Was Jesus Even Real? | The Atheist Experience: Throwback

[@johnsperry9494]

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."-Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

[@krampusx9784]

That quote is actually from Edward Gibbon not Seneca.

[@robertlight5227]

@@krampusx9784 "Oh yes it is !" - Seneca.

[@roqsteady5290]

Whether Seneca said it or not, it is a perceptive aphorism.

[@Mr_Porter]

2 +2 equals 4, right? Caller: Of course. I'm not stupid. So, 3+1 also equals 4, right? Caller: ......hmmm...I think you're going down a rabbit 🕳️ hole

[@youtubestudiosucks978]

Lol 😂

[@nsf001-3]

The Socratic questioning nonsense does get annoying. Just make your assertion and get on with it

[@BennyAscent]

​@@nsf001-3 given the difficulty in getting through to some people, leading them to the conclusion with logic constructed in their own brain is a lot easier and more effective.

[@CDogg-kn4wt]

The fun part is when they claim God spoke to them.. That's when i get excited and grab the popcorn 🍿 😃

[@shahidibrahim9746]

Romans recorded everything EVERYTHING. But failed to mention a godlike magician who fed multiple people with magical sky food, walked on water, raised the dead.....NADA.

[@hansj5846]

Not issuing Jesus with a notebook was a massive mistake

[@borthwrenblanston6632]

God didn't fail. There's 66 books in the Bible that speak of Jesus. So STOP w/ your stupidity. Jesus did/does exist. Keep in mind that Jesus was considered a rogue of society. An outcast of not only the church, but the community. "CRUCIFY HIM!" they shouted. I doubt the NYTimes of the time would publish an article about him. There’s just as much evidence of Jesus as there is evidence for anything else of that time. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi who preached his message orally, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. There are no archeological finds that debunk the Bible. “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact." - John Dominic, N.T. Scholar "There is no scholar in any college or university in the western world who teaches classics, ancient history, new testament, early Christianity, any related field who doubts that Jesus existed.” - Bart Ehrman, New Testament ATHEIST scholar - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[@alfresco8442]

@@hansj5846 Having hung around for 13.8 billion years, not waiting a comparative blink of an eye longer until everyone was equipped with smartphone recording devices was an even bigger mistake on Big G's part. Even as a kid I wondered why all these 'miracles' only happened thousands of years ago.

[@nsf001-3]

Even if they recorded it, doesn't automatically make it true

[@jaimelambton1809]

God must get an F in marketing. He sends down his "only son", has him killed, then resurrected, and NO ONE recorded any of it until 50 or so years later? I'd fire him if he were working for me!

[@SuperChicken666]

I'm always amazed that someone who has been "watching the show for years" are surprised to come up against the same arguments that come up on almost every episode.

[@AdrianLParker]

I'd be surprised if anyone could invent a new reason to call.

[@jamesparson]

I think a big part of Christianity is to not understand non-Christians. The less you know the better. I can understand someone even if I don't agree with them. I think that idea is lost on them.

[@peaceandfood7952]

Because they don't really listen

[@nsf001-3]

@@peaceandfood7952 They listen but they have no listening comprehension. They actually think they have a new argument that hasn't been debunked a million times already

[@haydenwalton2766]

I never get tired of hearing theists say that the bible's true because it says it's true. always gets a loud 'hey hey' from me :-)

[@joshsheridan9511]

After all the claims of proof, David admitted that it was just faith.

[@petermeichan3160]

and you should watch davids follow up call about faith, he's so confused

[@borthwrenblanston6632]

Wrong. There is faith that's based on good evidence to trust and then there's blind faith.

[@alfresco8442]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 If you've got good evidence, you don't need faith; what you have is a rational belief.

[@holgerlubotzki3469]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 👈👈👈 The failed, jailed, and living in a trailer chiro-quacktor still expects people to believe his lies even after he was convicted for fraud.

[@fries-with-lies]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 you are so wrong. there is no difference in faith and blind faith. both is a guess.

[@dimitrioskalfakis]

the caller in constant retreat, trying to dodge the absurdity of his claims but he digs a deeper hole for himself to tumble in each time.

[@bra-o-bra]

It begs, no sorry, raises the question if they understand the weakness lf their reasoning but are so emotionally attached to their hopeful ideas that they simply cant stand the discomfort of letting go of the conviction. I feel tremendous sympathy for people like that because being brought up in an environment where your community hammered these types of things into you as a child, i would probably also be this affected. One should be very grateful to have been lucky enough to not have fallen into a dogmatic ideology like this. What a cognitively limiting and miserable thing it is. Theres so much beauty and fascination to be experienced from physical reality as it is, what a shame to be entrenched in iron age mind viruses.

[@dimitrioskalfakis]

@@bra-o-bra i agree. indoctrinating children into abrahamic religions is abuse and should be a punishable crime. religion informs people on ethics by usually suppressing free human expression and injecting ruling class dogma.

