20th April 2004, 12:01 PM
Quote:On a serious note, why do people take it for fact that Jesus existed? Completely serioues here, and asking this without antagonism---why is it taken for fact, it seems that everyone believes in that.
Ahh... I've heard this one before. See, the issue comes up because pretty much all of our knowledge of Jesus comes from the writings of the New Testament and other related Gospels that were left out of that book... so it's POSSIBLE that Jesus didn't exist. I'd call it unlikely, though. When you get into disproving historical figures (and Jesus IS one -- the Bible may not be a straight history, but it has a lot of history in it!) you get into conspiracy theories and the like, and I don't usually like to go down that road... so I believe he existed. He was a visionary, a man with a dream about humanity that would be near-impossible to attain... yes, on the same level as Mohammed or the Buddha.
Quote:The Bible isn't documented history. It's folklore and fables. On the other hand, Roman historical records which may coincide with the execution of Jesus...
Folklore and fables? It's more than that. Oh, it's heavy on the religious teaching, but taking old stories to just be fables is dangerous and often wrong. Let us not forget that before the late 1800s most people thought Troy a legend and the Illiad a fable!
Now, they are usually not exact truth, and you must try to figure out what the truth was... but with enough investigation you often can come up with plausible theories for stories. While saying others were just made up, or something of the like.
Like the theory that explains the Great Flood... that's a great example...