Crucifixion Nails Found in Tomb - Page 2

He never claimed that there was archaeological evidence of supernatural happenings. He just said that there is evidence of events in the Bible.

I just optioned the movie rights. We can bill it as the next Jurassic Park.

Clearly I would be unable to challenge an intellect and wit such as yours.

Please note that I said "verify various aspects of the Biblical account." For example, the discovery of the Caiaphas ossuary discussed in the linked article confirms the existence of the high priest who played a central role in the crucifixion of Jesus. What we gain from archaeological finds is material confirmation of random, sometimes insignificant bits, of the writings of someone like Luke. But when a witness is shown to be correct time and time again in areas we can verify (on points he could not predict) it makes the unverifiable parts more likely as he has proven himself trustworthy.

Let's suspend our disbelief for a moment and pretend you have a friend. Your friend has shown himself to be correct and reliable on every occasion. Now he tells you something that is hard to believe and unverifiable. You would be inclined to trust him based on your past experiences with him.

That's what faith is like. It is not belief despite the evidence, but rather trust based on a witness who has shown himself to be reliable.

This is the kind of shockingly bad argument that arises out of a deep faith in something. Let's lay aside the trite analogy and state what's actually at stake. A collection of ancient writings--narratives of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, accounts of his followers, and letters between early Christians, just to take the New Testament examples--make reference to contemporaneous events. Some of these events can be verified by archaeological evidence. And why wouldn't they be? Why would early Christians have fabricated anything wholesale? The real point is that the key claims that they do make are hard to follow--in the realm of myth rather than historical record: that Jesus of Nazareth was executed and then rose from the dead; that he appeared in rather awkward fashion to his followers; that he flew up into the sky after promising to return soon; that if we just believe in him, we'll be resurrected too and live forever. Yes, religious faith is precisely what's called for to believe in such things unseen. But don't use some story about a credible friend to make it seem like such faith is a matter of reason.

This made me LOL so hard I'm crying.
Apologies in advance if anyone is offended by this. . .

Again, clearly I'm out of my depth with you gentlemen. I see there'll be no getting you into heaven. You've got me.

"There's nothing an agnostic can't do if he doesn't know whether he believes in anything or not"

No need to get sarcky now Jesus wouldn't like it would he.


Your analogy is interesting yet not quite correct. To be analogous with the bible my friend would have proven to be correct on occasion with respect to mundane details yet have pants afire on every significant detail.

I read a terrible book called "The Genesis Code" by John Case (airport pickup) whose

SPOILER ALERT





entire theme is centered around EXACTLY that.