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Written by the Jews who don't even believe it themselves. If somebody came up to you telling a tale involving virgin birth with a supreme being as the father, walking on water, turning water into wine, healing leprosy by touching, raising from the dead, feeding thousands with two fish and five loaves, resurrection etc., You might think they were ready for the funny farm.
What is it that makes this collection of stories more believable than other ancient tales?
um...where's the ghost story? No chills, no campfire... no beer?!
What would you like me to do? Paraphrase the whole thing?
He built his thesis around these principles (I don't know how you could have missed them).
Multiple Attestation
Divergent Patterns
Coherence
Dissimilarity
The Assessment of Critical Scholarship
He reached this conclusion:
"The miracle stories of Jesus originated very early, contained reports not likely to have been created by early Christians, and cohere well with the rest of what we know about Jesus and his ministry. The best explanation for this evidence is that Jesus was known during his life as a miracle worker. The uniqueness of such miracle working adds significant weight to this conclusion and leads us to the further conclusion that the feats of Jesus must have been impressive. Though, as Carrier points out, Jesus lived in a time of superstition and religiosity, his miracles are uniquely attested. No other person of that time period has anything close to the attestation Jesus receives as a miracle worker. Accordingly, even if your philosophical predispositions preclude you from believing that Jesus actually performed miracles that violated the laws of nature, it should be admitted that he performed feats that convinced his contemporaries that he did such deeds."
If you'd like to know how he used those investigative principles to reach that conclusion, you'll just have to read it for yourself.
You might also note the bibliography, which isn't extensive, but it does include more than just the 3 sources you mentioned.
Well, I'm glad that works for you, but communing with spirits isn't something I want to be involved in.
No worries. You do know however, that each of us is capable and that God made us that way. In the future, you will see it as a natural thing and not some taboo that needs to be avoided because of what false teachers have taught. There are messages out there that have come from beings from other planets and it is very natural for everyone to communicate that way. And, in the spirit world, you will no longer be using your mouth to talk to others. You'll be using thoughts so there is no reason why we cannot start here.
um...where's the ghost story? No chills, no campfire... no beer?!
You haven't heard of the trinity? The father, the son and the holy ghost? It's the most famous ghost story ever told and the people who made it up are smarter than to believe it themselves.
He built his thesis around these principles (I don't know how you could have missed them).
Quote:
Multiple Attestation
Attestations referenced from the Gospels.
Quote:
Divergent Patterns
Again, based on the Gospels.
Quote:
Coherence
(1) The initial inventory of narratives and sayings of Jesus blend with the miracles. That is, the sayings supplement the miracles and the miracles supplement the sayings; ....
...and those narratives and miracles can only be found by referencing the Gospels.
Quote:
Coherence
(2) The reports of Jesus' amazing deeds fits in well with the fact that Jesus succeeded in gaining a large number of followers during his ministry.
Again...deeds that can only be found in the Gospels.
Quote:
Dissimilarity
Another important feature of Jesus' miracles is their dissimilarity from Judaism, Paganism, and the early Church. There are no examples of comparable miracle workers in Judaism or Paganism contemporary with Jesus.
The claim here seems to be that because nobody else had thought of making up a similar story then the stories of Jesus must be true.
Hogwash!!
Quote:
The Assessment of Critical Scholarship "Any fair reading of the Gospels and other ancient sources (including Josephus) inexorably leads to the conclusion that Jesus was well known in his time as a healer and exorcist."
Ah yes...the Gospels again.
Quote:
If you'd like to know how he used those investigative principles to reach that conclusion, you'll just have to read it for yourself.
Oh I read it all right but it would appear you didn't. If you had read it you would have seen that his 'conclusion' is reliant on the Gospel stories being taken as fact.
Oh I read it all right but it would appear you didn't. If you had read it you would have seen that his 'conclusion' is reliant on the Gospel stories being taken as fact.
What evidence is there that they didn't? That it was a commonly held belief that they did within a generation, or even within the lifespan of people alive then, at least suggests there is something to it, doesn't it?
The whole point of the article was not to definitively prove Jesus did, indeed, perform what were considered as miracles, but to make the case that there is good evidence to suggest he may have.
That pic is too awesome stillkit. The "holy spirit" of CD won't let me rep ya, though.
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There are messages out there that have come from beings from other planets and it is very natural for everyone to communicate that way. And, in the spirit world, you will no longer be using your mouth to talk to others. You'll be using thoughts so there is no reason why we cannot start here. 
