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I don’t know how I could be any more clear regarding my take on this particular subject matter and discussion between you and I. My apologetic regarding the faith of Christianity is clearly different than yours, and I’m OK with that.

But our theological differences in no wise diminish the Gospel.

His ministry is estimated at up to 3 yrs
Some scholars argue much less.

The NT depiction of Pontius Pilate is at odds with
Roman imperial records of antiquity.
Professors of Roman studies Cambridge, will tell
you this..two such are Mary Beard and Andrew Hadrill.

An account in Matthew by an anonymous author
who does not claim to witness such. So effectively
an extraordinary story with underwhelming evidence.
On the evidentiary scale it don't add up to squat.

Julius Caesar wrote that it's possible the GODS
favored him , after all he won so many battles often
against the odds..is that a credible claim in your
mind?

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus,
by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will
be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the
brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason
and freedom of thought in these United States will do away
all this artificial scaffolding..".

{Jefferson letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823}

I witnessed, on television, David Copperfield make a Boing 747 disappear into thin air.

I have seen Justin Willman float in midair.

The world witnessed Joe Biden get elected as POTUS in 2020.

The nation watched as a single deranged gunman killed JFK.

And then as another killed RFK.

I am a bit skeptical that any of these events actually happened as portrayed.

Doppelgangers, body doubles are easy when a conspiracy is 35 years in the making. And easier when recorders have centuries to perfect the telling of the story.

Just my humble opinion in answer to the OP. No attempt to convince anyone else.

So, is it correct that you are “choosing….not to believe in the biblical account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection?”

You seem to explain away Jesus’ minisitry as a cavalcade of trickery and written falsehoods.


Or, will you say something like “God has failed to convince me?”

Can you please supply links to the writings you refer to here?

Seems you think they are signicifant.

Got it. thanks. You're correct.

Sometimes I have to be hit over the head twice before I get the point. Just ask my wife...

Ed

How do you explain the growth of the early Jesus movement…? It was a tiny group of men (some of whom might’ve even been teenagers) that was sandwiched between the powerful Jewish Temple (the very center of the religion of Judaism)…that despised them and wanted them to be nonexistent…and the mighty Roman Empire…who also despised them and wanted them to be nonexistent. Yet, despite the persecution from both of these entities (and the Jewish Temple was the first of those to persecute Jesus and His followers), the early Jesus movement spread like an airborne contagion.

What fueled it…? It certainly wasn’t fueled by something that was written. It was fueled by something extraordinary that happened. Even Bart Erhman asserts that the rapid growth of early Christianity was due to something extraordinary that happened. The movement of the once tiny group of Jesus’ earliest and most devoted followers eventually replaced the entire pantheon of Roman and barbarian gods, and it saw the end of the Jewish Temple (and ancient Judaism) and the Roman Empire ~ both of whom had been powerful and mighty entities that had tried…and failed…to stamp this tiny group…along with its movement…out of existence.

Even Bart Erhman concedes that “The ancient triumph of Christianity proved to be the single greatest cultural transformation our world has ever seen.”

Easy. Divine Providence.

Hope and meaning to life. Offer hope and many people are willing to take the offer.

Don't make the mistake of confusing biblical
theological narrative marketing with actual history.

Historians don't substantiate alleged miracles
or the supernatural. Prof.Bart Ehrman and other
PhD Historians of classic antiquity will tell you this.

I gave you the university and the prominent professors
Now go research their work like an adult. Roman record
from antiquity is easily found regarding Pontius Pilate
if you know how to do basic historical research.You can
start with Flavius Josephus.

The story of the Prodigal Son is literally about how God deals with us when we sin and what sin does to us. In the story, the PS renounced his father, took his inheritance and left. In Jewish tradition, that son would be dead to his father, i.e. he would not be accepted back. But in this case the father welcomed the son with open arms when the son came back expressing his contrition, even though it was an imperfect contrition.

This shows several things. That mortal sin makes us dead to God. That confessing our sins restores our relationship with God. And, no matter what we do, God is always more than happy to welcome us back and will even celebrate our reconciliation.

So, is it correct that are choosing to discount and do not believe the biblical narrative and so are accepting or the “historians” view?

Edit to add: So, who were the “historians” of the day?

Nah, you just lifted something out of some other publication and then ….lazily….simply plodded along with them.

History is established through multiple lines evidence. The gospels are our sole source of information that we have on Jesus, and they are written by unknown authors/believers decades or more after the described events.

Many would argue that there are indeed “multiple lines” of evidence.

One of you can correct me if I am wrong but wasn’t it Bart Ehrman that said that there is more evidence corroborating the historicity of Jesus than any other figure from “antiquity.”

You just choose to disbelieve the evidence…..

”With respect to Jesus, we have numerous, independent accounts of his life in the sources lying behind the Gospels (and the writings of Paul) — sources that originated in Jesus’ native tongue Aramaic and that can be dated to within just a year or two of his life (before the religion moved to convert pagans in droves). Historical sources like that are pretty astounding for an ancient figure of any kind. ...the claim that Jesus was simply made up falters on every ground. ... like it or not, Jesus certainly existed.” - Bart Ehrman

Can I choose to believe David Copperfield made a 747 disappear into the ether?

When I know the law of conservation of mass and energy?

Can I choose to believe Justin Willman can levitate simply with the power of his mind?

When I know the law of gravity and equal and opposite forces?

I can no more CHOOSE to believe YOUR God is real than you can choose to believe the sun is actually Opollo racing across the sky in a flaming horse drawn chariot.

You KNOW Apollo is a myth!