Chili

. . . very inanimate or faith would not be a gift of God.

penguinfan

The evidence is Jesus' own words.

penguinfan

What seems silly about? Have you never heard of Pauline Christianity?

aa5874

And who was Jesus?

Anywhere you see the word "Jesus", it is your "Jesus" and that's your evidence. And if you read that Jesus said anything that is the evidence that Jesus is truthful.

You think there was one Jesus and that all he said was the truth.

Helpmabob

This question has been asked already:

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" [Mark 8:29]

It remains pertinent millenia after it was first asked. The answer still matters. Now, just as then, there are umpteen ways to deny that Jesus was the Christ, even for some of those that accompanied Him.

It shows that you don't have to educated or be party to any actual observation of Jesus to believe or reject Him.

aa5874

You have not answered the questions!

Who was Jesus? Did the authors called Paul invent him?

It is true that the Jesus of the NT is implausible, from conception through the Holy Ghost to ascension through the clouds, and that the authors called Paul claimed to have received revelations from the very implausible character.

And further, no early Church writer ever claimed that the authors called Paul were the first to write about the implausible character, Jesus of the NT.

It would seem that the authors called Paul got their information from other written text.

bacht

Maybe from Syria?

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Anani'as. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Anani'as." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."
And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying,
and he has seen a man named Anani'as come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."
But Anani'as answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem;
and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name."
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
So Anani'as departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized,
and took food and was strengthened.
For several days he was with the disciples at Damascus. Acts 9

Doug Shaver

Not really. What has always mattered is how one gets one's answer. You can take the word of someone who claims to know the answer, or you can examine the evidence without presupposing that any particular answer has to be the right one.

Yep. And some of them are really good ways.

penguinfan

Lol, if the authors of the Pauline Epistles invented Jesus, then they would not have Jesus' words contradict Paul's teachings, hence the point of this thread.

boneyard bill

Paul himself does not claim to be the founder of Christianity. He did not found all of the churches that he wrote to, especially the Roman church. Even in Corinth he seems to have been, at best, the co-founder with Apollos. Moreover, some of his letters seem to be quoting hymns that were apparently in common usage. He claims to be a convert so, presumably, he converted to something that was already there.