I'm feeling the urge to dig up a rather famous Stephen Roberts quote now.

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-Scott

It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. -- Bertrand Russell

In addition to that Master Vigil---the circumstances of jesus's birth are mirrored almost exactly in several religious figures. And no, they didn't come after Jesus, but before. Need I name them? Jesus...Krishna...Horus...

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm (jesus and horus)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr.htm (jesus and krishna)

There are several more if memory serves correct.
How can you deny that the same story has been reused and recycled so many times?

That is exactly what I was addressing when I said the similarities were bogus. The sources used predominately for these claims (generally Gerald Massey, Geoffrey Higgins and Barbara Walker) have no original citations to original Indian/Egpytian records. The few questionable similarities are from concepts that at the surface appear similar but are not (the resurrection, divinity and humanity of said person).

Even more importantly, you can find all of Christianity's doctrines in the Old Testament: Jesus as the son of God (Zech. 12:10), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), was crucified (Psalm 22), the blood atonement (Lev. 17:11), rose from the dead (Psalm 16:10). And therefore the story of Jesus would need no fabrication or borrowing.



Returning to this, what kind of great teacher would "lie" about himself. "Jesus could hardly be a great moral teacher if, on the most crucial point of His teaching--His identity--He was a deliberate liar." "Beyond Blind Faith"
by Paul E. Little

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I am the one, O Lord, who brought You there,
I am the heavy cross You had to bear,
I am the rope that bound You to the tree,
The whip, the nail, the hammer, and the spear,
The blood-stained crown of thorns You had to wear:
It was my sin, alas, it was for me. -Jacob Revius

Jesus never ever claimed to the Son of God, but rather the Son of Man. This was a common enough term amongst Jews at the time. It is difficult to say excatly what Jesus really said, or what was put into his mouth by the words of others. Can you be sure beyond doubt ?

Ian

And yet you still have yet to provide evidence otherwise except for your own words. I don't care if Jesus's similarities to others are similar or not. The point is, you basing your faith on your "god's" miracles has no more basis for evidence than other gods that perform miracles.

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The only constant in this universe is change. Are you ready to change??

And again I ask how do you explain that the tomb of Jesus was empty, and that He later appeared to hundreds of people. Do you need convincing that the Gospels are accurate and authentic, or that the only reasonable explanation for the empty tomb is Jesus' resurrection?



Jesus was fully human and fully divine. The title of Son of man emphasizes that He was indeed man. And yes, Jesus didn't directly say "I am God", but He did claim to be God, and his followers regarded Him as such.

John 4:25-26
Matthew 16:15-17 / Mark 8:29-30
John 8:57-58
John 10:33

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I am the one, O Lord, who brought You there,
I am the heavy cross You had to bear,
I am the rope that bound You to the tree,
The whip, the nail, the hammer, and the spear,
The blood-stained crown of thorns You had to wear:
It was my sin, alas, it was for me. -Jacob Revius

Or perhaps there was no empty tomb at all. And it is all just a story. There is no reason why a story cannot have miracles in them, but that does not necessitate the miracles to be accurate and authentic.

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The only constant in this universe is change. Are you ready to change??

Exactly MV,

As Plato wrote in the Republic, why if we don't about the truth before, we can make a story as to how we would like it be. Myth making Kane, still goes on today


Ian

*loud irritating buzzer sound*
sorry Kane but you are now getting into the realm of interpretation...and frankly i do not see anything about jesus that indicates he fulfilled any sort of prophecy from Tanach.


the sages interpret this to be refering to obscure figure of the Moshiach Ben Yoseph
this from Rashi

Kane Isaiah 7:14 is not refering to a virgin
here are 2 different translations
http://www.breslov.com/bible/Isaiah7.htm#14

http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=15938

the hebrew being used, almah, is typically used to describe a young woman, not a virgin.

first off, what part of Psalm 22 has anything to do w/ the act of crucifiction?
next, Psalms aren't really prophetic writings they are really more poetry and songs that David wrote in honor of HaShem

this has nothing to do w/ prophecy or jesus...it is dealing with the performance of sacrafices in the Holy Temple


Oy Vey again w/ the Psalms
Psalms are not prophecy...they are poems and songs of inspiration mostly credited to David HaMelech

*another buzzer sound*
well it would seem that we are picking and choosing from Jewish scripture doesn't fall into the above statement does it?
nothing like taking verses which have nothing to do w/ each other and are taken out of context

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Then, you suggest that a story kicked off the world's biggest religion? Jesus' followers were persecuted and put to death because they believed that they saw a risen Jesus.




The Old Testement contains over 400 prophecies about the Messiah and you can read a small sample of them here and disagree with them as you wish.


Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. -KJV

__________________
I am the one, O Lord, who brought You there,
I am the heavy cross You had to bear,
I am the rope that bound You to the tree,
The whip, the nail, the hammer, and the spear,
The blood-stained crown of thorns You had to wear:
It was my sin, alas, it was for me. -Jacob Revius