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04-10-2008, 08:26 PM | #201 | ||
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For someone who isn't in the least famous (AFAIK), there is a lot of evidence that he existed, eh. Now someone famous who could performs miracles? You can find flyers, press releases and entire volumes devoted to Siegfried and Roy, good and bad. |
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04-10-2008, 09:25 PM | #202 | |
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And if he invented Christianity, doesn't it necessarily follow that there couldn't have been any believers before him from whom he received his doctrines? Is that the way you want to tell the story? |
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04-10-2008, 09:28 PM | #203 | |||
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04-10-2008, 10:52 PM | #204 | |
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Would you count Judaism? If there was a founder, we don't know who it was, and Moses seems to be a mythological construction. Taoism has no known founder. Confucianism may or may not have any relationship to anyone named Confucius. |
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04-10-2008, 11:02 PM | #205 | |||
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04-10-2008, 11:19 PM | #206 | ||
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04-10-2008, 11:20 PM | #207 | ||
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Possibly what you mean is that not all religions believe their founders to be divine. This is true, but irrelevant to the point at issue. Quote:
It is not known how Taoism originated. Hence, we can't say that it's confirmed that it originated without a founder. I am surprised at what you say about Confucianism, but if you're right, then you know what follows: it is not known ... |
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04-10-2008, 11:28 PM | #208 | |||
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04-10-2008, 11:34 PM | #209 | ||
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Some people believe the following to be true: that about the fourth decade of the first century, a man called Jesus preached a messianic message of some variety to the Jews of Palestine; that some accepted him as their leader; that they continued to acknowledge his leadership and preach his message after his execution, and gathered more followers; and that from this group progressively evolved (with doctrinal differences developing over time) the various groups subsequently identified as Christian. I see nothing to make this account impossible. In this respect, it differs both from the account of Christ given in the Gospels and from the account of Christ given in the epistles, both of which contain many elements which could not possibly be true. On the account just given, I think it would be reasonable to describe the historical Jesus it refers to as the founder of Christianity, although the present doctrines of the various Christian churches may differ to a greater or lesser extent from his original preaching. If you have a different account to offer of the foundation of Christianity, I would like to see it set out with the same degree of concrete detail, and also to see what reasons you have for it. |
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04-10-2008, 11:44 PM | #210 | |||||
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If a person claimed that unicorns do not exist, then it is mandatory that no-one can find evidence anywhere for such a creature. Absence of evidence is a must to support non-existence. Silence is critical. Quote:
The implausibilty of the life of any entity strenghtens the case for non-existence. It is extremely helpful when the entity under investigation is described as the son of a Holy Ghost and was last seen flying through the clouds on his way to heaven. [ Quote:
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And further the history of the Church as written by Eusebius with respect to Jesus can be shown in many instances to be totally erroneous. The case for an HJ is unsupported and baseless, it can only be maintained by faith in the words of Jesus' followers or as a follower of him. |
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