While I prefer the term "humanist," it would be accurate to call me an atheist. However, nothing ruffles my feathers more when talking with fellow atheists than the common claim I hear that Jesus never existed and was just made up based on pagan gods. The truth is that there are reasons that the overwhelming majority of secular historians accept that he existed. And the vast majority of the supposed pagan parallels are complete lies made up during the Victorian era. Are there myths about demigods? Yes. There are myths, particularly in Greece -- myths of people who are the children of a god and a human. Are there myths of people dying and being reborn? Absolutely! Virgin births? That one's a little bit shakier; the only examples I can find are a bit of a stretch and bear no real similarity to the stories about Jesus. Crucified figures? There are no historical examples of mythological figures being crucified and resurrected, except for Jesus. None. And this is the most common lie I hear. I hear atheists claim that Horus was crucified (lie), that Dionysus was crucified (lie), and even that Krishna and Buddha were crucified (lie, lie). I'll go into more detail in the future about the fake mythological comparisons -- particularly ranting about the fake Horus and Dionysus comparisons, but this guy gives a great summary of the rest:
It's my appreciation that in order for anybody to accept your homework [watching the video], your post has to be so incredibly compelling that you really don't need the video anyway.
Absolutely. In fact, work to "debunk" Christianity is totally wrong headed, I believe. First, it is NOT going to be successful. Nobody is going to switch religion because some asshat on this thread made a bunch of arguments - regardless of validity. Next, there is good philosophy in the New Testament - coming to us in the name of Jesus!!! Rather than trying to turn Christians into enemies, we would be far better off using the philosophy of the New Testament in promoting the Earthly philosophy of Jesus in how we treat our fellow man and other principles that are soundly American, but are in serious contention today.
It depends on how you ask the question. Was there a guy named Jesus who challenged the Sanhedrin and was put to death for it? Probably yes. Was there a guy named Jesus who was the son of god, changed water to wine and was resurrected after three days and nights in the grave? No. Probably not. The historicity of Jesus is challenged by the lack of non-Christian historical records. I tend to think that from the time Christ was supposed to have lived and 325 CE there were various myths that were compiled into the Christ myth. From there onward the political power of Rome ensured that other versions of the myth and rival religions like Mithraism would be silenced leaving only the Bible as we know it now.
