Evidence for why we know the New Testament writers told the truth.

[Hokulele]

I'm not sure if that makes you brave or bat-**** crazy.

False dichotomy!

 

[kmortis]

False dichotomy!

I sit corrected.

 

[joobz]

My form of insanity:
Engaging BAC in the Politics section...

 

[paximperium]

I'm not saying which ones I need but it would be helpful if Paximperium would post.

Come on. Can't a person sit down in his underwear, have a tea and play DOC bingo once in a while?...actually it would be Mass Effect 2 but heck, I'm not going to help you win.

 

[kmortis]

Come on. Can't a person sit down in his underwear, have a tea and play DOC bingo once in a while?...actually it would be Mass Effect 2 but heck, I'm not going to help you win.

I hate you...

 

[Simon39759]

Come on. Can't a person sit down in his underwear, have a tea and play DOC bingo once in a while?...actually it would be Mass Effect 2 but heck, I'm not going to help you win.

How is that game? I still have to get my greedy little hands on the first one...
Aren't there indured servant in that game? Isn't that a euphemism for slavery? Funny how that reminds me of some book I have been talking about recently... Now what was its title?

 

[kmortis]

How is that game? I still have to get my greedy little hands on the first one...
Aren't there indured servant in that game? Isn't that a euphemism for slavery? Funny how that reminds me of some book I have been talking about recently... Now what was its title?

Amistad?

 

[paximperium]

How is that game? I still have to get my greedy little hands on the first one...
Aren't there indured servant in that game? Isn't that a euphemism for slavery? Funny how that reminds me of some book I have been talking about recently... Now what was its title?

There is a resurrection involved...and a savior.

 

[realpaladin]

I don't think DOC has figured out yet:
On a skeptics site, threads which contain things that are factually accurate and are agreed upon die quickly.

Threads which contain nonsense and lies last forever.
case in point:
Any thread about Bigfoot, 9/11 conspiracy, politics and DOC threads.

Hey! We're doing quite nicely in the 'religion and philosophy thread about Math with Doron' thank you very much!

 

[Simon39759]

There is a resurrection involved...and a savior.

Harry potter and the deathly hallows?

 

[DOC]

Well I would first like evidence of an empty tomb

You've must have missed all the posts on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And are you seriously saying the historical person Jesus' body did not disappear.

evidence that dying for a belief is evidence for the belief,

it certainly is evidence (although not proof) when the famous historical person 11 apostles were following for 3 years died and was reported to have risen from the dead within their lifetime and in their hometown. Don't you think they required some evidence he rose from the dead? And what did those formerly cowardly and uncertain apostles have to gain if they they knew it was not true other than death, persecution, and torture.

evidence that the spread of Christianity was peaceful

Name one person killed by a Christian in the first 300 years of its spread and growth from 12 cowardly apostles cowering in an upper room.

and if it was spread peacefully evidence that a meme spreading peacefully is evidence that it is true...

Let's put it this way, is the truth of Christianity more likely because it grew in a dangerous environment where you could killed for your belief or if it grew out in the middle of nowhere in a peaceful environment like the Mormon Church in Utah. And yes I know Joseph Smith was killed and the the Mormons were persecuted but the Church really didn't have great growth until it moved to Utah (and also polygamy helped the growth). Whereas the early Christian Church did all of its growing in the dangerous Roman Empire including Rome itself.

 

[X]

You've must have missed all the posts on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And are you seriously saying the historical person Jesus' body did not disappear.

I think he's saying that there's no evidence that the historical (note: "historical" has not been evidence, either) person Jesus' body disappeared. People's belief != evidence.

It certainly is evidence (although not proof) when the famous historical person 11 apostles were following for 3 years died and was reported to have risen from the dead within their lifetime and in their hometown. Don't you think they required some evidence? And what did those formerly cowardly and uncertain apostles have to gain if they they knew it was not true other than death persecution and torture.

I think they required no more evidence than did the Heaven's Gate cultists, or suicide bombers. In other words, not much. People are pretty gullible.
BTW: This is yet another nail in the coffin (we're really having to squeeze them in now) showing that you have no understanding of formal logic.

Name one person killed by a Christian in the first 300 years of its spread and growth from 12 cowardly apostles cowering in an upper room.

I'm sorry, what does this have to do with Lothian's question?
He asked about the spread of Christianity. I don't recall seeing Lothian restrict the question to the first 300 years.
Follow up: If these apostles were "cowardly", how did they end up spreading the message? Not to mention your woefully ill-informed knowledge of the early history of the faith you claim to follow. Shameful, really.

Let's put it this way, is the truth of Christianity more likely because it grew in a dangerous environment where you could killed for your belief or if it grew out in the middle of nowhere in a peaceful environment like the Mormon Church in Utah. And yes I know Joseph Smith was killed and the the Mormons were persecuted but the Church really didn't have great growth until it moved to Utah (and also polygamy helped the growth). Whereas the early Christian Church did all of its growing in the dangerous Roman Empire including Rome itself.

It has no bearing on the veracity of the teachings. None. I've long since given up expecting you to understand why. You plainly have no comprehension of logic or reason. I am now hoping that by repeatedly pointing out the logical flows, you will start to learn (even dumb animals like goldfish can learn by repetitive feedback) that certain arguments will be rejected by us rational folk, and stop using them.

 

[joobz]

You've must have missed all the posts on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And are you seriously saying the historical person Jesus' body did not disappear.

many bodies disappear. Are you claiming all of those are resurrections?

it certainly is evidence (although not proof) when the famous historical person 11 apostles were following for 3 years died and was reported to have risen from the dead within their lifetime and in their hometown. Don't you think they required some evidence he rose from the dead? And what did those formerly cowardly and uncertain apostles have to gain if they they knew it was not true other than death, persecution, and torture.