[@VanHalenIsolated]

I saw this too. At one point it felt like an atheist pretending to be a Christian to show Christianity’s weaknesses. Like he backed down constantly which if he is truly a Christian, he was being somewhat honest.

[@dogwalker666]

Not one person wrote anything about a wizard walking around the Roman Empire performing miracles.

[@Bozo_Weirdo]

I like the part in your logic where the Romans are supposed to love keeping records about the people they tried to wipe out and destroy the memory of. I guess that thing in the 1940’s didn’t really happen either because the Germans recorded everything.

[@PorterJustPorter]

Untrue. The Romans wrote works of fiction just like every other human civilization... and most likely some that included wizards. 😉

[@borthwrenblanston6632]

God did. You can read about it all in the 66 books of the Bible. So STOP w/ your stupidity. Jesus did/does exist. Keep in mind that Jesus was considered a rogue of society. An outcast of not only the church, but the community. "CRUCIFY HIM!" they shouted. I doubt the NYTimes of the time would publish an article about him. There’s just as much evidence of Jesus as there is evidence for anything else of that time. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed historically and historians consider the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to be the best sources for investigating the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Galilean, Jewish rabbi who preached his message orally, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. There are no archeological finds that debunk the Bible. “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact." - John Dominic, N.T. Scholar "There is no scholar in any college or university in the western world who teaches classics, ancient history, new testament, early Christianity, any related field who doubts that Jesus existed.” - Bart Ehrman, New Testament ATHEIST scholar - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[@jankodes197]

And they wrote about a lot of failed messiahs, but not a word about a "real" one even as a brag how they finally "nailed" him...

[@Bozo_Weirdo]

How many Germans wrote about the Jewish people in the 1940’s? Hey, did the Romans happen to persecute Christians at all?

[@MODea-pq7ei]

Jesus was great! The way he did my lawn and blow my leaves was amazing!!!!

[@donnievance1942]

Can we retire that lame joke, now that it's been repeated so often that everyone has heard it about a hundred times?

[@bruscifer]

@@donnievance1942 that's actually two names. Hey-Zeus. "Hey Zeus! You missed a weed ombre". 😂😉

[@John75Mulhern]

That's leaf abuse 🙂

[@keesdenheijer7283]

Glory how he blew yah.

[@leoaguinaldo65]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@exaucemayunga22]

He's just repeating everything he heard from apologists😂

[@ronwhitehouse23]

This slippery individual has watched your shows, and learned absolutely zero,

[@allanmason3201]

I bet he's spent a lot of time imagining this debate in his head, and being certain that Jesus or the Holy Spirit or whatever would make sure he totally owned the hosts.

[@PauliePizza]

The Christians ignorance about their own book is amazing. I was raised Jewish and still know more than most of them!

[@MikaelLewisify]

If you want to know about the Bible, ask an atheist.

[@billiemook]

It's funny listening to David's arguments crumble!

[@alexissmith5589]

The term "Christian Scholar" is an oxymoron.

[@petyrkowalski9887]

Same as « christian science ».

[@dannyspitzer1267]

💯

[@ernesthastie-gg7kn]

I didn't realize that as thick as 2 planks was this thick

[@snuffyballparks6501]

Christians love to cite Tacitus as a source for the existence of Jesus but fail to note that Tacitus was not born until 25 years AFTER Christ was supposedly crucified and his comments on the Christians of his time were negative.

[@Level10Productions]

I would not believe the crazy parts of a story as true just because he was ALIVE? That would be just as nutty.

[@holgerlubotzki3469]

Tacitus and Josephus had dinner together some time around the year 90CE to exchange notes over food and wine. Tacitus: "Have you come across these doomsday death cult people that are becoming more numerous in the slave population?" Josephus: "Ah Yes! You are referring to the cult based on a false Messiah named Jesus?" Tacitus: "Very silly of them to think that given that the Torah prophesies that the name of the Messiah will be Emmanuel, but then very few slaves have read the Torah because they are mostly illiterate" Josephus: "I've had many complaints from wealthy slave owners about expensive slaves committing suicide as a result of this death cult. Apparently they are promised eternal life in paradise simply for believing in the false Messiah and they are prepared to kill themselves because paradise sounds preferable to a life of slavery" Tacitus: "Well, we are perhaps not well placed to understand the thoughts of a slave. But it is laughable that even a slave could believe the stories being told about a man walking on water and healing lepers" Josephus: "This cult is becoming more and more dangerous. I have made a formal request to Caesar that Rome make preaching this nonsense a capital offense." Tacitus: "And they also believe the stories about feeding a multitude with just one fish, but then many slaves are often hungry" Josephus: "And they say this Jesus was crucified by the Romans and was resurrected. Yet there are no records of anyone by that name having been crucified for any offense." Tacitus: "Another very silly thing to believe. Why bother with being resurrected into this life if you are already in paradise?" Josephus: "Damned slaves are more trouble than they are worth. But then Leviticus commands us to keep them and so it is a burden for us to bear." Tacitus: "I have made some entries in my annals about this doomsday death cult and their Jesus character" Josephus: "Caesar will have my letter shortly and will hopefully put an end to it"

[@paulrichards6894]

they dont like it when you tell them josephus has john the baptist dying 3 years after jesus

[@paulrichards6894]

@@klaxoncow tacitus wrote in the 2nd century so anything he says is irrelevant

[@davidbelway6076]

Elvis is still alive. I saw him recently at the 7/11 salad bar.

