Reply to If Jesus wasn’t a real historical figure, where did Christian theology come from?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So whoever told Tacitus and Josephus this story was convincing. Neither met him or saw him work “miracles”.

But that’s all you’ve got. A convincing story that people chose to believe. No way to actually know if it is true. 
[/quote]

An eyewitness account was written by John - the Book of John.  He actually wrote in there that he was the eyewitness, and it was his personal account.[/quote]

Again, you can’t use the Bible to validate the Bible.

And none of the gospels were eyewitness accounts. They were propaganda to sell Christianity. 
[/quote]

Nonsense. In a court of law people testify about stuff involving themselves all day, every day. Can we not use Cicero because he was writing about powerful people of his time? Excluding the Bible is not the handy rhetorical trick you think it is. [/quote]

It was written by men with an agenda. You can believe what they say because you like the story but that doesn’t make it credible.

[/quote]

OK, tell us. Who and why would “men with an agenda” completely fabricate the gospels and Paul’s letters around a person they decided to call Jesus who never actually existed?

You need a credible alternative source for the gospels. [/quote]

Why do we need a “credible” alternative source, but can’t question credibility of the gospels themselves? 
[/quote]

The oldest book in the NT is Paul's I Thesalonian's dated probably in early 50's. c.e.  That's just 20 years (roughly) after Jesus died.  If you read it you would have to believe he was engineering a colossal conspiracy to fabricate a person named Jesus who he repeatedly calls "Lord."

Granted, the gospel writers likely didn't know Jesus (maybe they knew Peter or Paul), and no way they could have known the circumstances of Jesus's birth. But Paul's letters, to me, are pretty convincing.  And he was writing to churches that had been established when the Jewish Christians were expelled or fled Jerusalem after Jesus (reportedly) died. So there again, there were believers during this time. It can't just have been a mass delusion.  I really think we can put this question to rest.[/quote]

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