Did Jesus Exist? by Bart Ehrman

The probability of being born and baptised Christian in the USA is between 65 and 75%.The probability of being born and baptised Christian in Iran is less than 1%So it does make any difference where you are born.And, btw, there is no recorded incident of anyone ever finding Jesus that didn't already know about him. Your Holy Spirit is not equally distributed.

Hi Charley, That is like saying it is not a coincidence that everyone who writes about the BBT are the scientist that believe in the BBT. When they can not produce one shred of evidence that is the way the universe began to exist from non existence.I assume God exists and created the heavens and the earth.The scientist assumes that somehow the universe began to exist and since it does exist what he believes happened the way he believes it did.Now explain to me how your assumption is better than mine?At least I have a source for the energy and matter to create the universe as well to sustain it and hold it together.The only answer I get from scientist is we don't know!If you know the answer to how the universe began to exist when there was an absence of existence please share.God Bless,

There are multiple, independent lines of evidence supporting the BBT:Evidence for the Big Bang | The Schools' Observatory No assumption is being made. It is a conclusion based on objective evidence.

Bullshit. Historians study the historicity of the bible it is not a requirement of historians to believe in the superstitions of the ancient peoples they study. They just investigate the factual basis of it. Egyptologists do not worship Raa.

Hi Charley, You can't be baptized a christian. You have to be born again and live a life like Christ to be a Christian. I doubt very seriously that even 4% of Americans are Christians.Is that God's fault?Or is it because of what the parents have taught their children?The sins of the parents gets handed down to their children.God Bless,

Ha, and now it's the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. Only you know what a Christian is eh? Only 4% of Americans are your type of Christian - this Holy Spirit really is utterly crap at his job isn't he?

Hi Charley, You and no Atheist here believe what historians say about Jesus.You and the others pick and choose who you will believe according to whether it fits your narrative or not.You don't believe what a Roman historian said about Pilate crucifying Jesus.
Historians are the people who translated the Annals not theologians.I notice you could come up for the waste my bulls used to excrete without one word about what you quoted I said.Do you have an answer for how the universe began to exist in/from non existence?God Bless,

Hi Charley, I didn't say they didn't think they were christians they do. In fact I have had people tell me they were christians because they were born in America, my mother and father was christians, I am a christian because I was baptized by a church, and the list goes on.A person is a Christian because they have been born again and are living a life like Jesus did.I don't even claim to be a Christian as I have not always done what He wanted me to do. I do claim to be a born again child of the King saved by His Grace which I don't deserve.Now when I read some of the things you and others call and say to religious folks I believe you think they are all a bunch of hypocrites, because they claim to be something they are not. I also believe they are a bunch of hypocrites.God Bless,

Not even close to being true.I happily accept an awful lot of what historians say about Jesus. But I don't confuse historians with pastors. If you ever bothered to read the historicity of the bible - even from theologians that are doing actual history - you'd be frightened by what they agree on.At university I shared a flat with a chap whose girlfriend was doing a theology degree, she was shocked by what these Christians professors were teaching their students. And so was I. Most were trainee priests all the lecturers were either priests or Christian theologians. What they taught was historicity - the facts based on the evidence - and it diverted wildly from what they preached from the pulpit. One thing for the masses - the flock - another for the intelligentsia. Why do you keep asking the same questions, then ignoring the answers? Do you think that we don't notice you trying to change the subject.
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Since historians disagree with one another I don't think you can blame us.Speaking for myself, I see no reason to reject the claim that Jesus was a historical person. Joseph Smith and Muhammad were definitely historical people, yet I don't see orthodox Christians converting to those religions based on those facts.

Hi Taq, Assumptions are necessary.
Where did the Universe come from?
Scientific answer is we don't know.Where did the energy and matter come from to furnish the universe with the billions of galaxies that have been discovered?
Scientific answer is that little point or pea sized universe that we assume existed a fraction of a second after Time did not exist, T=0.If those two things are not assumptions what are they?If they are not assumptions please enlighten me as to their origin.As far as any evidence you have I think I have equal or better evidence for. Evidence for the Big Bang | The Schools' Observatory
Lets examine the independent lines of supporting evidence!1. Redshift of Galaxies.

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The light we observe from galaxies has been stretched by the time it reaches us. It looks redder than it should. This redshift is the result of galaxies moving away from us.

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Yes God stretched out the universe and is still doing so which causes the redshift which tells me the universe is expanding.They didn't mention that we also have some blueshift of several Galaxies that tells me everything did not have its's beginning with that little pea sized universe as it expanded in every direction at once.So here is a place that the universe says it did not take place as you think it did.
Just one little proof that God is in control not mankind.2. Microwave Background.

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A long, long time ago, the whole Universe was very hot. As it grew in the size, the heat left a "glow" which fills the entire Universe.

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Yes an eternity ago God started arranging everything from some of the energy that was available to Him in the first light period. I don't know how hot pure energy would be, as no one knows. I am sure it would be as hot as that little pea sized universe was said to be, maybe even hotter.And yes it would produce the same Microwave Background.3. Mixture of Elements.Yes they had to begin to exist somewhere in the creation event as did everything else. God had an eternity to create the heavens and earth in.4. Looking back in time.You can't look back in time as time did not exist until mankind created the concept of time to be able to measure the duration between events in existence.So when you look back into existence you have no way of measuring it. Existence just is.You got anything else?God Bless.

Hi Taq, But you see people converting to their beliefs.I saw Jim Jones, but I did not follow him either.I talk to Taq and I am not going to follow him either.God Bless,

We don't need to know where the universe came from in order to conclude that the universe began as a dense region of energy that expanded outwards. In the same way, we don't need to know where energy and matter came from in order to understand how clouds form. You might as well claim that germs causing disease is an assumption because we don't know where the energy for the universe came from. I suppose God also causes clouds and infections? Yes, there are blue shifted galaxies that are part of our local galaxy cluster due to the fact that we are all orbiting around a shared barycenter. The redshift is for galaxies that aren't gravitationally bound to the Milky Way or our galaxy cluster. We know exactly what temperature it was and what the energy came from. Once the universe expanded to the point where the energy density dropped to levels that allowed atoms to form from plasma, light was finally able to move through the universe without being absorbed by the plasma. This is the moment the CMB was produced. We know both the temperature and the cause of the CMB, and it is further evidence by the power spectrum of the CMB which is consistent with black body radiation. I don't see you providing any predictions on the relative isotope makeup of that matter. The BBT does make those predictions.

Hi Charley, Because you never answer them.God Bless,

Correct. Whether a person actually existed in the past doesn't have much relevance to the claims made about their lives. George Washington existed, but we know the story about the cherry tree was invented for his political campaign.