I recently got an email from a Christian friend asking me a few things:
And
“Why do you say that Jesus did not exist?”
And
“According to statistic, ‘n third of Europe became Christians at ‘n certain time. It would obviously be at the same time as Jesus’ resurrection. Something must have caused it.”
(these questions aren’t exact, but I’ve taken the individual questions out of the main idea.)
First:
Just to be clear, I never said Jesus didn’t exist (or at least, if I did, I intended different). I said, or intended to say, that Jesus probably didn’t exist. And if he did, not in the way Christians think.
This is slightly harder to explain because you have to stop assuming that Jesus existed in the first place. The real question is: what proof do you have that Jesus existed in the first place? The pressure shouldn’t be on me to disprove you; it should be on yourself (any Christian) to prove because you make a claim.
To make things clearer:
Hypothetically I think there are rats in my house. I tell everyone. Some people believe me, some don’t. But then I become paranoid and call the exterminator. He comes and checks the house out. He looks around and doesn’t see any sign of vermin. He tells me this. He tells me that there probably aren’t any rats in the house. I tell him that he should disprove that there are rats in the house. He can’t because there is always the possibility. But because he does not find any rats, droppings or walls being chewed, he does not really believe me.
The same can be said of Jesus. The only real indication that Jesus ever existed, is the bible. As you may well know, the Bible is not a very accurate source of history. It might be true, but until further proof is found, I will continue to doubt Jesus’ existence.
For example: No single document, written before 97 AD, and referring to Jesus, has been found. There were MANY documents in Jesus’ times. That is why we know the exact history of Julius Caesar, Gaius Marius, Cornelius Sulla, Augustus Caesar, Nero, and all their family members and friends and enemies. The Romans were a bureaucratic lot. The kept records of criminals. Jesus, a well known criminal, could not be found in the Roman records by any historian to date. There were, however, a few references to “so-called-messiah’s” and cults. These cults were about 60 years after the alleged resurrection of Jesus. Jesus apparently lived from 6BC to 30AD, if you believe the church.
But despite this, I still think a prophet called Jesus likely lived. He probably rallied people and spoke about peace and love, but united the people against the Romans and caused much violence. Why else would the Roman authorities seek him out if he was merely preaching love and peace? Rome was famous for its freedom of expression and religion, as long as it didn’t threaten the laws of Rome and lives of Roman citizens.
But then, as happens so often, the story was exaggerated and mythtified. Just think about Gilgamesh. He was one of the first kings, but the myth tells that he was king of the entire world.
I can make the educated guess that Jesus wasn’t born on 25 December.
Mostly because Solstice – a Roman, and therefore almost worldwide holiday, invented long before Christianity – is celebrated coincidently at the same time. At this time, they celebrate the birth of Sol/Mithras.
I can also guess that Jesus didn’t die during Easter. It’s also at exactly the same time as the widely celebrated Passover.
What I suspect, is that the Christian Empire tried to suppress “pagan” and “heathen” holidays, but didn’t succeed, so they decided to absorb the holidays instead. This is common practice, even if it isn’t intended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_as_myth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus
Second:
“How do you prove that Jesus wasn’t resurrected without using the “bible has more errors than facts” argument?”
The “bible has more errors than facts” is not an invalid argument, but I’ll try to make do without it anyway:
Like the above argument, I can simply ask this:
“How do you prove that Jesus was resurrected?”
If I claim that there are unicorns, I don’t tell people who disbelieve me that they should disprove unicorns. They don’t have to, because there is not a single reason to believe in unicorns. The responsibility is on my shoulders to prove the unicorns.
Why is it so important that Jesus was resurrected in any case? If you believe the bible, many people have been resurrected. What makes Jesus’ resurrection so special?
Third:
“According to statistic, a third of Europe became Christians at ‘n certain time. It would obviously be at the same time as Jesus’ resurrection. Something must have caused it.”
According to “statistic”? Statistics has nothing to do with this because the data is old enough to be historical, and not statistical. But I understand what you mean. Unfortunately, your ‘statistics’ are completely erroneous. I would like to find out where you got those ‘facts.’
A large part of Europe DID become Christians, you are right there, but they became Christians at about the time Emperor Constantine became a Christian. This was almost 300 years after Jesus’ supposed reincarnation. Constantine killed and tortured many people because they did not want to convert to Christianity. And he killed all Christian sects which was not Roman Catholic.
When threatened with torture, crucifixion or death, people have a tendency to miraculously convert.
Here is a good indication of the spread of Christianity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spread_of_Christianity_in_Europe_to_AD_600.png
Read the part at the bottom for a guide to the map.
As you can see, there were absolutely no exceptions in the Roman Empire by 600AD. People didn’t have a choice. They were forced into the religion and their children didn’t know any better because that is how they were raised. The Jews somehow survived and the Muslims were killed during Crusades. All other religions were absorbed or killed.
You are right; something did cause the spread of Christianity: The threat of death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus
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