Reply to Why do you not believe that the Bible is divinely inspired?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I am the OP from 9:40. An example of what I was talking about is the fact that there were *other* itinerant teachers traveling around the Roman Empire espousing their views of the world at around the same time, both before and after Jesus walked the earth. Thus, we can see that Jesus was following in a time honored tradition in this respect. Like Jesus, their adherents spread tales of their supernatural daring dos as a way of gaining new supporters. Sort of like how medieval jousters occasionally had someone to trumpet their achievements before the competition and call for Huzzahs. None of this would have been seen as suspect in that time period because it would have been understood in a particular context. None of these people are famous like Jesus is today however because no Roman emperors converted to their religion. This is just a tiny example.[/quote]

^ I'm not denigrating the supposed miracles that Jesus performed. But what I think is more likely to have happened is that his supporters spread these stories as a way to gain attention for his teachings on how to live a just life in the End Times, which is what they believed was to occur shortly. Sort of like, "Hey my guy did this." "Oh yeah, well *my* guy (aka Jesus of Nazarth) did THIS." Understanding this context does not detract from the moral lessons he taught, which I do believe are important and meaningful.[/quote]

I agree there were a gazillion itinerant preachers at the time. John the Baptist was one of them, of course, and he gets a mention in the gospels. Although there's no record what many of them were saying 2000 years ago, at least some of them (e g., John the Baptist) were preaching a message along the lines of "prepare ye the way of the Lord."  In other words, these itinerant preachers were preaching that it was the end of times and a great prophet or messiah -- Jesus-- was due to arrive shortly....  As some of us think actually happened (although no end of times, obviously).

I'm with you on not knowing what to make of the miracles. I don't necessarily rule them out: I don't think we have to conclude they were a sort of one-upsmanship, but I have no proof they occurred, either. But I too think the moral lessons are the main point of Jesus' teachings. [/quote]

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