"We invented Jesus Christ"

[PickelledEggs]

//http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201273.htm

Was Jesus based on a real person from history? "The short answer is no," Atwill insists, "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources. Once those sources are all laid bare, there's simply nothing left."

[Mister Agenda]

I don't think the ultimate answer as to whether the historical Jesus was real will be 'no, because Conspiracy Theory'.

I woulldn't count this chicken before it's hatched.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Tell that to a rolly holer.. They'll claim that's what SATAN wants us to think.. Oh yeah.. One fictional figure wants us to think another fictional figure isn't real.. Two negatives....

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Yeah, I just saw this on my news feed.  It's interesting, but I don't know that much about Atwill yet.  It will be fun to witness the inevitable fundie shitstorm though....  

[leo]

Jesus or Jebus ?

[josephpalazzo]

[Aroura33]

Not sure about this guys theory, but I find the overall mythicists views hold up well under scrutiny.  No need for wacky conspiracies, religions form this way all the time.  Take previous myths and build on them or alter them to fit the changing culture.

Now this particular guy...I think he needs to do more homework.  He said "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources".  That's false.  Plenty of other mythical characters can be traced entirely back to older myths.  Merlin, for example, is clearly an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures.  

The difference is, most people don't believe in most of the other mythical figures, where-as a large portion of the population does think Jesus was a real person.  Even non-believers.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Just look at all the heroes republicans bring back from the dead on a regular basis.. Ayn Rand, Joseph McCarthy and so on..

I was going somewhere with this, but someone knocked at the door. Sorry, lost my train of thought.. :oops:

[bericks999]

I was going somewhere with this, but someone knocked at the door. Sorry, lost my train of thought.. :oops:

Hide the dope!!!

[PickelledEggs]

Yeah, I just saw this on my news feed.  It's interesting, but I don't know that much about Atwill yet.  It will be fun to witness the inevitable fundie shitstorm though....  

I was going to say the same thing. I can't wait for this to have more "mainstream weight".

Let the shit-quake cometh

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Yeah, I just saw this on my news feed.  It's interesting, but I don't know that much about Atwill yet.  It will be fun to witness the inevitable fundie shitstorm though....  

I was going to say the same thing. I can't wait for this to have more "mainstream weight".

Let the shit-quake cometh

 

[PghPanther]

My position on a historical Jesus is agnostic at best..............however, confirming a person lived who was known as Jesus the Christ as reported by the Bible is useless to any believers if he was only a historical person but was not the son of God.....

.......so there is no use or value to the believer that he lived without any divinity confirmation......other than the fact that evidence for his divinity is non existent so that their wanting to debate his physical existence would end up being a moral (no pun intended) victory if they could prove it.

Now with that said it is very curious that nothing is said about Christ in the canonical gospels from the time he was a young child in the temple to his adulthood preaching. That not a very good biography of any historical account of this person........but of course the response from theists is that the gospels only account for what is relative to God's revelation to us in their text............but yet they debate using the gospels as historical evidence.....(can you say William Lame Craig?).

Interesting enough there are additional extra-biblical gospels (like the gospel of Thomas) which account for a lot of Christ's childhood and younger life which are pretty bizarre and would add to the mythological state of this person.

My best efforts in research and study of the subject tells me that their were lots of Jesus's in the first century and some of them proclaiming a prophetic status among Jewish sects..................but whether the one accounted for in the canonical text actually did exist remains unsolved.............but I'd lean in my agnostic position that it is more myth and wishful story telling among believers than historical fact.

As far as the divine claims though............that is complete fabrication as a result of embellishment and exaggeration over decades of story telling before it was even documented in a foreign land in a foreign language far removed from the source of the supposed accounts...........

[Hijiri Byakuren]

[spoil:1yl7ck6j]My position on a historical Jesus is agnostic at best..............however, confirming a person lived who was known as Jesus the Christ as reported by the Bible is useless to any believers if he was only a historical person but was not the son of God.....

.......so there is no use or value to the believer that he lived without any divinity confirmation......other than the fact that evidence for his divinity is non existent so that their wanting to debate his physical existence would end up being a moral (no pun intended) victory if they could prove it.

Now with that said it is very curious that nothing is said about Christ in the canonical gospels from the time he was a young child in the temple to his adulthood preaching. That not a very good biography of any historical account of this person........but of course the response from theists is that the gospels only account for what is relative to God's revelation to us in their text............but yet they debate using the gospels as historical evidence.....(can you say William Lame Craig?).

Interesting enough there are additional extra-biblical gospels (like the gospel of Thomas) which account for a lot of Christ's childhood and younger life which are pretty bizarre and would add to the mythological state of this person.

My best efforts in research and study of the subject tells me that their were lots of Jesus's in the first century and some of them proclaiming a prophetic status among Jewish sects..................but whether the one accounted for in the canonical text actually did exist remains unsolved.............but I'd lean in my agnostic position that it is more myth and wishful story telling among believers than historical fact.

As far as the divine claims though............that is complete fabrication as a result of embellishment and exaggeration over decades of story telling before it was even documented in a foreign land in a foreign language far removed from the source of the supposed accounts...........[/spoil:1yl7ck6j]

I..........type in..................ellipses..........................to make things I say.........sound..........................deeper than............................................................................they really...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
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......................................................................................................are. :shock:

Edit: Put in line breaks because I broke the damn page.

[josephpalazzo]

[spoil:2wbtd98n]My position on a historical Jesus is agnostic at best..............however, confirming a person lived who was known as Jesus the Christ as reported by the Bible is useless to any believers if he was only a historical person but was not the son of God.....

.......so there is no use or value to the believer that he lived without any divinity confirmation......other than the fact that evidence for his divinity is non existent so that their wanting to debate his physical existence would end up being a moral (no pun intended) victory if they could prove it.

Now with that said it is very curious that nothing is said about Christ in the canonical gospels from the time he was a young child in the temple to his adulthood preaching. That not a very good biography of any historical account of this person........but of course the response from theists is that the gospels only account for what is relative to God's revelation to us in their text............but yet they debate using the gospels as historical evidence.....(can you say William Lame Craig?).

Interesting enough there are additional extra-biblical gospels (like the gospel of Thomas) which account for a lot of Christ's childhood and younger life which are pretty bizarre and would add to the mythological state of this person.

My best efforts in research and study of the subject tells me that their were lots of Jesus's in the first century and some of them proclaiming a prophetic status among Jewish sects..................but whether the one accounted for in the canonical text actually did exist remains unsolved.............but I'd lean in my agnostic position that it is more myth and wishful story telling among believers than historical fact.

As far as the divine claims though............that is complete fabrication as a result of embellishment and exaggeration over decades of story telling before it was even documented in a foreign land in a foreign language far removed from the source of the supposed accounts...........[/spoil:2wbtd98n]

I..........type in..................ellipses..........................to make things I say.........sound..........................deeper than............................................................................they really...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
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......................................................................................................are. :shock:

Edit: Put in line breaks because I broke the damn page.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

[ Image ]

If it weren't so tall, this would be replacing my Grammar Nazi flag. :rollin: