Why do you reject the 4 gospels as proof of Jesus's existence?

Question

Do you honestly believe they were all making it up and nobody challenged them on it? The Jews who believed in Jesus were ostracized from their communities and hunted down. Christians were heavily persecuted by the Roman emprire for the first 300 years after Christ's death...

But you think people just said "oh ok, sign me up! I guess I'll die for your lies as well! Yay!"

Answer 1

Oh, because I'm waiting for the 5th one.

Answer 2

Well, the 4 gospels were written *after* Christ's death. They were not written during the time of Christ. That's strike number one against them.

Strike number 2 is that there are several other gospels that weren't included in The Bible. It wasn't until Christianity was made the official religion of the Empire that these four gospels were chosen to describe the life and death of Jesus. That leads me to believe that the Christianity the early church was dying and being persecuted for was probably much different than Christianity as it is practiced today. The early Christians didn't even agree on whether or not Jesus himself was divine or a messenger of God. When the offical church of the Empire was founded, it was only then that these things were "decided".

Answer 3

No, I don't believe they made it all up. They had a good idea of what prophecies they could sell, and which ones would have to wait for a second appearance. They borrowed heavily from existing myths, as well.

If a willingness to die for a god is proof of the religion's legitimacy, you've just validated the faith of every non-atheist enemy of Christianity. Congratulations.

Answer 4

No one knows who actually wrote any of the Gospels and, whoever they were; even they never claim to have met the earthly Jesus. Moreover, the original manuscripts do not even exist. The earliest is probably Mark (70 C.E.), although no one knows who wrote it, where they wrote it, or exactly when they wrote it. Paul's biblical letters are the oldest surviving Christian texts (60 C.E.), and even he never claims to have met or seen an earthly Jesus. Neither does he give any reference to Jesus' life on earth. The Gospel of John disagrees with events described in Mark, Matthew, and Luke; and it was written in Greek around A.D. 90-100.

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Every religious group has cried persecution at one time or another. Is that proof that they all were the true religion and their God the true God?

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Brock –

More likely, it is just that people are unwilling to believe in imaginary beings and make-believe worlds.

Answer 5

Is that the right question? With all the evidence and the impact his has had on society over the last 2000 years, can anyone deny his existence? BUT, was he God or man? Just because someone made a huge impact and chose to die doesn't mean you have to believe that he was God...

Answer 6

People don't reject the existence of Jesus. There is proof he was real, a real man! It was a certain King that ordered scripts to be written to immortilize him. He saw how popular Jesus was and used this to gain power, by gaining followers.

Answer 7

Yes, I believe people said the quote via bottom details.

Seriously, why do you take the bible as a reason to believe in God? It's one book, vs. many more books on science just as thick and/or thicker than the bible!

Answer 8

People followed the Heaven's Gate cult and the Branch Davidian cults, to their death.

Does that make those cults true?

Answer 9

Some people commit suicide for their satan worshipping cult leaders. You can't conclude something as a fact just because people strongly believe in it.

Answer 10

Yes I do think they were recounting decades old tales that got twisted along the way about a hypothermic coma.

So, I don't believe it.

And "Ok sign me up" seems to be what is pushed at me every time someone knocks on my door.

Answer 11

Amen!

people are just afraid and unwilling to accept things they dont understand and things they cant see so they have a hard time accepting the truth of the gospels.