[@spocksvulcanbrain]

I know that's not true. All you have to know is that Elivis was huge when he died and nobody that huge EVER visited a salad bar. Unless you saw him as he walked past it toward the meat and potatoes or dessert bars. 🤣

[@joshsheridan9511]

​@@spocksvulcanbrainhe went on a diet and lost a ton of weight

[@mrsatire9475]

@@spocksvulcanbrain It's 7/11, it's not really salad

[@Bebymeboo]

The salad bars back?!

[@qcontinuum514]

I am more amazed that 7/11 has a salad bar.

[@jjpopnfresh6822]

David's gotta heavy dose of reasoning repellent

[@paulrichards6894]

he dont sound the brightest.........

[@hansj5846]

2000 years later and theists can't even agree on who goes to heaven.... the perfect book is not exactly precise 😂😂😂😂

[@Sundae_Times]

And there are 45,000 Christian denominations. Seems unity isn't their thing 😆

[@jamesparson]

@@Sundae_Times And yet most of them will say there is one church.

[@Sundae_Times]

@@jamesparson Well, it's good to know they agree on something 🙃

[@nsf001-3]

You'd think God would clarify something like that, huh?

[@thepalebluedot4171]

Not Romans, Greeks invented the word.

[@MikaelLewisify]

Absolutely hilarious that David is demanding proof of the origin of the word, atheist.

[@bruscifer]

It kills me now how many hoops you have to jump through to continue to believe. One side makes sense. The other sounds desperate to hang onto their "faith" so they can continue to make sense of the unsensible.

[@borthwrenblanston6632]

So..........a simple MINDLESS ROCK DID IT? Or was it moon dirt. Star dust perhaps?

[@alfresco8442]

Absolutely right. You only have to look at the ravings of Bubba here...pulling nonsense out of his rear end.

[@Surpassyourlimits275]

​​@@borthwrenblanston6632 get off the magical device, it's demonic. Don't use cell phones or any type of technology (it's the mark of the beast). It'll rot your brain, made by mindless creatures.. Not like it was process that took generations to happen. Just like moon or any celestial body.

[@Seticzech]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 You have rock in your head, mor* on.

[@nsf001-3]

That's what happens when all you have is post hoc justifications for your psychotic preconceptions

[@ernesthastie-gg7kn]

As I've said before ignorince is bliss

[@SuperChicken666]

And ignorant people will do anything to hold on to it.

[@nsf001-3]

For you, not for your victims

[@emailvonsour]

*ignorance

[@TMPreRaff]

Spelling 'ignorance' correctly is bliss.

[@keithhowell3023]

Is that the ignor rinse used for brain washing?

[@johnflesner8086]

Well, Moses did download text from the cloud to a tablet. 🤭

[@Sundae_Times]

Ba-dom-tsss 🥁👏

[@EssentialComment]

clap................clap..............clap............clap..........clap........clap......clap...clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap.clap

[@markfindlay8636]

Well ahead of his time that guy😂

[@etxkevin7452]

"Nuh uh!" Good defense by the caller.

[@LoadPuller]

"It's called proof." Irony... Haha He doesn't even listen to what is coming out of mouth.

[@petermeichan3160]

his standard of evidence is very weak, thank god he wasn't a juror in the OJ trial

[@bobbybecker3572]

"I think you're going down a rabbit tunnel" This is a real person, someone who is allowed to live on this planet smh

[@smochygrice465]

Congratulations on 411k subscribers AXP ❤❤❤

[@queuecee]

There will have to be a special celebration when they hit 420k.

[@alfresco8442]

There's not a single, reliable bit of evidence to support Christ's existence. But the whole concept around a saviour/redeemer is based on the older Hebrew traditon of the scapegoat and vicarious absolution every Yom Kippur. There's little difference between casting out the sins of the community into a red rag tied around the horns of a goat, which is then condemned to death and doing much the same thing to a human being

[@jc71480]

It goes back farther than Hebrew tradition. which also has its foundation on adapted pagan beliefs. Religions are a farce -- utter fucking nonsense.

[@knutsparell3619]

I thought the idea of "christ" was to combine the scapegoat with the sacrificial lamb. Actually, I'm quite convinced that it is.

[@alfresco8442]

@@knutsparell3619 I'd have thought they were effectively one and the same thing TBH. It was a pastoral, goat-herding society, so any one of the flock is a highly-prized sacrifice. The shepherding references are all over the NT.

[@knutsparell3619]

@@alfresco8442 They're not the same thing, but you're right about their society. That's the reason it's a lamb and a goat.

