark: c. 50s to early 60s, or late 60s
Luke: c. 59 to 63, or 70s to 80s
John: c. 85 to near 100, or 50s to 70

[Cyberman]

Belief =/= evidence of that belief.

Sir Isaac Newton believed in alchemy, but it's his work in physics for which he's remembered.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies, but it's his contribution to the world of literature for which he is immortalised.

George Ellery Hale believed that a little green elf climbed through his window and told him to approach the Rockefeller Foundation for money to build what was then the world's largest telescope. The elf has long since evaporated, but the telescope remains.

[Esquilax]

REgarding dating. Here is excerpt from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel#Historicity. Even a 70 year old man might have seen Jesus and read the gospel of John.

A 70 year old man? Don't know much about the average life expectancy of human beings back then, do you?

[Esquilax]

Regarding all the comments on my sources I listed. It was clear I was pointing out that even secular scholars believe that Jesus existed to short circuit the inevitable nonsense that Jesus was entirely imaginary. As you most certainly have heard before: most scholars agree that the baptism and Crucifixion really happened.

Personally, I don't care whether Jesus existed or not. I care about the miracle and divine claims made about him, and you've already said you can't provide evidence for those. Therefore, Jesus or no, we're done here; your beliefs are irrational.