Originally Posted by spamandham

Where his position becomes dogmatic is in his refusal to even consider the idea that there might be a historical root to one or more of these characters, insisting instead that they must be works of abject fiction.

Originally Posted by Kelly

Well, you seem to completely reject any and all statements coming from the people who witnessed that they actually met him in person,

Originally Posted by Kelly

Well, you seem to completely reject any and all statements coming from the people who witnessed that they actually met him in person

Originally Posted by aa5874

]I cannot find any evidence for Jesus, it is reasonable to claim he did not exist, as soon as evidence is found, I will change to reflect the evidence.

Originally Posted by Kelly

Well, you seem to completely reject any and all statements coming from the people who witnessed that they actually met him in person, and since there were no video cameras back in those days, I simply do not know what sort of evidence you would find satisfactory. Jesus does not seem to be walking the planet today, so faith, belief and personal spiritual experience are the only supportive evidence that there is, and unfortunately none of those things come with the kind of empirical justifications you would accept.

Originally Posted by Kelly

I personally think the Book of John is the most consistant and reliable work. I have questions about the synoptic gospels too and have very little faith in anything supposedly composed by Paul.

Originally Posted by Kelly

You might, however, consider the Book of Revelations as at least some proof that something was certainly going on among the early Christians. One can hardly look at the apparent move towards a one world government based on New World Order concepts without wondering if the prophesies of John the Divine aren't actually coming true. His apocalyptic "last days" visions, by the way, do not appear to have originated with either the Jews of the OT or the Christians. The "last days" prophesies actually seem to originate in the much older texts from the Rig Veda and the Hindu concepts that earth repeatedly goes through a "Kali Yuga" where death and destruction come about. They attribute this phenomenon to the god Shiva, who was also known as Indra and Rudra who was the apparant father of Aryan elitist concepts. The stories those texts appear to be based upon are far more ancient that the Old Testament tales, or even the Babylonian or Sumerian texts, and have apparently influenced religious concepts for thousands and thousands of years. And periodic destructions do apparently indeed occur. For instance, the earth has been through at least 17 different ice ages (and their respective global warming events) according to the climatologists. And god only knows how many religious wars have taken place.