[@donnievance1942]

@@alfresco8442 No. During the ceremony the scapegoat was driven out into the desert as the carrier of the sins of the community, and the pure animal, the "sinless" one was sacrificed. They didn't make "sin-tainted" sacrificial offerings. I think you know zip about ancient Hebrew ritual.

[@Sundae_Times]

Once upon a time, there was this bloke called Jesus who could raise people from the dead, walk on water and turn water into wine... APRIL FOOL! 😉

[@johnsperry9494]

“To someone with faith, no explanation is necessary. To someone without faith, no explanation is possible.” -- Thomas Aquinas. (Translation: If you’re gullible, you’ll believe it. If you require evidence, too bad, there isn’t any.)

[@sanjeevgig8918]

Circular reasoning loves me, this I know, because Circular Reasoning tells me so. LOLZ

[@MisterG2323]

I think a few loose wrenches have fallen into David's machinery.

[@rhzoom8749]

Him trying and failing to say educated had me dying

[@jameswest4819]

I once had a man exclaim to me that Jesus might have been 30 feet tall, 'cause we don't know. He was so excited about it that I let him keep his own belief without asking any questions.

[@Level10Productions]

All things are POSSIBLE, just not equally LIKELY. Huge diff!

[@jameswest4819]

@@Level10Productions According to what source...you?

[@Ghalaghor_McAllistor]

More evidence for giants existing! /s (to clarify, "/s" means sarcasm)

[@jameswest4819]

@@Ghalaghor_McAllistor So, you too think that Jesus may have been 30 feet tall.

[@Ghalaghor_McAllistor]

@@jameswest4819 No, but the bible claims that giants exist so it must be true. No other evidence required! The same goes for literal magic too!

[@dalecs47]

"Christianity must be true becasue. So now you have to worship the god I believe in, do what I tell you to do and give me money." Religion is and only is about power and money.

[@DanielThompson-i7s]

Robinhood is the same thing a story about a highway man that covers over two hundred years. An amalgamation of the actions of at least a dozen different individuals. There was Jesus of Nazareth, the sermon on the mount, the whipping in the temple, the one that was killed as a political usurper.

[@Currin4]

It is continually amusing to watch you set these traps,recognize them as the viewer, and see the caller walk straight into them. Simple as that”why do you believe” becomes a mental bear trap

[@mirandahotspring4019]

And that's what it all comes back to...🎶🎵🎶🎵"Because the bible tells me so..".🎶🎵🎶🎵

[@nsf001-3]

Brainwashing children with no-think rhetoric. Sickness

[@trailman20]

It is kinda crazy how many long time listeners call in so unprepared with any valid or coherent argument

[@ApatheticFish3667]

NEPy: 0% Intelligence 10% Criminal 80% Smack-talk 100,000,000,00,000,000,000,000% hypocrite

[@jonclark8252]

You forgot 100000000000000000000% coward 😂

[@bobbybecker3572]

Oh my god, I hope I never have to set foot in Oklahoma

[@michaelhenry8091]

It is so hard listening to Christians sometimes.

[@tonyclements1147]

Sometimes? Every time..

[@averagebear5889]

Where are the writings of Jesus himself? Who cares what someone wrote about him years later?

[@Jo-JoandTaffy]

If he existed, he would probably have been illiterate.

[@slsilver481]

An excellent point. I've always wondered why if Jesus intended to found a religion, why did he not write down his own teachings or have someone else write them while he was alive. It makes no sense.

[@MikaelLewisify]

Exactly

[@tma2001]

Mohammad and Joseph Smith sure learned that lesson!

[@MikaelLewisify]

@@tma2001 no, they just knew how to plagiarize.

[@MikaelLewisify]

I think it very odd that the Romans, who were meticulous records keepers, made absolutely no records about a man performing miracles during the time frame that Jesus supposedly lived

[@Gwaithmir]

No historians who were Jesus' contemporaries had anything to say about him: Philo of Alexandria c.20 BCE-c.50 CE Florius Lucius 5 BCE-55 CE Geminus 10 BCE-50 CE Phaedrus 15 BCE-50 CE Titus Livius 59 BCE-17 CE Marcus Velleius Paterculus 19 BCE-31 CE Pomponius Mela 15 BCE-45 CE Valerius Maximus 10BCE-57 CE Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4-65 CE Hero of Alexandria 10-70 CE Appolonius of Tyana 15-106 CE Gaius Musonius Rufus 20-101 CE Pliny the Elder 23-79 CE Silius Italicus 28-101 CE Marcus Fabius Quintilianus 35-100 CE Martial 38-102 CE

[@MikaelLewisify]

@@Gwaithmir exactly, because Jesus did not exist.

