His task to pit DIL vs MIL was done well. |
I’m giving Jesus benefit of doubt as other people wrote bible and it doesn’t necessarily reflect Jesus’s philosophy, more so ideology of writers and editors. |
| Mandatory Cultural Humility education. |
This is mostly accurate. We know practically nothing about Jesus or anything he may have thought/taught. Everything we have now comes from someone else's perspective/viewpoint. Any claims about or from Jesus have no basis in evidence or fact. |
This! There are certain assumptions and prejudices that come with starting from "what would Jesus do..." Why not ask what would it take to just be respectful of another human being? Why is that so hard to do? |
Get rid of evangelical hypocrites. |
How would you accomplish all those things? What would you do in detail? |
| Love without condition. |
+1 |
Historians routinely study ancient figures through sources written by others. For many ancient people, that’s all we have. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from students such as Plato. Yet historians do not conclude that we know “practically nothing” about Socrates. Even very skeptical historians who are atheists, agnostics, or non-Christians would typically agree that some claims about Jesus have historical evidence behind them. The claims that Jesus existed, Jesus was a preacher in 1st century Judea, Jesus had followers, and was crucified under Roman authority, are all supported by ancient sources that historians compare and analyze. |
Jesus would do nothing. Humans have to make their own decisions. Each person is an individual. |
This 100% this |
Jesus is alive and working in the world every day. |
This isnt a statement about Jesus' historicity. Its a statement that we have zero reliable information that can be attributed about such a person. We study information written by reliable sources. A student of Socrates is a direct, reliable source. The Gospels are unreliable and provide zero attribution to source. That leaves the epistles. Paul explicitly says that he did not talk to any witnesses and got all his information from revelation and scripture. Thus, the prior statement stands as true - we have nothing that can be actually sourced to a Jesus. |
Paul does not say he never spoke to witnesses. In his own letters, Paul says he met with Peter (Cephas), James, and later other leaders in Jerusalem. Whether one believes their claims is another matter, but it is not accurate to say Paul explicitly avoided witnesses or had no contact with them. Paul’s information is a mixture of revelation and tradition. Paul certainly claims revelations. However, he also says he “received” traditions from others. For example, in 1 Corinthians 15 he passes along a creed about Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection appearances, etc. Historians generally think Paul is transmitting an earlier tradition there, not inventing it himself. The Gospels are anonymous, but anonymous ≠ worthless. Historians regularly use anonymous ancient sources. The real question is how close they are to the events, whether they contain earlier traditions, where they agree, where they disagree, and whether details can be independently corroborated. “Zero reliable information” is stronger than the evidence allows. Even many skeptical scholars who reject miracles, divinity, and much of the Gospel narrative still conclude that some basic claims are historically probable: -J.C. existed. -J.C. was a Jewish preacher in Roman Judea. -J.C. was associated with John the Baptist. -J.C. was crucified under Pontius Pilate. ^^^^ conclusions are based on multiple sources (Paul, the Gospels, and some non-Christian references), not on certainty, but on what historians judge to be the best explanation of the surviving evidence. |