I strongly disagree with Doherty's argument that the Jesus in the Epistles under the name of Paul was believed to have never been on earth. The teachings in the Christian Bible is that their Jesus was the Lord from heaven who was born of a woman, was crucified in Jerusalem, raised from the dead, was seen by his disciples and ascended to heaven.neilgodfrey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:29 am
What happens to me when I read Doherty? I think about his arguments: some of them I find very interesting and others I disagree with strongly. Did you think I just follow Doherty the way a fundamentalist just mindlessly follows the bible and favourite teachers of the bible?
One does not have to be a fundamentalist to understand the teachings in the Christian Bible especially when ancient writers who used the Christian Bible taught that Jesus was believed to be on earth.
1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 is part of the evidence that contradicts Doherty's argument. Your claim that "Doherty spends many pages discussing the background, context and meaning of Hebrews 8:4 to demonstrate that it supports (not makes) his case" is rather irrelevant. You very well know that there are Scholars who reject his interpretation of the passage.neilgodfrey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:29 am But you did not quote 1 Thess 2:14-15 as a "smoking gun". You posted it as prooftext argument to make your case. Doherty spends many pages discussing the background, context and meaning of Hebrews 8:4 to demonstrate that it supports (not makes) his case.
I have never ever declared that "the passage is without some reasonable doubt among well-meaning scholars". Any person can doubt anything in or out the Christian Bible but they should not mis-represent the teachings of the Church as stated in their Canon.neilgodfrey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:29 am I have likewise written at length on the passage you quote and I explore in some depth the arguments from two schools of scholars: one side are critical scholars and the other are apologists. The critical scholars are by no means mythicists, but they do present a strong series of arguments -- evidence -- to demonstrate that the passage is a later insertion into Paul's letters. The apologists disagree and present their arguments.
So even if you disagree with the critical scholars because they question the very "word of God" as the Church has handed down to you, you cannot simply declare that the passage is without some reasonable doubt among well-meaning scholars.
Unless you think anyone who is critical of the holy word of God is a baleful sinner who deserves to die in hell.
I have explored multiple writings, it is a fact that the Christian Bible teaches that their Jesus Christ was the Lord from heaven, God's own Son who was killed by the Jews, was raised from the dead and was seen by over 500 hundred persons at once.
You seem not to understand that difference between the teachings in the Christian Bible and historical evidence.neilgodfrey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:29 am My point is that I prefer to garner evidence and understand the foundations of various arguments. I don't believe I should just believe the world is a few thousand years old or that Jesus rose from the dead just because the Bible tells me so.
The teachings of the Christian Bible are not historical evidence for the age of the earth or for an actual resurrection.
The Christian Bible tell us what Christians believed or what the authors wanted people to believe.
It is a fact that in the Christian Bible that it is taught that their Jesus was on earth.
Your statement makes very little sense and is also an apparent deliberate mis-representation. I do not only quote bible texts to support my argument that the character called Jesus was not a figure of history.neilgodfrey wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:29 am Just quoting bible texts to prove your case on any argument is not scholarly, it is not rational, it is merely soap-box preaching.
Jesus and Paul of the Christian Bible never ever existed and were always products of belief based on hundreds of writings in and out the Christian Bible.
In any event, the teachings of the Christians are in their Bible and must be and always are referred to by every single person [Scholar or not] who makes an argument for or against mythicism.