[@queuecee]

The two that mention Jesus are suspect. Christians like to bring up Flavius Josephus (37-100 BCE) who's a Jewish historian, but the passage that mention Jesus reads more like a religious text. Most scholars believe that early Christians inserted the Jesus passage. And then there's Tacitus (56-120 BCE) who mostly mentions the Christians, which was considered superstitious beliefs. He mentions that the Christians got their name from Christus and says that he was put to death by Pontius Pilate. This was written 80 years after the event, and he may be recounting the belief by Christians that Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to his death, not necessarily that he had some evidence to bear out that it's true. And most other mentions are hundred or more years after the event and mention the cult of Christianity and not the specific accounts of Jesus.

[@brucebaker810]

Or a zombie parade during passover. How come few Christians fret about no reports of that little party?

[@emailvonsour]

He had a public ministry of one to three years. You're expecting books in that time frame?

[@Arthur-hg7ny]

“They signed their names”

[@alfresco8442]

Happy Eostre everyone! 😀

[@joshsheridan9511]

Happy celibate a zombie day

[@Stevo_Drums]

Even if Jesus existed, I would still say “gee, that’s nice. Where do you want to go for lunch?”

[@Alacritous]

These call in segments always strike me as beating up on the slow kid in class.

[@tommccarthy3052]

Well...if the "slow kids" would stop calling in & tossing out the same stream of BS - tough love...😏😁😏😏😁

[@queuecee]

​@@tommccarthy3052 That's why do many of the trolls in the comments don't call in. They have some awareness that they are the slow kids.

[@roscowbrown3937]

@@queuecee Have you called in?

[@queuecee]

@@roscowbrown3937 And if I have? Do you just mean that it's hypocritical of me if I didn't call in? I think that a theist not calling in while complaining about how the theist callers seem "slow" is irrelevant to whether an atheist like myself have called in. I'm certainly not complaining about the atheist callers being "slow".

[@roscowbrown3937]

@@queuecee Okay, I think I just misunderstood your comment… I thought you were barking back at @tomccarthy3052 and implying that atheists were the “slow” ones, I guess I just wasn’t quite sure who you were referring to when you said (trolls in the comments)

[@Hscaper]

King Arthur’s wizard Merlin was the risen Jesus

[@tropicaussie4572]

I met JESUS in Mexico once , but he claimed he was "Hey Zeus" ? 🤔

[@Sundae_Times]

Die Hard with a Vengeance! What do I win?

[@aabb-ss3hc]

In 988 AD, Prince Vladimir saw the adoption of Christianity as a way to unify the various Slavic tribes under his rule and align his kingdom more closely with the Byzantine Empire, a major power at the time. Just an example of using religion for political purposes.

[@John75Mulhern]

I honestly thought the gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so it goes to show how much I know about the Bible

[@allanmason3201]

Many Christians do believe that. But then few of them have taken the time to actually read even the gospels, so they can't really be expected to understand that at no point do any of the authors state who they are in the texts.

[@donnievance1942]

The attribution of those names to the Gospels was made by the church around a hundred years after the supposed events reported in them. The Gospels themselves do not identify their authors, and they do not read like 1st person accounts. They are written in the third person. If you were writing an account of something you witnessed, would you write a record that totally omitted phrases like, "...then so and so and I went to x, where we saw y. So and so joined us, and he said z"? The Gospels are written in what is known in literary analysis as the omniscient third person. They report many events that could not possibly have been witnessed by the writer-- like Jesus' birth narrative, Jesus' sojourn with Satan, who took him up to a mountain top to tempt him with rulership of the world, and Jesus praying to God alone in Gethsemani. The omniscient third person, who seems to unaccountably know everything, is a characteristic of literary fiction, not historical writing. Historical writing generally offers some accounting of the writer's sources of knowledge, and includes the writer as "I" in the account where the writer is an eyewitness of the events being described-- "I did this, I went there, I saw that, I spoke to so and so who told me x," etc. Even in ancient times historical writers generally gave some identification of the sources of their information. Additional note: the Gospels were all written in Greek, not the Aramaic that would have been spoken by the companions of Jesus, if any such persons actually existed. Stylistic analysis indicates that they were original Greek compositions, not translations from Aramaic or Hebrew. Thus, they were evidently written after the Christian cult had become a largely Hellenistic phenomenon in the greater eastern Mediterranean world. Most New Testament scholarship has been done by Christian scholars, who reason backwards from a presupposition that the narrative of Jesus proceeds from the biography of an actual person. If you abandon such presuppositions and work from the ground up, as any secular historian would do, it becomes clear that the New Testament does not provide a sufficient basis for any historical determinations, including the identification of Jesus as some particular real person. The only reason that agnosticism about the identity of Jesus as a real person does not prevail is that very few non-religious historians have ever been interested to take up the issue. In recent years a few secular historians, notably Drs. Richard Carrier and Rafael Letaster have begun to challenge the conventional view. If you bring them up in general conversation today, you will stir up howls of indignation and ad hominem smear comments, even from atheists. However, both these men are careful, rigorous, and accredited historians. I think that, in the long term, their deconstruction of the Jesus myth will become the general view in the non-religious community. It will always be impossible to know to what extent, if any, the Jesus character originated in the life of some actual person. However, we can say that very few of the particular anecdotal events in the Gospels are likely to have been actual events. To demonstrate that, we would have to take up those anecdotes one by one, but that, of course, is not feasible for a YT comment.