Have you ever heard of stockholm syndrome? How do you know they weren't just brainwashed by jesus to believe he was god? we have evidence of that happening, you know.

Name one person killed by a Christian in the first 300 years of its spread and growth from 12 cowardly apostles cowering in an upper room.

Some of the slaves in jesus' stories came to a rather tragic end. Given the fact that Jesus condoned the beating of slaves, I wouldn't be shocked to find some slaves were killed by christian hands.

Let's put it this way, is the truth of Christianity more likely because it grew in a dangerous environment where you could killed for your belief or if it grew out in the middle of nowhere in a peaceful environment like the Mormon Church in Utah. And yes I know Joseph Smith was killed and the the Mormons were persecuted but the Church really didn't have great growth until it moved to Utah (and also polygamy helped the growth). Whereas the early Christian Church did all of its growing in the dangerous Roman Empire including Rome itself.

none of this is logical.

 

[Marduk]

Breach of rule 10 removed. Note that rule 10 applies to images as well as text.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Cuddles

 

[Hokulele]

Let's put it this way, is the truth of Christianity more likely because it grew in a dangerous environment where you could killed for your belief or if it grew out in the middle of nowhere in a peaceful environment like the Mormon Church in Utah. And yes I know Joseph Smith was killed and the the Mormons were persecuted but the Church really didn't have great growth until it moved to Utah (and also polygamy helped the growth). Whereas the early Christian Church did all of its growing in the dangerous Roman Empire including Rome itself.

Yeah, Mountain Meadows was certainly a middle of nowhere, peaceful environment in which to grow a new religion.

 

[carlitos]

DOC, I know that this might make you feel bad, but I think that you should know. This thread, more than anything else, caused me to lose my faith in God. I'm not kidding, and I'm not lying. If you PM me, I can point you to a years-long history of posts elsewhere where I self-identify as Christian. I'm going to stop doing that now, mostly because of you. I just thought that you should know.

 

[Akhenaten]

I don't think DOC has figured out yet:
On a skeptics site, threads which contain things that are factually accurate and are agreed upon die quickly.

Threads which contain nonsense and lies last forever.
case in point:
Any thread about Bigfoot, 9/11 conspiracy, politics and DOC threads.

By the way, 9/11 was a controlled demolition by Bigfoot explosive expert to support the invasion of Iraq (Little known fact, the b in 'Halliburton' stands for 'Bigfoot').

The one thing I will give DOC threads, over the other examples you gave. They are nowhere NEAR as contentious. Yeah, we like to pick on ol'DOC, but there's no real animosity like in the troother world.

Oh, most definitely. You'll notice I don't enter into the Truther threads....There be dragons.

No wonder we play nicely together here. We seem to share a number of POVs, apart from lackofevidencitis doccus.

I used to have a look at the Stundie awards now and then, but I really didn't get most of the jokes, so now the only 9/11 threads I read are the ones in AAH. I figure they're the highlights.

Now and then I play in the bigfeets threads, but only because some of my Fourum Friends hang out there. That General Warning of the Hammer of Doom™ pretty much scared me off.

I think I opened the politics sub-forum once a couple of years ago, but I can't be sure. My mind has protected itself by erasing the memory.

I do.

Splitter!

 

[Hokulele]

DOC, I know that this might make you feel bad, but I think that you should know. This thread, more than anything else, caused me to lose my faith in God. I'm not kidding, and I'm not lying. If you PM me, I can point you to a years-long history of posts elsewhere where I self-identify as Christian. I'm going to stop doing that now, mostly because of you. I just thought that you should know.

Hey carlitos! (Speaking of people who post in CT. )

Just curious, if you no longer self-identify as Christian, how do you self-identify these days? If you find that to be too nosy a question, feel free to tell me to buzz off.

 

[carlitos]

No, it's OK. I'm trying to figure it out as we speak. My wife and I are not Catholic, but we help with a local Catholic food pantry, and we laugh when they say "oh, you are Lutheran - that's like Catholic light." Ha ha. This place does great work, and the nun who runs it should be a saint. But I don't feel super Lutheran-y lately. Let alone Catholic, which they would love us to convert to.

I have started a dialogue with my wife about this lack of faith thing, but it hasn't resolved itself yet. We both are a little lapsed in our churchgoing, but we used to be faithful.

The "E" in JREF for me is having watched 9/11 conspiracists, UFO proponents, bigfoot fans and Christians all using the same flawed thought processes to defend their claims. I am about to read a Christopher Hitchens book, for God's sake.

 

[Cactus Wren]

Slavery is on topic? What does that make about 50 slavery posts now? That's why a moderator made you form another thread on this topic which died out when I quit posting in there. I noticed your policy is to lay low for awhile and then bring the topic back when you think people have forgot. Oh, well, its your reputation.

Slavery is not immoral if the alternative is starving which is why many people in biblical times voluntarily sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts. Joobz wants the people of that time to run before they could walk. Society takes time to change.

You've already stated you believed the armies of that time should let prisoners of war go free rather than make them slaves. Joobz you are not realistic about that time, place, culture and economy in the brutal Roman occupied land. And Paul did say slaves were equal before God which was light years ahead of the thinking of that time.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4967272#post4967272

DOC, I asked you this before and you never answered: Why could not Jesus have told his followers that THEY were not to own slaves? "Society takes time to change", you assert, but why could he not at least try to start that change? He could have said something like, "I tell you, my brothers, YOU are not to own slaves, because it is wrong. Let those who don't know better do as they will, but YOU now know better, so YOU are not to buy or sell or own human beings." Why didn't he? Did he -- God incarnate, all-knowing and all-wise -- not anticipate that people of future times would interpret what he did say as an endorsement of slavery?