The Argument From Silence

[Minimalist]

From Rafael Lataster's "There Was No Jesus, There Is No God" comes this fascinating discussion of what Lucius Annaeus Seneca chose to write about!

Jesus mythicists could move the argument from silence into a more assertive direction by pointing to overall silences and suspicious gaps in the records of early authors writing about events occurring during Jesus’ lifetime. Philo of Alexandria for example, makes no mention of Jesus or his followers; nor does Seneca the Younger, a contemporary of Jesus, who discusses crucifixion at some length, yet neglects to refer to one which would become history’s most famous example, and would supposedly result in the miraculous resurrection of Jesus (Moral Letters, 101).[60] Staying with Seneca, let’s look at the sorts of topics that he does consider historically significant, to the generations of people to come (Moral Letters, 70):

 

Nay, men of the meanest lot in life have by a mighty impulse escaped to safety, and when they were not allowed to die at their own convenience, or to suit themselves in their choice of the instruments of death, they have snatched up whatever was lying ready to hand, and by sheer strength have turned objects which were by nature harmless into weapons of their own. For example, there was lately in a training-school for wild-beast gladiators a German, who was making ready for the morning exhibition; he withdrew in order to relieve himself, – the only thing which he was allowed to do in secret and without the presence of a guard. While so engaged, he seized the stick of wood, tipped with a sponge*, which was devoted to the vilest uses, and stuffed it, just as it was, down his throat; thus he blocked up his windpipe, and choked the breath from his body.

 

Seneca obviously considers bizarre and disgusting ways to die, more significant than the Son of God, or to the more liberal scholars, the person whose teachings would lead to the creation of one of the world’s largest religious traditions. There’s actually quite a lot of benign historical information about which public servants did what tasks, how certain people brushed their teeth with urine, the sorts of animals people ate during lean times, and most importantly, how people took a shit, how they disposed of said shit, and who they shat with. And yet, not a single contemporary of Jesus, including the supposedly many that were touched by his teachings and/or witnessed his miracles, thought it necessary to write anything down. We are meant to believe that they just couldn’t be bothered. It was apparently vital to ancient historians, that they document all sorts of rectal issues; the Son of God however, not so much.

* For those not in the know, Seneca refers to the tersorium, a sponge on a stick which was used for brushing your asshole.  In public latrines they were used and left in a channel of running water for the next guy to come along.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Even if no one wrote about Yeshua during the First Century isn't it a historical fact that there's historical evidence at that time of the Christian religion?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Even if no one wrote about Yeshua during the First Century isn't it a historical fact that there's historical evidence at that time of the Christian religion?

Yes indeedy.  But evidence for a religion isn't evidence for a god-man.

Boru

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Even if no one wrote about Yeshua during the First Century isn't it a historical fact that there's historical evidence at that time of the Christian religion?

Yes indeedy.  But evidence for a religion isn't evidence for a god-man.

Boru

What did Yeshua ever do that made him worthy of being worshiped as a deity?

[Amarok]

The argument from silence is valid if we should except substantial evidence that is not there .

[Minimalist]

Even if no one wrote about Yeshua during the First Century isn't it a historical fact that there's historical evidence at that time of the Christian religion?

There is precious little evidence for that. There are unsubstantiated xhristard claims but then you have to get into the discussion of what exactly is jesusism.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Even if no one wrote about Yeshua during the First Century isn't it a historical fact that there's historical evidence at that time of the Christian religion?

There is precious little evidence for that.  There are unsubstantiated xhristard claims but then you have to get into the discussion of what exactly is jesusism.

I was thinking alng the lines of such things as the Popes.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes  

Do you discount the Popes?

[Succubus]

Yes indeedy.  But evidence for a religion isn't evidence for a god-man.

Boru

What did Yeshua ever do that made him worthy of being worshiped as a deity?

If Jesus is the son of God then he is divine i,e, a god-man.

[Minimalist]

And if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.



The earliest popes were inventions meant to sustain the claims of later pope's.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Yes indeedy.  But evidence for a religion isn't evidence for a god-man.

Boru

What did Yeshua ever do that made him worthy of being worshiped as a deity?

Nothing of which I'm aware.  Why do you ask?

Boru