for the atheists that do not deny that Jesus was a man that really lived?

Question

i know that most of y'all believe the Bible is a made up book of fairy tales, etc., but...just wondering, would you explain Jesus' miracles as medicine practices before it's time, or something similar?
Seriously, i am really curious how a non-believer would see these acts.
Thanks, y'all.

Father Guido, you truly have the best answers! you need to boot imacatholic!!!!!!!!

eldad: i'm already witcha, bro.

Answer 1

Several of the miracle stories are simply rewrites of the miracles of Elijah found in the Book of Kings.

The healing of the leper, the raising of the dead child, the healing of the official's servant and the feeding of the five thousand are all cribbed from the story of Elijah and Elishah.

Some of the Gospels go to great lengths to make the Jesus/John - Elijah/Elishah connection, while other Gospel writers completely dismiss the idea and borrow stories from the Greek gods.

Wedding/Water into Wine = Bacchus/Dionysus
Walking on water/Calming the wind/waves = Poseidon/Neptune

Enters hell and defeats death = Heracles defeating Pluto in Hades

It's almost all begged, borrowed and stolen. Only a small number of the parables appear to be genuine and a few of the sayings. All of them can be found in the Gospel of Thomas. Everything else is a Hollywood rewrite like they do for summer blockbusters.

Answer 2

We have seen a lot of evidence supporting the fact that man has a real hard time writing and maintaining a good historical log of anything. Babe Ruth was some great baseball hero, right? Well, aside from the alcoholism and womanizing thing. If he were playing today, he would get laughed out of the sport. But the history books were kind to him and most leave out the less flattering commentaries.

Is it so hard to believe that the bible (and of course related religions) were created and shaped by various monarchs throughout the world to support their own philosophies? Who made all of those copies? How things are translated are at the mercy of the skill and opinion of the translator. One who works for a king pretty much write what the king wants or be hanged...not a single word in that book is reputable.

Answer 3

no longer quite. regardless of the undeniable fact that this is completely accessible some bloke died in a painful way, replaced right into a pacesetter of something and/or befell to be the objective of those claims, there's a difference between being inspired by using a real existence man or woman (as an occasion, a guy who did X) and the ensuing character (a character who did Y, is X, can do Z, suggested V, etc), for this reason calling a man or woman who inspired the character by using the characters call could be getting it backwards (in different phrases calling a guy who could have inspired Jesus interior the bible as Jesus could be stupid). the two way, this is nonetheless accessible that it replaced right into a legend or tale, and not an quite guy that inspired it. Over very long quantities of time it gets harder to tell the version, after all.

Answer 4

I think the "miracles" in the Bible are mythical, much the way the actions of King Arthur are mythical. There may have been a king named something sort of like Arthur, but I don't think he had a wizard and a magic sword.

The rabbi Yeshua upon whom the Jesus of the Bible was probably based may have been a "healer" of sorts, I suppose. I don't know much about Bronze Age medicine. It seems most likely to me, however, that within the realm of the Jesus myth the physical healings work as symbols--those who were "blind" can now see truth, those who were "paralyzed"--with fear or in their bad behaviors--can now move away from them, etc. Viewed as classical literature and mythology the stories in the Bible make far more sense than if viewed as literally and objectively true.

Answer 5

Harry Potter performs some pretty wicked miracles to you know?

There were many people named Jesus during the time, it was one of the most common names for a man. As for a historical religious Jesus, most atheists don't deny it, there probably was a religious Jesus of some kind, but this can not even be conclusively drawn. Historians like Josephus were born after Jesus supposedely died, would be kind of hard to consider that historical proof right?

Anyone who is familiar with historical proof, and what classifys, knows there is none.

If I was a miracle I would see a miracle. Just because we don't believe every religious text we read, especially when the bulk of your stories and traditions were taken directly from Pagan religions, does not mean we do not have eyes. Virgin birth, sacrifice, resurrection, sorry those were around long before Christianity, and even before Judaism.

Answer 6

Along the line of Fr Guido, many of the stories were taken from the Sumarian Tablets that predate any written bible. They handed down the verbal stories over the campfire and most of them got screwed up. Sodomon and Gomorrah are in the Sumarian tablets and give much greater detail. Also, the story of creation.

Answer 7

There are several sources referring to a Christian sect that claimed that Jesus did pretty amazing things (Flavius Josephus,
Plini the younger, Tacitus, suetonius, Lucian of Samosata) so the probability of there having been a spiritual leader of that name is quite high. Stories of miracle workers are abundant and seem to have more to do with a human need to enlarge things.

Answer 8

I believe he existed, and I believe he traveled around a troubled land in a violent time and preached love and tolerance, and that he had many disciples who spread his teachings after his death. Now whether he actually believed himself to be the son of God, we will probably never know. He seems like an incredibly enlightened, and forward thinking man, so I think it likely that his divinity was bestowed upon him, possibly post-mortem, by other men, and that many of his 'miracles' had similar origins. I also believe that he would be absolutely appalled at what he has become, or moreover, what he has been made into. He would be devastated to learn of how his teachings have been twisted and corrupted, and of all the atrocities that have been committed in his name.
Ghandi once said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians; they are so unlike your Christ."

Answer 9

No stakekawa, you are not psychic. This question, or variations of it, have been asked before. Many many times. It does not take a psychic to know how an atheist will answer these types of questions.

The miracles he performed are part of the myth. They did not occur. He was a man, a preacher, nothing more. He was made into something more by men who used his teachings to create a new religion.

Answer 10

Well, there's no evidence those "miracles" ever happened. Walked on water? Don't think so. Water into wine? I think Penn and Teller can do that. Rising from the dead? Didn't David Blaine do that?

If he existed, he performed no miracles. There is no god, so there can be no miracles.

Answer 11

I don't actually believe those things happened. remember Braveheart, when someone said that Mel Gibson couldn't be William Wallace because William Wallace was 10 feet tall? I think the stories of his greatness got exaggerated. I mean, look at Jessica Lynch. Here's this girl who got captured while doing her duty and nexy thing you know, we're hearing about her firing all over the place and stuff and it turns out her gun jammed and she wasn't able to get off a single round. I think the same thing happened with the Jesus story.

Soory if this sounds offensive - it's just what I believe.