Let's cut to the chase. Do you have any evidence?

[no evidence no belief]

I feel like we've been beating around the bush for... 6000 years!

Can you please either provide some evidence for your supernatural beliefs, or admit that you have no evidence?

If you believe there once was a talking donkey (Numbers 22) could you please provide evidence?

If you believe there once was a zombie invasion in Jerusalem (Mat 27) could you please provide evidence?

If you believe in the flying horse (Islam) could you please provide evidence?

Walking on water, virgin births, radioactive spiders who give you superpowers, turning water into wine, turning iron into gold, demons, goblins, ghosts, hobbits, elves, angels, unicorns and Santa.

Can you PLEASE provide evidence?

[Doulos]

[Replying to post 1368 by no evidence no belief]

Ok, so you admit there is no evidence that Mary was a virgin.

I see we are back where we started.

It was a historical event that cannot be repeated. It was a supernatural event that occurred only once. Do you expect from us to recreate history?

Or do you want evidence for the evidence for the evidence for the evidence ...

[no evidence no belief]

[Replying to post 1368 by no evidence no belief]

Ok, so you admit there is no evidence that Mary was a virgin.

I see we are back where we started.

It was a historical event that cannot be repeated. It was a supernatural event that occurred only once. Do you expect from us to recreate history?

Or do you want evidence for the evidence for the evidence for the evidence ...

Dude the virgin birth was either a supernatural event that occurred only once, or it was just something someone made up.

Now, what good reason is there to believe it was the first and not the second one?

[scourge99]

[Replying to post 1368 by no evidence no belief]

Ok, so you admit there is no evidence that Mary was a virgin.

I see we are back where we started.

It was a historical event that cannot be repeated. It was a supernatural event that occurred only once. Do you expect from us to recreate history?

Or do you want evidence for the evidence for the evidence for the evidence ...

I just pooped a diamond. Its a one time event that cannot be repeated. Do you believe it?

What if i write a book about the event. Will you believe it now?

What if my neighbor, wife, and friends also testify to it. Will you believe it then?

Should someone thousands of years in the future believe it if they read our books?

[Clownboat]

[Replying to post 1356 by Clownboat]

You would make for a good Muslim.

Ha ha - I did not see that coming. Sorry, but I will not make a good Muslim. Islam scares me - really scared me.

Are you a Muslim?

I am not a Muslim.

I propose that if you were born in Iran, you would be a Muslim and Christianity would scare you.

Do you agree that is likely?

[Nickman]

[Replying to post 1358 by no evidence no belief]

Because the evidence for virgin births is sooooooooooooooooooo weak...

What weak evidence?????

There is No evidence for that at all - not even weak evidence. That implies that the virgin birth of Christ must have been a supernatural event.

It is that simple.

That is because abstinence is only 99.99% effective.

[Danmark]

Apparently, none of the the Gospels were written by the disciples , so we don't have any of their testimony directly. OTher than the unsupported claims of the bible, can you show that any of the disciples actually believed Jesus appeared to them.

What is your methodology for determining the authorship of an ancient text? Mine would be external evidence supported by internal. All the external evidence suggests, for example, Matthew was written by a disciple and so was John. ...

I'm no scholar, so I rely on what scholars in the area say. Most say Matthew was not written by a disciple or eyewitness and the reasoning they give makes sense.

Early Christian tradition held that the Gospel of Matthew was written in "Hebrew" (Aramaic, the language of Judea) by the apostle Matthew, the tax-collector and disciple of Jesus,[80] but according to the majority of modern scholars it is unlikely that this Gospel was written by an eyewitness.[81] Modern scholars interpret the tradition to mean that Papias, its source, writing about 125–150 CE, believed that Matthew had made a collection of the sayings of Jesus.[82] Papias's description does not correspond well with what is known of the gospel: it was most probably written in Greek, not Aramaic or Hebrew, it depends on the Greek Gospels of Mark and on the hypothetical Q document, and it is not a collection of sayings.[83] Although the identity of the author is unknown, the internal evidence of the Gospel suggests that he was an ethnic Jewish male scribe from a Hellenised city, possibly Antioch in Syria,[84] and that he wrote between 70 and 100 CE[85] using a variety of oral traditions and written sources about Jesus.
....
John 21:24 identifies the author of the Gospel of John as "the beloved disciple," and from the late 2nd century this figure, unnamed in the Gospel itself, was identified with John the son of Zebedee.[91] Today, however, most scholars agree that John 21 is an appendix to the Gospel, which originally ended at John 20:30–31.[92] The majority of scholars date the Gospel of John to c. 80–95,[70][93] and propose that the author made use of two major sources, a "Signs" source (a collection of seven miracle stories) and a "Discourse" source.[94]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship ... le#Matthew

[Danmark]

[Replying to post 1368 by no evidence no belief]

Ok, so you admit there is no evidence that Mary was a virgin.

I see we are back where we started.

It was a historical event that cannot be repeated. It was a supernatural event that occurred only once. Do you expect from us to recreate history?

Or do you want evidence for the evidence for the evidence for the evidence ...

I just pooped a diamond. Its a one time event that cannot be repeated. Do you believe it?

What if i write a book about the event. Will you believe it now?

What if my neighbor, wife, and friends also testify to it. Will you believe it then?

Should someone thousands of years in the future believe it if they read our books?

Butt, are you an EYE witness?

[Goat]

Apparently, none of the the Gospels were written by the disciples , so we don't have any of their testimony directly. OTher than the unsupported claims of the bible, can you show that any of the disciples actually believed Jesus appeared to them.

What is your methodology for determining the authorship of an ancient text? Mine would be external evidence supported by internal. All the external evidence suggests, for example, Matthew was written by a disciple and so was John. Add to this John internally claims to be an eyewitness account. Let's compare this to the evidence for the assassination. What is the evidence that Cicero wrote his letters or that Nicolaus wrote Life of Augustus?

Can you compare and contrast the second hand (or more) claims about Jesus appearing to the disciples with the fact people claims they sighted Elvis after he died?

http://elvissightingsociety.org/

Like aside from the fact that the witnesses to Elvis' death are still alive and can confirm he was dead? If you could produce several witnesses that knew Elvis intimately (not merely fans) before his death and were willing to risk the possibility of their own death for the belief that Elvis had come back to life, I'd have to take the claim seriously and investigate further that's for sure.

Is it external evidence and internal evidence on how you determine authorship? I challenge you to show me you speak the truth, without appealing to the supernatural.

I can show that Matthew was not internally identified, and is not written by an eye witness, and I can find accounts showing the John was not written by John, external evidence written by early church fathers.

[Doulos]

[Replying to post 1375 by Danmark]

I just pooped a diamond. Its a one time event that cannot be repeated. Do you believe it?

What if i write a book about the event. Will you believe it now?

What if my neighbor, wife, and friends also testify to it. Will you believe it then?

Should someone thousands of years in the future believe it if they read our books?

This is no argument at all. You can still not repeat an historical event.


Why not be honest and admit that you reject the evidence?

[Goat]

[Replying to post 1375 by Danmark]

I just pooped a diamond. Its a one time event that cannot be repeated. Do you believe it?

What if i write a book about the event. Will you believe it now?

What if my neighbor, wife, and friends also testify to it. Will you believe it then?

Should someone thousands of years in the future believe it if they read our books?

This is no argument at all. You can still not repeat an historical event.


Why not be honest and admit that you reject the evidence?

Can you show the claimed historical event is even possible? Can you reproduce the circumstances to show that the claims are reasonable and rational?

Let's face it, the bible is the claim, not the evidence for the claim.