Quote Originally Posted by geoff View Post
Sinfix: science can not test the claims Jesus made nor the miracles He performed. The only thing we can trust as far as credibility goes, is history. There was indeed a man named Jesus, from the region of galilae(sp?), son of a carpenter, who preached forgiveness and repentance, and was crucified. There are historical documents(evidence) that corroborate Pontias Pilate and the region of Israel as depicted in the Bible. Whether you believe that He was God in flesh or that He actually performed miracles; one thing is clear... This man did something incredible. Something so great that it sparked great debate in this roman controlled area, overthrew the "religious" ruling order of the time, caused great spread of His message and completely changed the known world at the time. So great was He and His message that it spread like wild fire and took over the surrounding area. This man caused a stirring of people's that has never again been seen nor ever was. The words of a mad man would not have had the same following or influence...the words of a liar would have quickly faded upon skeptics who were proven right if only one single thing He said was shown as false. Here it is 2000 years later and Jesus' words still echo as loudly as when He first said them. A billion people still believe in all He said and did. For one to conclude that Jesus was an insignificant character in history would be foolish. By the way, you were almost right. The proclamation He made was that the Kindom of God was with man.

Blank: my point is this, you choose to refute and distrust something you don't know a lot about. Science can not test or experiment on God. It can not replicate Him in lab studies. How would one even begin to do so? All the evidence of God ever needed was found in the man Jesus the Christ. His message, His deeds, his morals, His life, death, and resurrection. We will never get as close to God as when Jesus walked the region of Israel. Think about this for a second, Christians these days are full of faults, but can you name one fault in Jesus? He forgave even those who murdered Him. I have a sneaky suspicion that you might have actually like Jesus as a man...He had many liberal views.
Perfect time and setting. I've mentioned something like this before. Jesus landed in the perfect era for a story like this to catch fire. Recorded history was well enough for it to be recorded, but not traveled enough for it to be debunked. You also have the factor of an oppressive government. The only thing you need to be a leader, is followers. Jesus "stood up" to an oppressive government who was crucifying people in the streets. Of course he had followers. Jesus wasnt the only person crucified. 1000s were crucified. Jesus wasnt even the only person named Jesus to be crucified. Nor was he the only person to be crucified for claiming to be a god of some sort.

In the modern day, news of something like this would travel over twitter, facebook, news ect... people would fact check it and validate it or discredit it ect. With Jesus, the story had plenty of time to gain lore while traveling mouth to mouth. My guess is that with each person that spread the word, the lore grew. Yes, it is impressive that people are still following Jesus after all this time...... well, maybe impressive isnt the correct word.... but it's something. People are also still talking about Mayans, greek gods, mormonism, satanism, ect ect........