The myth of Jesus. Apologists

Emails from Christian apologists: 1

Emails have been received from Christians making a wide variety of claims and statements. For example, over the years I have often been told that my conversion is being prayed for. However, as I remain an fervent atheist, it would seem that those who undertake this momentous task lack the required faith to bring about my conversion (even though Jesus is reported to have said: 'Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith' - Matthew 21:22).

(i)The feature that is most noticeable is how the writers appear unwilling to actually read the content of this site. This is demonstrated by lengthy emails that deal with subjects covered on this website but lack any endeavour to answer the points made. The claim that 'Jesus obviously must have lived' is frequently made without any attempt to answer the lack of contemporary references to his supposed life.

    (ii)I find the outlook of Christian creationists to be the most bizarre. In claiming that the Biblical account is accurate and the argument of evolution is untrue, they fail to grasp that:
(a)Even if evolution did not occur, this does not automatically mean that the biblical account of creation is true;
(b)Even if there was a creation by a divine being, this need not have been by the Christian god.
    Incredibly, Christians still write claiming, for example, that Jesus must have been the Christ and 'the Bible must be true' because 'Jesus fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies', completely ignoring the website article dealing with this very subject. Not surprisingly, I find it truly extraordinary that Christians deliberately seek out websites that challenge their beliefs, but then do not bother to read the contents, but rather, send emails that supposedly 'prove' the Christian faith even though these merely reveal that the writer has not bothered to read the webpages that show these supposed 'proofs' are nothing of the kind. In the upshot, this behaviour reveals both a startling arrogance and ignorance. It would seem that Christians have a remarkable amount of time to waste and it is sad that they choose not to do anything more useful or productive with it, e.g., visiting prisoners, feeding the hungry, assisting the homeless, raising money for the poor to have adequate health care, etc, etc. No, it's much easier just to sit in the comfort of their homes, typing nonsense on a computer...
    (iii)Interestingly, while declaring that the Bible's prophecies are 'fulfilled' they completely ignore how numerous New Testament writers in the 1st-2nd centuries claim that Jesus' second coming - the parousia - was imminent. The following texts are examples of when Jesus or New Testament writers declare the second coming would occur in their lifetimes, and/or the 'end' was near, and/or they were living in 'the last days': Matt 10:23, Matt 16:28, Mark 9:1, Mark 14:62, Rom 13:12, 1 Cor 7:29, 1 Cor 7:31, Hebrews 1:2,James 5:8, 1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 4:7, 1 John 2:18, Rev 1:1, Rev 3:11, Rev 22:20.

    (iv)Another example is when, after Jesus is said to have described the events to occur immediately before his second coming (parousia) and the end of the world in Mark 13:4-29, he is reported as saying 'This generation will not pass away before all these things [all the events just described including the end of the world] take place' in Mark 13:30. However, the generation that lived when Jesus supposedly spoke these words ('this generation') died out some 1900 years ago.
    A further example is 1 Thess 4:15-17 when Paul speaks of Jesus' second coming and how Christians will rise to meet the returning Jesus in the air. After referring to the Christian dead being resurrected, he says 'then we who are alive' will join them; the use of 'we' here confirms that Paul believed that Jesus would return in his own lifetime. However tradition says that Paul died during the mid-first century.
    The Christian theologians Professor A. T. and Bishop/Professor R. P. C. Hanson comment that the New Testament claim of an imminent return of Jesus is 'an embarrassment to intelligent Christians' and remark that the argument of Christians who cite 2 Pet 3:8-9 ('one day is with the Lord a thousand years') as justification for the delay and that Jesus will one day return are futile as 'an event that has 'been just round the corner' for a thousand years is a non-event'. They further remark that if Christians 'really believed this [in Jesus' return] they would not make long-term plans such as taking out life insurance, pension schemes and mortgages'. In sum, 'thinking Christians should not behave as if the parousia was a genuine possibility' (Reasonable Belief, OUP, 1980, p.196).
    Christians are left with the fact that Jesus' return, and indeed his imminent return, is referred to throughout the New Testament and is a core doctrine of Christian theology. If this is to be rejected as an 'embarrassing' mythology, then surely one is justified as viewing the whole New Testament as such?

(v)One feature that is apparent is the manner in which Christians have and use 'disposable proofs'. By this I mean that a supposed proof for Christian belief is offered and when it is shown to be invalid or untenable, it is simply discarded and the Christian then offers yet another 'proof'. This is then shown to be worthless (as always because the Christian has not bothered to scrutinize it with due care), and this too is simply jettisoned and yet another proof is offered; and so on. At some stage one would expect the Christian to realize that something is seriously amiss and reflect upon the matter, but this does not seem to happen. The Christian simply carries on regardless and appears wholly disinterested in the fact that his/her belief is based on nothing more than myth, falsehood and/or wishful thinking. This can only indicate that Christian belief is not based on evidence, or reason, or anything truly 'real' but something that satisfies a deep-rooted emotional need.