[@vetinaris1297]

Long read, worth it.

[@tma2001]

no it was John, Paul, George and Ringo!

[@antonycostantine2457]

Its like you can almost see the IQ ratings above their heads the gap is so big

[@AdrianLParker]

A letter is proof? So the Quran and every other religion is correct provided we can find letters talking about them?

[@borthwrenblanston6632]

No. You can't have all faiths be true. Only one is true and Satan has created the others to counterfeit the truth (God, Creation, The Bible).

[@nsf001-3]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 How convenient that the BS you believe is the _real_ BS

[@tonyclements1147]

Ah, MY imaginary friend is real, everyone else’s is fake..

[@Ghalaghor_McAllistor]

@@borthwrenblanston6632 If the bible is evidence for your god being the true god, then all other holy texts are evidence for their gods existing too, borthwrenblanston6632

[@wyldink1]

​@@borthwrenblanston6632Does that include your faith in a God that lied to you?

[@jorbeedorbyday]

this was...just brutal. Love it

[@myanbeach]

I know Jesus well! He mows my lawn and cleans the pool every other Thursday afternoon!

[@donnievance1942]

Thanks for letting us read that lame joke for the thousandth time. You probably have a successful career in stand-up comedy, right?

[@jamesparson]

@@donnievance1942 I am ready for a better joke if you got one.

[@nsf001-3]

@@donnievance1942 He totally nailed the Jesus joke

[@myanbeach]

@@donnievance1942 I can give you his contact .... let me know. He's's top notch and his rates are reasonable and ... btw .... he's not a "myth" like the other guy.

[@myanbeach]

@@jamesparson Yep; the mythical character in that immoral book.

[@Sundae_Times]

God is real because the Bible says so and the Bible is true because God says so 🙄🤦‍♂

[@joshsheridan9511]

​@@jaflenbond7854TS/DR

[@t800fantasm2]

@@jaflenbond7854 Get help for your mental issues... Reported again for SPAM

[@joshsheridan9511]

Pardon?​@@jaflenbond7854

[@ookekklibarianbornagain6708]

I recall a song by Tim Minchin called The Good Book , that covers the subject rather well😉

[@CraigGood]

Not sure about that etymology of "atheist". The word comes from the Greek. It does seem that the Romans used it to describe Christians (or anybody who didn't believe in the Roman gods) but I don't think that was the origin.

[@jameschapman6559]

The idiot callers on this show have convinced me there is no god!

[@nsf001-3]

If this is the best God can do it's no wonder things are as bad as they are

[@johnsperry9494]

“The most preposterous notion that H. Sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest and least productive industry in all history.” -- Robert A. Heinlein.

[@ZhangK71]

David, after finally following the train of thought and having his “oh shit” moment: “Well, you just went down this huge rabbit-hole this whole time…” Not the most insufferable theist cop-out, but a cop-out nonetheless.

[@headkraber]

Seems like someone was not ready to think on the day of that call.

[@amtlpaul]

The Fraudster Troll Brothwyn alias NEPpy bloviates as if his say so made his claims true by fiat. They don't.

[@tw3235]

I don't think so....I see NO evidence of his kind.

[@brucebaker810]

Letters David? With rebuttals to Christianity. There were multiple factions. They liked to fo 2 things: a) write down their own thing. b) burn other factions' writings. Look up Marcion.

[@JohnBartram]

Those promoting gods share ignorance and idiocy. They are unable to learn.

[@jeoffwalden4492]

I just don't get the phase. He died for our sins What the hell does that mean.

[@byron2521]

Whether he existed is irrelevant. Can the claims attributed to him be proven? Son of God, miracles, died for our sins? NO! Poor guy. He doesn't know much about history. Countries have changed their religions all the time, due to supposed divine inspiration, evolution of beliefs, war, etc.

[@Sundae_Times]

@@jaflenbond7854 TB;DR

[@tekbarrier]

How do people like him not realize how insanely circular their argument is? They say the Bible is the word of God because it says so, and they can trust what it says because it's the word of God and they know it's the word of God because it says so, and also because they take it on faith. 😳

[@johnflesner8086]

Didn't Mary tell 2 disciples that Jesus left the building?

[@ROOKTABULA]

Belief and faith reduce IQ and critical thinking skills but 50 to 60%. This guy is proof.

[@smochygrice465]

Happy April fools day all my atheists freinds ❤❤❤

[@joshsheridan9511]

Not quite there yet. It's still the 31st in blighty

[@canbest7668]

I guess it’s an April Fools joke to say it’s April Fools!

[@joshsheridan9511]

​@@canbest7668time zones, op is Australian

[@canbest7668]

@@joshsheridan9511 ahhh…I thought about that right after I posted. Sorry. My bad. Thanks!

