Lazarus Nichodemus

Dear Readers,

My screen name Lazarus and I am opening this thread to debate Johnny Skeptic. I've read much of Johnny's writings and posts; and have challenged him to a debate. It's my assertion that Johnny is a very well read individual and possesses great amounts of knowledge on a wide range of topics. I had asked Johnny to debate the nature of God. He would prefer me to debate topics from his "essay". So I've agreed to first debate the resurrection. But I've also asked for several things in return.
1. That Johnny may use anything that he has received from me in any private messages or emails. I ask that Johnny allow me to do the same.

2. While I understand that this is a public forum; I've asked that people understand that I will not respond to any other responses other than Johnny's. Based on what I have read of Johnny's in the past, the topics stray because the debates are reduced to quick jabs from other readers. I would prefer to keep the intellectual integrity by maintaining rebuttals to just Johnny's comments. Put feel free to offer comments or suggestions; I would love to hear from others in this forum.

3. I've asked for a stretch here but I would like most of our comments to contain Logic and Fact; not rhetoric or conjecture. So in the course of our debate I may ask for clarification or I may take issue with phrasing. This is NOT to avoid the topic, only to, again, maintain intellectual integrity. It should be noted that using phrases as "Most christians I know say, think, or believe..." do not add validity to an argument. So I will respond with "what christians? Scholars? Apologetist? or just people you know from random conversations?" This is nothing more than an attempt at clarification and factual debate.

4. To maintain debate/forensics formats once we have exhausted this topic; it is necessary that Johnny debate me on a topic in which I have as much knowledge or experience in debating that Johnny has in debating his essay. That way neither one of us can just "spew" information without ever being "stretched" by other topics.

Finally I am new to posting on these type of sites, so please be patient with my posts. I am also extremely busy, so it may take up to a week for some responses, this does not mean I concede. I will however offer quick responses sometimes to allow readers to know that I am still "alive".

Thanks again Johnny for agreeing to this (not that it took much twisting of your arm) : ) I'll re-read your essay and post a response to your resurrection section.

Sincerely,
Lazarus

Lazarus Nichodemus

Johnny,

Much of what I read in your essay about the resurrection was a bit tough to follow (in the area of when one person stopped speaking and you started) however I believe that the jist of your argument is "History does not corroborate the resurrection of Christ" based on the #'s of eyewitness testimony, and historical burial tradition. You've quoted several dozen people in this area, and yet I remain confused about what exactly your thesis is. Please clarify your official position/thesis on this topic, I would prefer to respond to your thesis as opposed to everyone elso you quoted in your essay. If it is what I mentioned above than let me know and we will proceed.

Sincerely,
L.N.

Sven

Well, try the Formal Debates & Discussions forum. Be sure to visit the Formal Debate Proposals forum first.

There's usually an additional thread ("Peanut gallery") in which other people can comment on the debate, so that you are able to see their thoughts, too.

Johnny Skeptic

Message to Lazarus Nicodemus: As I told you in a private message that I sent to you this morning, I am not interested in a formal debate. I told you that what I am most interested in defending are my threads at this forum titled 'Christians assume too much about the nature of God,' and my thread at the General Religious Discussions Forum tilted 'Even if Jesus did rise from the dead, the jury is still out.' I also told you that I am willing to defend anything that is in my mini-essay at my web site at www.johnnyskeptic.com. My mini-essay contains what I believe are my best arguments against Christianity.

Since you are a skeptic, I also suggested that you start a thread at this forum so we can see how well you can do against the scholarly Christians here. Please post your arguments against this Resurrection in this thread. No matter what would happen in a debate between us, we would both still be skeptics. I assume that your main goal is to try to convince non-Christians not to become Christians, and to try to convince Christians to become non-Christians. Is that correct? If so, do you intend to post any arguments against the Resurrection in this thread?