These four biographies were written generations after Jesus's alleged death by unknown authors. And it is proven that they are copies of each other. I would not call that evidence. Hearsay at best.
Jesus was famous according to the Bible. Crowds followed him, he visited dozens of cities, gave speeches to tens of thousands of people, upset the religious establishment, healed the sicks. The fact that not a single person wrote a single word about Jesus while he was alive makes any thinking person wonder if the Biblical Jesus ever existed. The Romans kept a good record of the people they executed which we can study today. No mentioning of this super famous execution. Come one! Let's be serious here.
Alexander the Great is certainly not an important historical figure that we need to find conclusive evidence for. Sure, there is no written evidence for him for a long time after his death. But contrary to Jesus, there are circumstantial evidence for his existence. With Jesus there is NOTHING.
Four separate biographies within a short period following his life is massive evidence. The fact that sources shared common information is not evidence the information was contrived. Also, many letters and other sources exist.
The fact is you dismiss the massive body of primary source material. The fact that these materials were canonized later into what we call the New Testament does not mean they were some sort of conspiracy to defraud.
You simply have no basis to deny the overwhelming evidence.
"Alexander the Great is certainly not an important historical figure that we need to find conclusive evidence for"
That's simply ignorant. Alexander had a massive impact on early Roman civilization. In actuality, Alexanders biographies were not written until hundreds of years after his death - not 80 as I previously was thinking.
"The fact that sources shared common information is not evidence the information was contrived."
Most Biblical scholars agree that they are copies of each other. Whole segments are copied verbatim. If you went to a modern court and said "I heard from a friend that someone named Jesus walked on water" you would be laughed out of court. Hearsay is NOT evidence. If you are not at the location to witness something you are not a witness. It is not evidence.
"You simply have no basis to deny the overwhelming evidence."
Give me something more concrete and we can discuss.
"That's simply ignorant. Alexander had a massive impact on early Roman civilization."
I didn't mean he was unimportant at his time. I meant that today he is not a historically important person that we need to scrutinize the way we do Jesus. And there are circumstantial evidence for Alexander which doesn't exist for Jesus.
You're simply wrong. (a) Same sources does not imply copied, nor does it mean invalid, nor does it warrant dismissal. (b) Some similarities does not imply multiple biographies are identical to one.
Your claim that no evidence exists for Jesus's life is simply and obviously false.
Please, I am all ears. What evidence is there? The shroud of Turin?
Not only do I find the Bible extremely untrustworthy, but the whole Christ story is just a version of predating mythologies. Jesus's life is not a unique story. We can read almost identical stories from mythologies predating Jesus by several thousand years. It make sense that these stories evolve over time, and around 2000 years ago it was rewritten for a new audience, to make people feel cozy and to bring a human element to these old god stories.
Do you not find it weird that Horus, a mythology predating Jesus by more than 2000 years, have the whole virgin birth around winter solstice, step father Jo-Seb and mother Mir, baptized at 30, walked on water, healed the sick, restored vision to the blind, crucified with two thieves, resurrected, and reigned for thousands of years. Every detail about Horus is identical to Jesus.
This is NOT a coincident and it needs to be answered without magic.
What we do every day is what shapes us and our lives. There's no "unseen force" making us make certain decisions, or making certain things happen. It's called a coincidence, not "an act of god".
Spare me the dying of cancer story. If there was a god it would not allow millions of children to die from aids and starvation every year. And if he helps the people who prays, then he is a big jerk off.
Aids is a self limiting disease if properly quarantine, it should have been treated like Ebola and we wouldn't have seen it last beyond the mid 1990's. I am a physician, what do you tell a 4 year old that is laying in a hospital bed without hope of surviving in to the next day, asking what is next? Do you and your faithless ass tell her to say Hi to the dirt? I have seen peace and calm brought to many who have been told to have no hope for recovery, some of them still alive today. You can mock and be a complete waste of human life all you want, until you can tell me what to tell that child, "what happens next." Shut your stupid pie hole.
That's a nice way of avoiding the uncomfortable topic of why your god takes the time to guide you to your lost car keys while neglecting the couple of hundred children who died in the meantime. Pull a sappy child story and change the topic and then slap something offensive in the face. Nice technique, but it just shows that you don't want to think about reality, and that is probably why you handed your weak ass over to an indivisible man in the clouds to guide you.
I certainly do have children, and I would never tell them they are going up to the clouds if they were dying. I was told that as a child and NEVER believed it for a second. I will raise my children strong so that they can deal with reality. You can comfort children without lying.
Ok, I hope your child's physician in a time of strife, tells them to be happy knowing that you have nothing to look forward to, but death. I'll be sure to tell that to, my next interaction with a dying child and the family that isn't prepared to say good bye. I take it you have never been in a situation where you are the one to bear that news. How lucky for you. Hope your children are not treated by a physician with your philosophy.
Did you become religious because you make things up, or did religion teach you to make things up? You're writing a whole post about me that you have no clue about. Lies upon lies upon lies. I am sure your children and the children you cross in life will appreciate your lies. How you made it into the professional world would be an interesting story, if I cared the slightest.
