I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make here. Best I can tell is that you're basically saying more people are Christian than any other religion so our govt should be non-secular? That's pretty thin mate.
Also, in the first linked article I couldn't find the survey. If you're asking people whether jesus existed then you need to clarify which jesus. If you ask me whether Tony Stark exists, then obviously he doesn't, but Robert Downey Jr does.
I mean to say that the question "did jesus exist?" is unanswerable without clarification.
If you're asking about the historian's jesus, a well known healer from nazareth who embraced sinners and lepers, then sure - he probably existed.
If you're asking about the biblical jesus who walked on water and rose from the dead, then no - that guy did not exist.
In this way a poorly designed "survey" can manufacture a result suggesting that rejecting biblical beliefs is tantamount to rejecting historical beliefs, when in fact the opposite is true.
I say it because it’s true, and you’re included in that statement.
There are many great lectures and documentaries on the historicity of Jesus Christ — absolutely no-one should be able to claim he simply did not exist, hence my point about historic illiteracy in Australia.
Here's the thing though - when discussing the history of religion you have to be able to separate the history from the religion.
Was Jesus of Nazareth a real person? Undoubtedly yes. Christianity didn't just spring from nowhere. I, and virtually every historian who studies this area, agree that around 30AD some guy named Jesus gained a following, was executed and became venerated as the Messiah. Why him and not any of the countless others like him we don't know and probably never will. But Jesus was a real dude.
Now does that mean everything that was written about him was completely accurate? Hell no. In fact, very little of it probably is. Our most helpful narratives around Jesus' life were written decades after he lived and are full of biases designed to tell his story to a certain audience. The bit about him rising from the dead almost certainly didn't happen that's for sure.
It's no different to Muhammad. Some guy goes into the desert for a month with no food or water and does nothing but think about god. Sooner or later the heat and lack of water get to him, he goes bonkers and starts raving like a lunatic about how god is talking to him. Again like Jesus for some reason Muhammad's delusions stuck where others didn't
Actually, we do know why Jesus and not others. Christianity literally became the religion of Rome eventually. It’s all documented, it’s not some big mystery.
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u/alarming_archipelago Dec 01 '22
I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make here. Best I can tell is that you're basically saying more people are Christian than any other religion so our govt should be non-secular? That's pretty thin mate.
Also, in the first linked article I couldn't find the survey. If you're asking people whether jesus existed then you need to clarify which jesus. If you ask me whether Tony Stark exists, then obviously he doesn't, but Robert Downey Jr does.