Showing posts with label Judeo-Christian History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judeo-Christian History. Show all posts
Jesus And Germ Theory
If Jesus was God, he would be all-knowing and all-good, according to traditional Christian understanding of the attributes of Jesus.
Hitchens: The True Core Of The Christian Myth
Christopher Hitchens presents his take on the historicity of Jesus. This is counter to the wholly mythical Jesus hypothesis.
What Is The Real Evidence For Jesus?
David Fitzgerald presents a one-hour talk at Skepticon 3 in 2010 regarding his book Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All.
Bottom line in this discussion: It makes no difference whether or not Jesus is based on a real person. The character is effectively fictional.
Bottom line in this discussion: It makes no difference whether or not Jesus is based on a real person. The character is effectively fictional.
The Hallucinatiion Hypothesis
Gary J. Whittenberger has written an essay for Skeptic Magazine that challenges the Resurrection Hypothesis as an explanation for the stories recorded in the Gospels regarding the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.
Incredible Things Happen Every Day
John Loftus has posted on incredible events and how they relate to the stories of the resurrection of Jesus.
More On Biblical Ethics
Hector Avalos has written a lengthy and thorough analysis of biblical support for slavery, and unethical behavior in general (H/T John Loftus). This blogger agrees with Avalos' final paragraph:
Judged by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which expresses the widest consensus available on ethics, the Bible does fail miserably. The Bible is part of a world whose ethics and values are best left in the past. If the modern world values human freedom, then it should completely unshackle itself from using the Bible as any sort of ethical or social authority.
Evidence: Personal Genealogy Vs Historicity Of Jesus
There have been several posts on this blog regarding the historicity of Jesus. While Christian apologists contend that there was an historical Jesus, recent Biblical scholarship, especially by secular historians, sheds doubt that there truly was such an historical person. How does this historical analysis relate to efforts of individuals searching for their ancestry?
Minimal Facts Approach To The Resurrection Of Jesus
John Loftus has posted on the "Minimal Facts" approach to the resurrection of Jesus by William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas and Michael Licona. This approach accepts that which most scholars agree on as facts, then seeks the best hypothesis that explains these agreed-upon facts. First showing that the Gospels themselves are historically trustworthy is not necessary with this approach. Minimal facts are more important than all of the facts. Sounds good to this blogger ---- those pesky larger facts that destroy any argument from the smaller facts can just be thrown out. Talk about stacking the deck!!
The post ends with this statement:
The post ends with this statement:
"--- a miraculous resurrection is always going to be more improbable than any improbable speculation about what may have happened instead. Improbable things happen all the time. People get struck by lightning. People win contests against overwhelming odds. So non-miraculous explanations of the resurrection might all be improbable, and yet better explain the evidence, since a miracle can still be far less likely to be true than those other improbable explanations. Unless they can show that our “improbable” explanations are more improbable than a miracle (and they never do), their argument can’t even get off the ground.
Morality And Jesus
Hemant Mehta has posted a powerful piece challenging the view that Jesus was a moral teacher. Warning: This may be hazardous to a positive view of Jesus.
The Trinity
TGBaker on the Debunking Christianity blog gives a brief history of the Trinity. Note the following from a comment made by renoliz:
The Trinity has always been a strange concept that has led to this: God sent Himself to appease Himself by killing His Son who is Himself as a sacrifice to Himself so that God could correct His mistake of putting a tree in the Garden of Eden and not putting a guard there to turn away poor innocent Adam and Eve.
Have You Really Read It?
Mano Singham has posted on the effect really reading the Bible can have on belief.
The Department Of Secular Studies?
Hemant Mehta has posted on perhaps a beginning academic trend, the Department of Secular Studies.
What We Don't Have
John Loftus has posted on what we don't have but would like to have concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
The Historian And The Resurrection Of Jesus
John Loftus has re-posted from 2009 some quotes from Bart Ehrman and James McGrath regarding the history and the resurrection of Jesus.
Bottom line in this discussion: It makes no difference whether or not Jesus is based on a real person. The character is effectively fictional.
Bottom line in this discussion: It makes no difference whether or not Jesus is based on a real person. The character is effectively fictional.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)