The Jesus Myth

[Cassia]

After reading R. Carrier, R. Price and B. Ehrman, I think Jesus was probably mythical. The standard accepted view has been corrupted by generations of believers, but when truly secular historians apply normal historical standards, Jesus looks like a cartoon hero.

Checking all the standard hero boxes is a dead giveaway. Recycling his life from Old Testament stories (sometimes using direct quotes) is a dead giveaway. The lack of independent secular sources except those subjected to obvious forgery is a dead giveaway. The lack of knowledge and customs of the Hebrews by the unknown gospel authors is a dead giveaway. How the details of Jesus's life become filled out by the most recently written gospels is a dead giveaway. I could go on and on.

I think 50 years from now Jesus will join the ranks of accepted mythical characters. He was compiled as a reaction to the Jewish Wars and destruction of the temple. As we know all too well, the historicity of a god has little to do with the success of a religion. In fact, the less likely to be true, the better.

[Nobody]

I'm about as close to certainty as it's possible to get that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. I've listened to the same sources, and I'm confident that Christianity has been a lie from the very beginning.

[Cassia]

I'm about as close to certainty as it's possible to get that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. I've listened to the same sources, and I'm confident that Christianity has been a lie from the very beginning.

You have to have an inner light to be a content atheist. And be brave enough to resist the millions of deluded who seem to need us (for some reason) to believe we are born broken and require a three-day, blood sacrifice. I look at grownups talking about loving Jesus and all I see is a brainless robot.

[Nobody]

Yeah, even Bart Ehrman thinks Jesus actually existed, he just doesn't believe the supernatural bits. And Richard Carrier gives Jesus a 33 1/3 % chance of having existed. I don't give Jesus even a 1% chance of having been a real person.
I'm a mythicist through and through.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Stupid is not going away, so we'll have mythology with us for a long, long time. Don't over-focus on Jesus, even if we proved beyond all doubt that he was fabricated the True Believers will blame the Devil and keep on keeping on. It's easier than thinking. And JC is just one god, True Believers switch easily. If they're god is debunked they just think "well, the true God is still out there, I just got some bad information."

We need to get humans out of the loop. Fast food restaurants are doing their share but they can't kill everybody.

[Cassia]

Stupid is not going away, so we'll have mythology with us for a long, long time. Don't over-focus on Jesus, even if we proved beyond all doubt that he was fabricated the True Believers will blame the Devil and keep on keeping on. It's easier than thinking. And JC is just one god, True Believers switch easily. If they're god is debunked they just think "well, the true God is still out there, I just got some bad information."

We need to get humans out of the loop. Fast food restaurants are doing their share but they can't kill everybody.

They do switch gods when convenient. For the most part the true god is the family god they were born into, amazingly. Yeah, when the last human takes their last breath, the last god will be gone too. Such imaginary nonsense, all of it. For all we know there could be trillions of extinct and forgotten gods already. Of course, with our lack of knowledge, we have to attribute everything to something....because we can't stand not knowing. The gods we have invented just tell us about ourselves.

[aitm]

I went a different route. As my tag line suggests. I call myself a Panotheust, It's a word I think I invented. Simply that since a god cannot experience pain or fear or death he/she/it has no moral right to judge humans. But also, since a god by definition (by most) knows all and according to the babble, knew us in the womb, then the idea that even though he knows how our lives will unfold, supposedly gives us free will in order to suggest we can change willingly to accept him, but also knows we may not. Why bother keeping those around who would challenge your existence and sows the seeds of doubt about the place? Like giving weapons to your enemies so they can off your followers. Not very genius like.

[Cassia]

I went a different route. As my tag line suggests. I call myself a Panotheust, It's a word I think I invented. Simply that since a god cannot experience pain or fear or death he/she/it has no moral right to judge humans. But also, since a god by definition (by most) knows all and according to the babble, knew us in the womb, then the idea that even though he knows how our lives will unfold, supposedly gives us free will in order to suggest we can change willingly to accept him, but also knows we may not. Why bother keeping those around who would challenge your existence and sows the seeds of doubt about the place? Like giving weapons to your enemies so they can off your followers. Not very genius like.

Pretty sure a xtian would say god took human form as JC to experience pain, etc. It's a common theme with gods; way before JC was conjured up. They had sex, got murdered, all sorts of stuff.

[Nobody]

I went a different route. As my tag line suggests. I call myself a Panotheust, It's a word I think I invented. Simply that since a god cannot experience pain or fear or death he/she/it has no moral right to judge humans. But also, since a god by definition (by most) knows all and according to the babble, knew us in the womb, then the idea that even though he knows how our lives will unfold, supposedly gives us free will in order to suggest we can change willingly to accept him, but also knows we may not. Why bother keeping those around who would challenge your existence and sows the seeds of doubt about the place? Like giving weapons to your enemies so they can off your followers. Not very genius like.

So, God's not a "stable genius" either, huh? 🤣

[Sargon The Grape]

If a person actually named Jesus of Nazareth existed, he probably wouldn't recognize the character in the Bible as being himself.

[Nobody]

I'm pretty sure no such place as Nazareth existed. I think that was just a mistranslation of "Nazarite." Samson was a Nazarite, but he never lived in Nazareth.

[Cassia]

I'm pretty sure no such place as Nazareth existed. I think that was just a mistranslation of "Nazarite." Samson was a Nazarite, but he never lived in Nazareth.

Yes, that is interesting. It's also interesting that there are no written records that illustrate exactly how the Romans conducted a crucifixion. They did record what they did with the bodies afterwards, however. Nothing. They let them rot and get picked over by scavengers as an insult. The Gospel authors were unaware of this.

Sure, as Sargon mentioned, a wandering preacher (maybe similar to "John The Baptist") is a possibility. Perhaps even several preachers may have been combined into a composite character with political purpose decades later. Jews were desperate. God failed them yet again. Reform was called for. Myths started gaining traction.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Leaving the bodies to the politicians vultures was a threat and a warning. "Don't piss us off!"

[Nobody]

Well, vultures gotta eat too.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So do politicians.