You have fun telling a child there is nothing to look forward to but being worm food. I hope you find a practitioner that meets your definition of compassion.
It can certainly be told a whole more eloquently that worm food, but I am sure you have no clue how to be sensitive about the reality, because you exist in mythological fantasy land.
OK - assmeble all the parts to a typewriter, then stack them on top of a hand grenade and blow them up. If they form a operational typewriter I will be glad to believe you.
You do know that is the current theory for how everything on earth came into being. A suprenova exploded and we just happen to be here becuase of that. Right.
The odds of that are so astronomical that it is probably a greater mathematical possibility than the existence of God.
Also, that theory violoates 2LOT
Also, with all of our ability in genetics and science we cannot even bring life to the most simple celled organism.
If you add all this up it certainly does not prove that there is a God, but it also certainly does not prove what you believe in either.
There may be a god, if this crazy place is possible than anything is possible. I do not, however, blindly follow religions that are obvious copies of old religions that were nothing more than metaphors for the sun and stars. You are here to live life the way you see fit and not by some guidelines written in some book that someone wrote, especially ones that banish you to some firey place to burn for an eternity for not believing.
Was Alexander the Great a fiction? His biographies were not written until over 80 years after his death?
Jesus was famous according to the Bible. Crowds followed him, he visited dozens of cities, gave speeches to tens of thousands of people, upset the religious establishment, healed the sicks. The fact that not a single person wrote a single word about Jesus while he was alive makes any thinking person wonder if the Biblical Jesus ever existed. The Romans kept a good record of the people they executed which we can study today. No mentioning of this super famous execution. Come one! Let's be serious here.
Alexander the Great is certainly not an important historical figure that we need to find conclusive evidence for. Sure, there is no written evidence for him for a long time after his death. But contrary to Jesus, there are circumstantial evidence for his existence. With Jesus there is NOTHING.
Four separate biographies within a short period following his life is massive evidence. The fact that sources shared common information is not evidence the information was contrived. Also, many letters and other sources exist.
The fact is you dismiss the massive body of primary source material. The fact that these materials were canonized later into what we call the New Testament does not mean they were some sort of conspiracy to defraud.
You simply have no basis to deny the overwhelming evidence.
"Alexander the Great is certainly not an important historical figure that we need to find conclusive evidence for"
That's simply ignorant. Alexander had a massive impact on early Roman civilization. In actuality, Alexanders biographies were not written until hundreds of years after his death - not 80 as I previously was thinking.
Most Biblical scholars agree that they are copies of each other. Whole segments are copied verbatim. If you went to a modern court and said "I heard from a friend that someone named Jesus walked on water" you would be laughed out of court. Hearsay is NOT evidence. If you are not at the location to witness something you are not a witness. It is not evidence.
"You simply have no basis to deny the overwhelming evidence."
Give me something more concrete and we can discuss.
"That's simply ignorant. Alexander had a massive impact on early Roman civilization."
I didn't mean he was unimportant at his time. I meant that today he is not a historically important person that we need to scrutinize the way we do Jesus. And there are circumstantial evidence for Alexander which doesn't exist for Jesus.
Your claim that no evidence exists for Jesus's life is simply and obviously false.
Not only do I find the Bible extremely untrustworthy, but the whole Christ story is just a version of predating mythologies. Jesus's life is not a unique story. We can read almost identical stories from mythologies predating Jesus by several thousand years. It make sense that these stories evolve over time, and around 2000 years ago it was rewritten for a new audience, to make people feel cozy and to bring a human element to these old god stories.
Do you not find it weird that Horus, a mythology predating Jesus by more than 2000 years, have the whole virgin birth around winter solstice, step father Jo-Seb and mother Mir, baptized at 30, walked on water, healed the sick, restored vision to the blind, crucified with two thieves, resurrected, and reigned for thousands of years. Every detail about Horus is identical to Jesus.
This is NOT a coincident and it needs to be answered without magic.
Theism is absurd.
I am a physician, what do you tell a 4 year old that is laying in a hospital bed without hope of surviving in to the next day, asking what is next? Do you and your faithless ass tell her to say Hi to the dirt? I have seen peace and calm brought to many who have been told to have no hope for recovery, some of them still alive today. You can mock and be a complete waste of human life all you want, until you can tell me what to tell that child, "what happens next." Shut your stupid pie hole.
"Running free and wildly with My Little Ponies after death" is as soothing and comforting as your fairy tale to a little girl.
I take it you have never been in a situation where you are the one to bear that news. How lucky for you. Hope your children are not treated by a physician with your philosophy.
You do know that is the current theory for how everything on earth came into being. A suprenova exploded and we just happen to be here becuase of that. Right.
The odds of that are so astronomical that it is probably a greater mathematical possibility than the existence of God.
Also, that theory violoates 2LOT
Also, with all of our ability in genetics and science we cannot even bring life to the most simple celled organism.
If you add all this up it certainly does not prove that there is a God, but it also certainly does not prove what you believe in either.