Good Proofs that Jesus Existed

[ApostateAbe]

Stephan Huller and Steven Carr, I created a thread where we can discuss your objections to my Argument from Pattern of Cults:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=379

[ApostateAbe]

Argument From Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory

(1) A group of committed believers convinced themselves that their spiritual leader was infallible
(2) Their spiritual leader proposed a certain date for prophecy to be fulfilled and some disaster to occur
(3) The date passed, prophecy was not fulfilled and the spiritual leader was instead arrested and executed
(4) The group interpreted their leader's execution as proof that the prophecy was fulfilled
(5) The group interpreted the lack of a disaster as proof that their faith and/or their leader's sacrifice prevented the disaster from happening

This has been advanced in the case of Jesus many times. It's a valid argument. I don't think it's correct in this case, but it's at least based on observational data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails

Yeah, I think that ties closely into my argument from the pattern of cults. The failed doomsday prophecies of Jesus indicate that Christianity was a certain type of cult: a doomsday cult. So, I will restate the argument formally.

ARGUMENT FROM FAILED DOOMSDAY CULT PROPHECIES
(1) In all of the known many cases of a reputed human leader of an existing cult making imminent doomsday prophecies, the human cult leader actually existed.
(2) Jesus was a reputed human leader of an existing cult who made imminent doomsday prophecies.
(3) Therefore, Jesus existed.

[spin]

I will start with my most preferred argument that Jesus existed.

ARGUMENT FROM PATTERN OF CULTS
(1) There is an actual human being corresponding to the reputed founder of every cult in history and the modern world that reveres such a reputed human founder, in absolutely every case where the information is available.
(2) Jesus was reputed to be the human founder of the cult of Christianity that revered him.
(3) Therefore, Jesus existed.

You laughed, but I told you Xenu existed!!!

[ApostateAbe]

I will start with my most preferred argument that Jesus existed.

ARGUMENT FROM PATTERN OF CULTS
(1) There is an actual human being corresponding to the reputed founder of every cult in history and the modern world that reveres such a reputed human founder, in absolutely every case where the information is available.
(2) Jesus was reputed to be the human founder of the cult of Christianity that revered him.
(3) Therefore, Jesus existed.

You laughed, but I told you Xenu existed!!!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=379&p=5624#p5624

[ApostateAbe]

ARGUMENT FROM THE FAILED PROPHECY OF THE TWELVE THRONES
(1) The gospel of Q contains a failed prophecy of Jesus saying to his twelve disciples: "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," per Matthew 19:28.
(2) This is an apparently failed prediction, as Judas was subsequently denied a place among the twelve apostles, and he was replaced by another man (Acts 1:25).
(3) The most probable explanation for the existence of this failed prediction in the myth is that Jesus actually spoke it without anticipating the betrayal by one of his own twelve. It has plausibility if Jesus was the leader of a cult.
(4) Therefore, Jesus existed.