Hey guys it's Hunter, how have you been Idlemindswander !?

thanks for subbin'. new beer review daily. cheers!

If the laws of physics differed even slightly we wouldn't exist. The creationists like to use this to prove that this fine tuning proves that a god must have designed it for us. My point was to show that a god isn't needed to explain our existence in a fine tuned universe. A god would only be necessary if we found ourselves in a universe where it was impossible for us to live.

saw your post on philhellenes channel, i think we have adapted and evolved to live in this universe, not the other way around

The results of the christian religion on the world are just as destructive as every other religion ever created by man has been. And likely more so. If you show the average conservative christian in the United States how the path humanity is on is destroying the world's environment they will deny it. And not because they don't believe it, but because there is nothing more appealing to the modern Christian mind then the destruction of this world, and their future existence in heaven. And to tell you the truth as an unbeliever of your religion, I find that attitude to be well very ungodlike.

You may then ask what historical proofs would I accept in order to validate the teachings of the bible. And I can honestly tell you, none. Because it isn't the validity of the texts that prevent me from believing in god. It is the violent, anti intellectual, anti scientific, and illogical nature of the god that is taught in the bible that prevents me from believing. It is the clearly disprovable stories about floods, and gardens of eden, and creation in 6 days. It is also the nature of those who have claimed to be followers of god over the last 2,000 years that prove to me that there is no actual god guiding his church or his people.

I don't dispute the first century dates for the texts, or that there are numerous fragments of the texts. But if you look at how the character of Jesus is similar to other ancient deities like Mithras and Osiris, I think it is most likely that Jesus is a local reworking of greek and egyptian myths. Remember every city has its local deities. Creating new religions was quite common place at the time. What set Christianity apart was that it was so militant in its message and so intolerant of all the others.

Nice cut and paste. All those sources prove is the existence of early Christianity. But some like Josephus are highly disputed and his writings about Jesus are generally considered later additions. And Thallus' writing no longer exist, while Julius Africanus was written much latter. Even Tacitus who is considered accurate by historians is only describing events second hand at best. Also, they don't validate that the authors of the 4 gospels were eyewitness, or the truth of their stories. You only have to look to modern events like the JFK assassination to understand how many different stories can be created out of supposed historical events, even when there are thousands of eyewitnesses and all are still alive.

So yes, your statement that "And this complete lack of evidence while at the same time, there is evidence for many other people and events of the time period, can be taken as evidence that none of the dozens of gosples are historically accurate in their claims." is completely false EVEN IF these accounts had never existed, and only show how ignorant and biased you are in your knowledge of the analysis of historical documents, especially those dating back from antiquity.

In more detail than any other non-biblical historian, Josephus writes about Jesus in "the Antiquities of the Jews" before the close of the first century. Under Emperor Vespasian, Josephus was allowed to write a history of the Jews. This history includes three passages about Christians, one in which he describes the death of John the Baptist, one in which he mentions the execution of James and describes him as the brother of Jesus: "Now around this time lived Jesus, a wise man. For he was a worker of amazing deeds and was a teacher of people who gladly accept the truth. He won over both many Jews and many Greeks. Pilate, when he heard him accused by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, (but) those who had first loved him did not cease (doing so). To this day the tribe of Christians named after him has not disappeared".