This is not about whether or not he was the son of God but whether he actually existed.Most atheists agree that he did live but there are some who don't so what are you're thoughts?
Our? I am not an atheist. And this is a debate forum. Posts need to contribute to the topic at hand. Lastly, flaming/insulting other members on this website is against the rules.
Indeed, Mage is correct. Very intelligent people often join cults for a sense of purpose and belonging which seems to be naturally lacking when you reach a certain level of intelligence - joining a cult like Christianity is a great way to socialize and give yourself a subjective purpose in life.
most people agree that he existed, but whether he performed miracles and did the work of God or not is up to you. I personally think he did do all those miracles in the name of God.
How can you debate if Jesus was real? Sure, you can state the New Testament as evidence, but remember that this document is thousands of years old, consists of a collection of selected documents (with other documents contradicting these in existence, as was stated), and may have been all made up to begin with. In truth, taking the contents of an ancient book as an accurate description of hard facts is nothing more than a belief. Christians have the right to believe in their Bible, but really there can be no proof of authenticy of it's contents. This also makes certain parts of what we call our history a belief as well (as they're assumptions based on few collected evidence), but with the slight difference that most of the people don't fight over it.
In the end, it all depends on whether you choose to take a statement as a fact or not. Both claiming that Jesus existed and that he didn't are beliefs. I tend to admit that both are possibilities, but not choosing any in particular.
i know this is now somewhat old... but I has a question that i believe may be pertinent to our interests... and this thread.
I've seen on several movies and tv shows where one party is threatening to not only wipe out another party... but go further then that... they say they will strike them from the history books. they will wipe every trace of their existence from the world's memory... no one will know of them or their efforts.
here is my question
is it beyond the realm of possibility that a similar situation may have taken place?
the argument i remember seeing posed is that there are no first person accounts or testaments of jesus existence outside of the bible. ...at least maybe not credible ones... for people who wanted to wipe a supposed "false messiah" from the earth I would think that it would be relevant to their interests to try a wholesale eradication of all the information on this character named Jesus that they came across...which would've included the first hand accounts. if those that wrote a document and the majority of those that have read said document have passed on and the rest that are left never re-write it (even if they did... i don't think it counts as a first hand account if its not directly from a person who saw it) then once burned/hidden/destroyed said documents are as good as never having been written. if there were such a party that had malicious intent towards such documents then I'm not so sure that they would have publicized their actions and made known what they were doing... then people would have known what was destroyed and a general concept of what it was about... just not the exact wording or contents of the passages
is such a concept in the realm of possibility and likelihood... or am i just reaching for something that isn't there?
i don't believe this is a necro... it was just sleeping for 2 weeks
that is a valid argument. but would you clarify for me? do u beleive that none of it ever happened...basically jesus never happened? or that there was just an actual yet normal person named jesus back in the day (not talking about the supposed miracles atm...just whether or not u think he was real)?
I think there was a guy who was a sort of prophet and so on. jesus this guy was, but all religions say that today are inventions. this "guy"has done nothing else, and for me religion is just a way of earning money and power on top of stupid people.
Is it possible that someone was trying to wipe a real life Jesus from the records? Sure. The problems with the stories of Jesus goes further then just missing records, the information on this character is inconsistent with historical events. Further there are many parts that seem consistent with earlier works of fiction and even earlier characters. For instance some early Christians say Jesus not as a physical being but just that of a spiritual one. Others seem to indicate the events of his life taking place 100 years before what the Bible claims. Another problem with wiping him from history, if there really were so many witnesses it would be a bit like trying to wipe the events of 9/11 from history.
