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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Jesus evidence example (exactly the case we’ve been discussing)

People commit a category error when they say:

“There’s no archaeological evidence or contemporaneous outsider documentation for Jesus → therefore he probably didn’t exist.”

That reasoning only works if Jesus belonged to the category of people who normally leave archaeological or contemporaneous records (emperors, governors, high priests, famous rabbis, rebel leaders who mint coins, wealthy benefactors who commission inscriptions, etc.).

But Jesus belonged to a completely different category: 1st-century Galilean peasant itinerant preacher.
For that category, the normal, expected evidence profile is:
-Zero archaeology
-Zero contemporaneous outsider records

Demanding that a member of Category B produce the evidence typical of Category A — and then declaring him “probably fictional” when he doesn’t — is a textbook category error.

It’s like saying:

“I looked in the sky and didn’t see any fish → therefore fish don’t exist.” (Fish belong in water, not the sky.)
Or:
“I dug in the desert and didn’t find any whales → therefore whales are a myth.” (Whales belong in the ocean.)

In the same way:
“I looked for inscriptions and Roman police reports about Jesus and didn’t find any → therefore Jesus is a myth.” (Those kinds of records belong to emperors and governors, not Galilean carpenters.)

That’s the category error in a nutshell. Once you place Jesus in the correct historical category (lower-class apocalyptic Jewish preacher in Roman Palestine), the total archaeological and contemporaneous silence becomes the expected default, not a problem.

[/quote]

You are confusing posters.

I'm simply saying there is zero evidence. Nothing about his existence.

[/quote]

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