Half-Life

A lot of skeptics claim that the Gospels are pure fiction because of all the miracles that are claimed in the Gospels. They also say that nobody outside of the Bible wrote about these alleged miracles to confirm them.

But here's my question, Do you think Matthew one day just decided to make up a person named Jesus and look through the Old Testament and create a man he claims to have fulfilled every prophecy? If this was the case, why are there no writings to dispute this in the first century? If I write a story right now claiming a man rose from the dead, I would not be believed at all. How did Matthew manage to convince everyone Jesus was real if he made him up and Jesus did not exist?

If you say Jesus did exist, why didn't anyone refute what Matthew has written? If there were no miracles, surely people would have written that Matthew is a big liar, right? Who would believe this?

So, If Jesus did not exist what inspired Matthew to make up a person and try to fool everyone? What would he gain out of this?

If Jesus did exist, where is the refutation? Why did the Romans not produce Jesus' body and announce, "Jesus is dead here is the proof!" Why were these things not done?

hatsoff

Well, the problem is that, from a non-Christian perspective, we can't be sure who wrote Matthew--or any other NT work, for that matter.

Skeptics argue that the teachings of some man, or perhaps many men, were repeated and augmented over many years. As this happened, it is plausible that the stories about this man or these men were exaggerated and expanded. The stories snowballed and became popular among the people, who gathered together into formal churches. Leaders exchanged letters, some of which were copied and redistributed as authoritative. Eventually, as the churches expanded further, the stories themselves were written down, copied and distributed.

Perhaps immediately, or possibly over a long period of time, these "Gospels," as well as the authoritative Epistles, were attributed to people who knew Jesus. Or, maybe as the stories gained popularity, some people made claims that they had known this fictionalized man.

There are any number of possibilities.

Half-Life

Well, why aren't there churches for the other people who claimed to be the Messiah? There were many people running around claiming to be the Messiah. Where are their churches?

Quality

For the same the Governor of Tennessee doesn't have Elvis' body dug up every time some wacko says they saw Elvis: no one really cares what a small group of nuts say.

Chris Weimer

They were outlawed and ruined by the Christian church.

Chris Weimer

Who said Matthew made up Jesus? The Jesus story was around long before the Gospel of Matthew was written.

hatsoff

I wouldn't say "there were many." Only three false Messiahs that I can recall have been identified around the time of Jesus: Theudas, Menahem ben Judah and Simon bar Kokhba. The events surrounding these men are unclear, reporting sources contradictory. Most likely, they revolted against the government, something Jesus did not do. Such revolts would have been suppressed by the military.

countjulian

Uhhhhh, not really, Josephus records a ton, including many named "Jesus." And bar Kochba's revolt was in 135AD, not in the first century when most (except for A.T. Fomenko and crew) agree that Jesus lived (or late historicists claim he lived, as per the mythicist theory- though some say Christians concieved of Jesus living 100 years before that).

John Kesler

First, you commit the argumentum ad ignorantiam fallacy by assuming that the failure to produce a body neccessarily means that no body could be produced. Second, even the NT states that the resurrection of Jesus wasn't publicly proclaimed until Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus died (Acts 2), so even if the Romans (or Jews) wanted to prove that Jesus didn't rise from the dead, how could they, in an age before advanced forensics, prove that a decayed body was that of Jesus?

hatsoff

Like I said, I'm only aware of those three. Can you point me to the Josephus passages which discuss these others you mention?