(vi)One instance of 'disposable proofs' was a Christian asserting that one 'proof' of Biblical prophecy is Ezek 40:1ff. Of this he argued that in fulfilment of Ezek 44:2, a gate was indeed blocked in the Middle Ages and this rather trivial event offered clear evidence of Bible prophecy being a fact: furthermore, the Christian believed that it referred to Jesus' return when he would come to the temple (apparently the 'prince' mentioned in Ezek 44:3). However, by even a cursory examination of the relevant text, it is obvious that the Christian's claim was nonsense. Firstly, the 'prince' mentioned in the Ezekiel passage, who the Christian believed referred to Christ, is actually depicted as a mere Temple functionary, obliged to follow certain regulations, which hardly agrees with the idea of Christ as eternal 'high priest' (as well as God). Secondly, the text (which is obviously nothing more that the author's wishes for a full restoration of the Jerusalem temple after the original had been destroyed by the Babylonians) mentions animal sacrifices being carried out at this time. But, as Christ's death is supposed to have annulled this supposed need (Hebrews 7:27, 1 John 4:10), and furthermore, there would surely be no requirement for such sacrifices when Christ returns as he will apparently destroy sin and sinners, the references to animal sacrifices make no sense at all. Thirdly, in Ezek 46:16, it mentions the 'prince' having his own children which hardly agrees with the Christian image of the celibate, unmarried Jesus.
After this was all pointed out to the Christian (who had apparently failed to notice these points), nothing more was said of it and he simply moved on to a completely different subject and then offered this as proof (this time it was Jesus' supposed resurrection from the dead). The Christian supplied what he believed were the 'reasons' why Jesus' resurrection 'must' have occurred. Incredibly, these were based on the belief that the (contradictory) New Testament narratives were a form of accurate historical record, even though it is obvious that they contain errors (see page 4) and the authors deliberately composed stories to 'fit' what they mistakenly believed were Old Testament messianic prophecies (e.g., Matthew 21:1-5).

(vii)Another popular argument offered for the historicity of Jesus' resurrection is that 'something' dynamic (i.e., Jesus' resurrection) 'must have happened' to change the disciples from being fearful into fearless preachers. But this idea wholly relies upon the New Testament (e.g., Acts) providing a historically accurate account about the disciples, when in fact there is no reason to believe this writing has any historical basis at all. Consider for example how Acts 2:41 says 3000 people in Jerusalem became Christians after Peter's Pentecost speech and this is followed, according to Acts 4:4,by a further 5000 being converted after Peter spoke at Solomon's portico. Some 8000 people all suddenly being converted in Jerusalem in the third decade of the first century CE, would be comparable in the present period to a sizeable proportion of New York's population suddenly embracing Hare Krishna or Jainism. And yet this momentous event went completely unrecorded by all the secular writers of the time...
In reality, the argument that when people change dramatically because of religious belief must surely indicate that something 'real' has occurred to effect this is nonsensical. People are completely transformed and willing to sacrifice their lives for all manner of beliefs, e.g., religion (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Islam) and/or politics (Nazism, Communism). But these cannot - obviously - all be divinely inspired and yet Christians seem unable - or unwilling - to grasp this simple fact. There is the further point that (a)nothing is known about 11 of the 12 apostles who simply disappear from sight after the Gospel/Acts narratives end, and (b)it is probable that the church has grossly exaggerated the number of Christians who were martyred and we are essentially dependent upon biased Christian writers for details of these supposed early martyrdoms (which invariably occur with any new religion or radical belief): this is apart from the fact that the numbers martyred were minor compared with the number of people slaughtered by Christians over the centuries in crusades and numerous persecutions.

(viii)Moreover, when examining some of the claims made by Christians relating to supposed 'Bible prophecy fulfilment', it becomes immediately apparent that they have not actually studied the relevant text as this will be found to include statements that invalidate or weaken their claim. Consequently, one can only presume that they are simply repeating what they have read in an evangelical-fundamentalist writing and have not bothered to examine the assertions made. Indeed, in some cases it is obvious they have merely copied pages from an evangelical website and sent these as their email pleading for the validity of Christian belief, and, as always, accepted the content at face value without scrutinizing what is said. In virtually all cases, the issues raised have already been discussed in this website, thus indicating the emailer has not even bothered to read what is said before sending emails.

In the case of this website, I do not consider it unreasonable to expect Christians to have at least read and studied the contents of the website before sending emails. However, this is not the case and only confirms that many refuse to consider anything that questions their beliefs.
It is surely ironic that Christians refuse to read and consider anything with which they disagree, but expect others to read/listen to what they have to say (which is usually just parroting what their pastor has told them).