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Is that what you said, Michael?

Conner, Ehrman says there are two dozen points of disagreement between himself and Metzger, not with the texts of the Bible.

Ehrman's lifework is dedicated to showing how the Bible is NOT historically reliable because of all the editing, rewriting, bias, propoganda, deliberate mythmaking, and innacuries inherent in the different texts.

The evidence is easily ample to support such a position.

Then I guess Hercules really did strangle those two serpents as a babe in his crib.

Then I guess Hercules really did strangle those two serpents as a babe in his crib.

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I've mentioned before watching a documentary some years ago about Samson. An archeologist was asked how we "know" Samson was "real", and with a perfectly straight face he cited the fact that the geographical locations mentioned in the tale are themselves all real, proving Samson really lived.

Wow, I thought, Spider-Man is real!

It's frustrating that Xians don't realize they only know the name Jesus because of Constantine. Without his conversion, the American South today might well be haunted by Zeus, or Mithra, or Zoroaster.

And why not? One demigod born of a virgin and raised from the dead is as good as any other, right?

Hell, Robert, I'd find believers a lot less frustrating if they just practiced what their Holy Books actually teach, as opposed to the exact opposite.

Jesus: Hate your parents. Pray in private. Give everything you have to the poor.

Americans: Family values. Prayer in school. Free market capitalism.

But I guess in a country where George W Bush is considered a veteran and John Kerry a traitor...

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Embarrassment, I sometimes think, is religion's strongest weapon.

People are indoctrinated in childhood, their heads filled with "facts" they have no way to properly evaluate, and by the time they become reasoning, rational beings, they must face the unpleasant prospect of having been WRONG their ENTIRE LIVES if they step back and look at the mythology from this more adult perspective.

Comfort is, somewhat perversely, the second weapon. Altho most religions preach terrible punishments for those who break the poorly defined rules in even the smallest ways, most believers are able to convince themselves -- even on an unconscious level -- that THEY are getting it "right", and therefore will be okay. Their god LOVES them.

Which brings us to the third weapon: hubris. A mortal sin, supposedly, yet how many of us have seen that self-satisfied smirk on the faces of believers? That overt smugness of the club member looking out upon the great unwashed beyond?

And these things, along with others, feed upon and strengthen themselves.

Michael, I think your take is quite reasonable. It seems to me that the various Christian accounts, whether canonical or non-canonical, are enough to conclude that there was some sort of Jesus fellow who taught and was crucified in 1st century Judea. The evidence is easily ample enough to support such a position.

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Is that what you said, Michael?

What is the real argument here? If its: "Prove God exists", then wallowing around in the weeds of "was Jesus a real guy" or quoting conflicting scripture from the Bible isn’t going to persuade anyone to change their mind one way or the other.

The question should be: does a Supreme Being/Creator/Divine Intellect exist? Why or Why not...