ApostateAbe

The authors of the four gospels sourced from myths, not directly from eyewitnesses

In this debate, I am up against a conservative Christian who has a very good record on Debate.org. It could go either way, but I think I will be the winner.

Steven Carr

I would like to see an eyewitness account of Mary being made pregnant.

That came out a bit wrong.....

dockeen

As long as you weren't married to the idea...

dockeen

Is there a pattern that he/she operates in "debating"?

Is a question whether the authors of the gospels were themselves
eyewitnesses, or will it be played that they quote the eyewitnesses?

ApostateAbe

The contender did not specify one way or the other.

Juststeve

I agree that the gospels are not eyewitness accounts but I think the word myth is a bit much.

Once we dispose of the idea that they are eyewitness accounts I will be interested in how you distinguish between second hand, third hand and at least 10 iterations. I don't think that can be done.

Steve

aa5874

Why are the Jesus stories historical accounts when ALL the gospel authors DEPICTED Jesus acting NON-HUMAN?

The STORIES of Jesus in the NT Canon do not need a human Jesus as can be clearly seen.

EmpiricalGod

I heard fundies accept the arguement that not everything was eye-witness accounts. But rather the knowledge of the events was revealed to the writters of the gospels through the devine revelation of the holy spirit. Perhaps the contradictions can be explained by the half-deaf writters in what appears to be the original game of Chinese-whispers.

Perspicuo

Just like Stan Lee!

ApostateAbe

I think I was lucky that the contender did not press me on the specificity of ten-iterations minimum. Had he done so, I may have argued that the abundance of miracles and theological maturity of the gospels, including the gospel of Mark, is evidence of advanced mythical growth, not to be expected from merely, say, five or six iterations of telling. The dates of authorship (after 70 CE) and the speed of evangelism would be another big point.