[@norrecvizharan1177]

Heckin relatable though. Been hanging with a couple online australian friends for years, and that still somehow trips me up at times.@@canbest7668

[@TMPreRaff]

This first caller even had trouble pronouncing the word "educated".

[@Sundae_Times]

Gotta love the irony of that, haven't you 🤭

[@t800fantasm2]

Roman: "So, Jesus, what are you doing up there on the cross? Just hanging around?" Jesus: "Yup, you nailed it!" Roman: "So, look, Jesus, I want to get home early today. How about you just die quickly and I can be off? Jesus: "No, Longinus, we've been friends for a while, but it's just not happening..." Roman: "Look dude, it's my wife's birthday and I thought I'd go home and do her!" Jesus: "Not my problem. Why should I die early just so you can get your phallus wet?" Roman: "Oh I see where this is going! You're throwing in Latin words now!" Jesus: "Well, what's in it for me?" Roman: "I'm not going to let you do her!" Jesus: "I know that. It's not what I meant." (Roman looks around.... ) Roman: "Look, I can let you go..." Jesus: "What? What do you mean?" Roman: "Look, I'll let you down, just bugger off and don't come back. If anyone asks, I'll say you died quick and I threw you in the pauper's grave pit...back behind that apartment building we lived in." Jesus: "Well, sounds good, but what if someone see's me? After all, I'd be supposed to be dead? I don't want to get you in trouble. You were always a decent guy and as a Legionnaire you could be famous, even go down in history!" Roman: "Hmmmm .... Good point." (Roman thinks for a moment....) Roman: "Wait, I've got it! I'll cut you down now, you take off, and if anyone asks, just tell them you died on the cross and the Easter Bunny Resurrected you!" Jesus: "That could work, buy I'll tell them my father resurrected me" Roman: "Your father? Who the f**k is your father?" Jesus: "Well, that's the best part, mom was a bit of a loose woman so who my father is is some what up for debate." Roman: "Well that's it then, wiggle your hands off the nails and I'll cut that rope round your belly with my spear." (Jesus pulls himself off the nails, and drops to the ground, just at the wrong moment) Jesus: "Ouch! You nicked me with the f**king spear!" Roman: "Sorry dude, look, the blood, the whole messy bit looks good... Tell them I stuck you with it to make sure you were dead. Then no one will come looking for you, and I keep my job, AND I get to go home and shag the wife." Jesus: "All good, Lonnie... Jesus: "Bless you!" Roman: "Don't start that crap again. It's why you ended up there in the first place... Now, bugger off!" (Jesus buggers off)

[@SurgiusMaximus]

I'd pay money to see Monty Python do that

[@willjackson5885]

Lol if you removed a person from the cross while still alive, you’d be crucified in their place. So Roman soldiers always used a spear before removing a body. And if the crucifixion was taking too long, soldiers would just break the victim's legs causing the victim to suffocate in minutes

[@LukeSumIpsePatremTe]

And while sneaking away Jesus met few familiar faces, so he had to tell them he was resurrected. He was even able to tell a place of an empty grave they could go to check he wasn't there. And if they didn't believe, I guess they didn't have enough that ever so convienent _faith_

[@MissOne]

I read the whole comment 🎉

[@qwadratix]

I think he was. The bible story of the entry to Jerusalem just sounds to me like a con-man and his gang trying to hoodwink the locals into believing he was the Messiah. The subterfuge over the donkey and foal are just too believable to ignore. It has the ring of truth, unlike all the rest of it. It also explains why the locals preferred Barabbas and why he was ultimately crucified. Just ignore all the nonsense about his magic and it makes sense.

[@danielconroy6695]

If a country changing its religion is a miracle then it is odd how commonplace that is over the centuries and even more odd that the religion can change to one's he doesn't believe in. I hope they listened back to this and thought about what was said rather than continuing to push out fallacies and assertions. If they are right, an all powerful God wouldn't need people to lie and misinterpret things on it's behalf

[@tk75jo]

I think there was a historical person but it's irrelevant. Doesn't make him divine. It changes nothing for me. I do not take someones word of divinity.

[@markoshun]

Very interesting watching that moment where they are following the logic along and agreeing, until they realize that it would undo their belief. But instead of reevaluating the belief, they assume some kind of voodoo was done to them. He ended up saying you can't hold a faith-based belief that the bible is false.. wow

[@DavidRobinson-rj2sp]

Clearly Balaam had a talking donkey cos the bible said so, so it must be true!!!!

[@WonkyDonkey3000]

Hey, don't drag me into it!

[@BeefT-Sq]

"Objectivism, as I understand it, provides the most rational answer any void of faith, or for that matter, any misguided modern or ancient philosophical study." -Anonymous-from an Objectivist forum-

[@Seticzech]

Most likely not.

[@christianakalaitzi1645]

He was so close!!

[@patarciepaul]

Dave is a bit slow on the uptake.

[@paulrichards6894]

thats being kind

[@camh1149]

The mind of a child arguing against the mind of a genius...

