ApostateAbe

My guess is that they are having trouble choosing the winner because all of the essays are damnably atrocious.

Chili

That goes without saying since it is not possible for a pupil judge it's master.
It's like a 'lost leading the lost' contest and they must decide which loser to choose in that reason is asked to judge intuition (= non-rational).

To remember here is that the myticist is exposing his own mansion and if that be no greater than an out-house with a basement it will be equal in the sight of God . . . or pleasure would only be for the 'rich' after all.

Let me add that for the mythicist there in no room for encampment even in mythicsm or son of man would have a place to lay his head after all. From Rev.13:14, "I heard a voice from heaven say to me: 'Write this down: Happy now are the dead who die in the Lord!' The spirit added, 'Yes they shall find rest for their labors for their good works accompany them.'"

. . . and that does not mean after we get buried.

mountainman

Although the results are to be publicised at the Atheist convention of April 2010 the judges results may be available in early February 2010.

I feel the same way about Eusebius and Constantine and the origins of the new testament.

spin

Do you think they even sink down to your level?


spin

lpetrich

Roger Pearse, do you have any EVIDENCE that Jesus mythers are liars?

You ought to look at some of the weird things that people have believed in.

Try reading some discussions of pseudoscience, like Martin Gardner's classic Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (or via: amazon.co.uk). Were all the crackpots that he discussed in it nothing but liars?

• Did Wilbur Glenn Voliva believe that the Earth is shaped like a ball?
• Did John Cleves Symmes believe that the Earth is condensed all the way down?
• Did Cyrus Reed Teed believe that we live on the outside of the Earth?
• Did Immanuel Velikovsky believe that the planets had been in their present orbits for all of humanity's history?
• Did Hanns Hoerbiger believe that the Moon has a rocky surface and that it has been orbiting the Earth for all of humanity's history?
• Did George Francis Gillette consider Albert Einstein a great physicist?
• Did Wilhelm Reich believe that there is no such thing as orgone?
• ...

spin

I missed this one. Roger can say some extremely biased rubbish sometimes. I also would like to see the evidence he can muster to support his heinous accusation. But then I guess, as Roger is a believer and these naughty mythers are attacking the existence of his beloved god man, perhaps he feels that he has every right to take down the blasphemers.


spin

Johnny Skeptic

Would you also claim that people who say that they believe that the earth is flat, and there are more than several of them, actually believe that the earth is spherical? If not, then what you said does not make any sense.

Quite a few people do not believe that men have landed on the moon. In your opinion, do they actually believe that men have landed on the moon? Again, if not, then what you said does not make any sense.

If some people actually believe that the earth is flat, and that men have not landed on the moon, then obviously some people can believe that Jesus did not exist. Thus, you should apologize for accusing some mythical Jesus advocates of telling lies.

Which would you say is more probable, that the earth is spherical, or that Jesus existed?

Have you ever written an essay that stated the evidence that convinced you to become a Christian? If not, I would like to request that you write one.

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Roger Pearse: Why don't you write a review of Earl Doherty's lastest book? Otherwise, people can fairly claim that Earl offers detailed research, and you offer uncorroborated rhetoric.

Petergdi

I'm not Roger, but
would tend to suggest that it is not intended to be a pure truth seeking enterprise.

Did any of them offer contests worded in this way?

Did Velikovsky (or anyone else for that matter) offer a prize for the best essay that sheds light on the reasons for the apparently anomalous rotation of the planet Venus and at the same time connects it with the historicity of the Exodus?

That's the sort of the sort of thing this contest is. If any of those people offered contests worded in this way, would you not take it as a sign of insincerity? If Erich von Däniken offered a prize for the best explanation of old drawings where people are drawn with circles around their heads which at the same time connects it with the ancient astronaut hypothesis, would it not cause you to doubt his interest in truth?

Peter.

lpetrich

I think that you're reading too much into that. They're offering some money to someone whom they think has done a good job in exploring how well the origin of Xianity can be accounted for by Jesus mythicism.

In any case, such a contest does not demonstrate that all Jesus mythers are lying about what they believe about Jesus Christ.

(Wilbur Glenn Voliva, John Cleves Symmes, Cyrus Reed Teed, Immanuel Velikovsky, Hanns Hoerbiger, George Francis Gillette, Wilhelm Reich, ...)
None that I know of; the closest any of them had come was Wilbur Glenn Voliva's offering $5000 to anyone who could demonstrate to him that the Earth is approximately spherical.