I’d really like to find those 25,000 texts with 99% similarity in information (presumably about Jesus). In years of researching religions, I have yet to encounter such a thing. As my goal in life is simply “to understand,” which requires a high degree of factuality and truthfulness, such information would be of great assistance. If someone was to provide information that thoroughly countered the at-best-haphazard Abrahamic writings, I would not hesitate to embrace it. Plus, it would allow me to spend more time exploring other aspects of reality (I’d love to spend more time on the clash between general relativity and quantum physics — darn that gravity).

I often think that what happened to Jesus and the Buddha are similar. I think that they both — assuming they did exist as such — taught similar things (at times, it almost looks like Jesus copied the ideas of his predecessor) and suffered some of the same twists of history, becoming turned into deities by small-minded people. I heard a report on NPR a few weeks ago about a Chinese man who had lost faith in the Buddha (as if there was such a singular entity) because of last year’s earthquake and the losses his family suffered therein. That is so totally twisted from what the historical Buddha taught (again, assuming the mythology reflects history in some respect). The First Noble Truth is that “Life is Suffering.” The earthquake confirmed that. This man’s suffering is caused by his attachment to the world of samsara. Any Buddhist should know that.

Comparing those two religions is interesting, as one of them has created peaceful societies and the other has created some of the most violent, even though they were based on similar core teachings. An odd twist of fate.

Even here, though, I am not sure that the actual existence of the historical Buddha is important (and he would agree). What is more important than the historicity of a tradition is its impact in the real world. That, and the problems with the assembled Christian writings, is what makes me want to keep my distance.

Another case in point would be Taoism. Scholars are pretty sure that there was no such person as Lao Tzu, but that does not detract from the tradition. If anything, it may add to its veracity.

Also, I don’t know if you realize this, but it’s not “The Blog for WhyWontPlatoHealAmputees.” So, Plato has no relevance here. OKAY? DO YOU UNDERSTAND? WE DON’t CARE. Even though he has more proof to him than Jebus, I could live w/o him being actually historical, which apparently you can’t the same for your guy.

http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2008/10/did-plato-exist.html

It’s probable he existed. You know, it’s not there was an ACADEMY he founded or anything. It’s not like he didn’t occur outside his own writings. But you know what?

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF PLATO EXISTED. BUT IT WOULD IN FACT MATTER A GREAT DEAL IF JESUS EXISTED AND WE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT HELL.

You’ll actually have to present something for jebus other than, “Hey, this dead Greek guy might not have existed. Even though this applies to jebus too, but with far less evidence (none), I’m-a believe in-a him!”

Seriously, since neither one of you actually want to prove jesus, I’m saying Hercules was real. Go. Disprove him. If you can’t, Hercules wins! I’m not gonna give any evidence either. Lore is good enough for me!

It’s about what your special pleading amounts to.

Pepper is right. There is as much evidence for Jesus and Biblical events as for Plato. Just because Plato supposedly wrote for himself doesn’t prove his existence. I don’t believe we have a single original manuscript.

The quality of the evidence is really all that matters, and that is tough when we are talking about people or events from thousands of years ago.

Before we explore these 66 books, can get a citation for this (I asked once already):

>There are more copies of the ancient texts (over 25,000) available and over 99% accurate with one another.<

Thanks.

You.. you’ve completely ignored my posts to make completely inane ramblings of your own. I’m going to type the next bit in ALL-CAPS to try to get through to you. Let me know if it works!

We have comtemporary evidence OUTSIDE OF HIS OWN WRITING HE EXISTED. HE FOUNDED A WELL KNOWN ACADEMY, WAS RECORDED IN ACTUAL HISTORICAL TEXTS (outside mythology) blah blah blah. (Before you say jebus founded christianity, think again. It was Paul!) PLATO WAS NOT A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. HE WASN’T FEATURED IN MYTHS OR HIS OWN WRITING.

Jesus only exists in the bible, a collection of puffed-up Jewish fairy tales. He has NOTHING other than that. HE DIDN’T EVEN WRITE THE NEW TESTAMENT.

“I don’t need to prove Jesus existed. You have to prove he didn’t. I have 66 books that claim He did exist.”

Is that because you can’t? I mean seriously. You have done nothing to promote jesus at all. I think he would be ashamed of you if he existed.

Replace jebus with Hercules. Replace the bible with collective Greco-Roman lore. THERE I HAS PROVED-ED itS! Just for the record, you know there’s more than 66 books, and they were all arbitrarily chosen well after jebus was supposed to live?

Don’t like that example? Replace it with Harry Potter. He was in 7 books and (will be) in a total of 8 movies! That’s just gotta count for something!

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

What the fuck does that last link refer to? Atheists are Holocaust deniers? Is that what you’re implying? Seems assbackards to me, as it was a genocide of Jews caused by christians.

Some homework!
When you can refute every point here, then you come back and share. I will give you a cookie, and it will be chocolate chip. The best kind.

Before you sit down to “write a response”, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO TYPE. Put some effort so people won’t openly mock you as I will if I see any more stupidity coming from you.