[@numinous123]

The name "Jesus" didn't even EXIST during the time he supposedly lived. It was a mistranslation of Yeshua... Which was an extremely COMMON NAME during the time. That's like asking if some guy named Mohammed exists in modern times as it's the most common name of a male among muslims, you'd have to say 'yes'. Worse, since the name "Jesus" didn't even exist 2000 years ago.

[@petermeichan3160]

its the most comman male name ever,

[@nsf001-3]

People been calling Joshua "Jesus" this whole time SMH

[@numinous123]

@@nsf001-3 Most religions are just the same myths, repackaged and mistranslated, over and over again. A con that just got out of control.

[@petermeichan3160]

@@numinous123 true, a con to separate the ignorant from their .money, just look at these pastors of go on tv beginning for money in their Armani suits

[@barrythomson899]

The Romans had a long history of taking whatever they wanted from their subjugated peoples. I think that the Jesus of the bible would have been taken to Rome to entertain the emperor.

[@lh1673]

If this Being can do miracle, why not just write (if wanted it to be written in a letter and known) on the sky and say See, I Exist😅it would be the most fastest way to let All repent! Oops, BUT even the long time ago believers didn’t repent seeing bunch of miracles😅so God knowing this why continue telling about him😮

[@MG-ot2yr]

There were lots of itinerant preachers in the era, Hezekiah the bandit, Simon of Peraea, Athronges the shepherd boy, Judas the Galilean and the most famous one of all John the Baptist.....to name a few. So its not far fetched for a man named Jesus to be just another one, and an historical fluke that he was the one picked to be mythicized and turned into a god. Or he's completely fictional and just based on a bunch of these other ones.

[@Seticzech]

@@jaflenbond7854 blabla from insane mind.

[@jaflenbond7854]

@@Seticzech ATHEISM and CHRISTIANISM are OPPOSED and AGAINST the BIBLE Atheists are CLAIMING that the BIBLE is not the "Word of God" and source of Truths but just a worthless book of lies, myths, fictions, fantasies, and fairy tales. Christians believe the UNBIBLICAL teachings and doctrines of their Pastors and Leaders about "Armageddon", "Trinity", "hellfire", "rapture", "afterlife", and "immortality of the souls".

[@vidhead85]

When people say "Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God" that phrase confused me even as a Christian, what the fk does that mean?

[@holgerlubotzki3469]

It means fake it until you make it. Same technique also works for speaking in tongues.

[@kevinx7015]

How is it hard to understand that in order to have faith you need to at first hear?

[@joshsheridan9511]

​@@kevinx7015hear what?

[@kevinx7015]

@@joshsheridan9511 The word of God. Didn’t you read the opening post to this thread?

[@holgerlubotzki3469]

@@joshsheridan9511 kevinx proved my point for me!

[@jeffreyerwin3665]

Circular reasoning: the proof of the supernatural cannot be valid, because to be valid, it would have to be miraculous. LOL!

[@Ratciclefan]

Isn't Jesus that boyfriend of Madonna?

[@brucebaker810]

That Madonna was only LIKE a virgin. She knew things virgins say or whatever.

[@ApatheticFish3667]

NEPy, please define what a cult is and cite your source.

[@joshsheridan9511]

Neppy defines a cult as anything that doesn't agree with his particular church's dogma Well that's how he defined it to me when I asked.

[@occamraiser]

I see no reason to suppose that the biblical character Jesus wasn't real. The only problem is that he wasn't supernatural.

[@lh1673]

In every era there will be someone charismatic appear😅

[@animalian01]

So he has been watching the show for years but still opens up with the beliefs of atheists 😂😂

[@brucebaker810]

It'd be a miracle. Like the autocratic ruler of an empire declaring "hey, no one is catholic anymore. You're all ... Shmathlic. Divorce is okay. And you send your offerings to me now." Or, later. "Okay, Ireland. I know lots of you want to be Catholic. So people in the North have to be. And folks in the south cannot be. K? K."

[@animegirls3219]

Egyptians were highly educated and Asians.. fallacy to say only the Romans. Egyptian women of status were also educated unlike Roman women

[@ROCKYBLUEDOGS]

The Roman leader was out marching with some men on horses and its belived a meteor did something in the sky forming a cross shape which he took as a sign to convert to Christianity

[@Ghalaghor_McAllistor]

Nu uh, that was in the shape of a gigantic carrot and you have no evidence to disprove me so the invisible pink unicorn must exist!

[@Sundae_Times]

@@Ghalaghor_McAllistor Yeah, that carrot was the root of all evil.

[@Deathvalley1980]

Mat is great

[@craigmoorhouse8241]

It's got to be exhausting talking to these people.

[@EmersumBiggins]

A troublemaking, loud mouthed street preacher caused chaos during Passover Week, and got his self crucified 😐

[@AllHailDiskordia]

Imo, Jesus is an amalgation of several people, stories and traditions, none of them supernatural in any way