Reply to How do you "know" that Jesus/Christianity is not just a crazy story?

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Reply to "How do you "know" that Jesus/Christianity is not just a crazy story?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]But I have yet to see a single PP who does not have faith in Jesus actually take him on directly. That's the difficulty. Instantly, there is talk of Poseidon and the FSM (ad nauseum), but not Jesus. Lord, liar, lunatic, guru, myth? Rise from the dead or not? Specifics? Never. [/quote]

I think most "literalist" Christians misunderstand the point of FSM (or Poseidon).  While they immediately jump to "offense at mocking my faith", that's not the point of the exercise.  Comparisons to FSM/Poseidon/Mormonism cut right to the heart of the question of *what* we believe.

The problem with "rational" defenses of a particular creed is that they start from the conclusion and work backwards.  Start with the divinity of Jesus, and you work your way backwards to the evidence.  Start with the divinity of Joseph Smith, and you can work your way backwards to the evidence as well.  Same with FSM.

So let's leave aside the FSM, and we'll concentrate on Joseph Smith:

If Smith wasn't the only true modern prophet, then why did Moroni give him the golden tablets of The Book of Mormon?

What FSM does is remove the "special pleading" aspect of Jesus, and replace him with an equally plausible--but absurd--alternative.  The fact that this makes literalist Chrisitians go ballistic isn't evidence of "mockery" but the fact that FSM quite neatly sums up the fundamental weakness of your arguments.

It's a sign of disrespect to the truth and your interlocutors that you want to give your particular creed--call it the Jesus Hypothesis--a privileged place in the constellation of gods throughout history, and get hugely angry when anyone suggests a counter-hypothesis.

In summary, you've got it exactly wrong:  when a non-believer brings up FSM or Poseidon, we're giving you the respect afforded to someone whose ideas are taken seriously.  That you cannot bring yourself to engage the most pertinent question that applies to this topic is a sign of disrespect--not that non-believers refuse to validate your particular set of beliefs unconditionally.[/quote]

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