That one would be especially convincing for the passengers and drivers (if there were such a place as Picadilly Square)
What is even stranger is that even his mother and close friends didn’t expect him to rise from the dead or why would they come the next morning to anoint him, or why people who were said to see him everyday didn’t recognize him?
A relgion isn’t false because it is a religion, but the fact that it was the work of humans can be proven.
Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s false. On the other hand if you can witness that the defining moment in establishing a religion’s creed (i.e. Christ’s resurrection) did not happen, anything else added later by men (Paul or whoever) is irrelevant.
I’d go back to the time of the Exodus.
I wouldn’t expect to see 10 plagues.
But there may have been one night when a whole bunch of people started walking in the same direction at the same time.
Sort of like a modern protest march, but with no microphones or TV cameras.
I’m a Christian, and I’d certainly be interested in seeing the crucifixion and resurrection, but if I had to choose only one event, that probably wouldn’t be it. In my view, while that is important, I think it’s only important because of the things he did when he did in the years preceeding it. As such, I think what makes someone a Christian isn’t as much that he believes certain specifics about that event, but whether he follows his teachings. And so, to me, I’d be much more interested in seeing one of his sermons and the miracles associated with it.
There’d also be some events in the Old Testament that I’m inclined to believe didn’t happen literally as written, so it would be fascinating to see how they actually went. A lot of that would have to do with the exodus, particularly the giving of the law, but also the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea, as I’ve seen some theories on how those latters may have transpired. Noah’s flood would also be fascinating.
It is still the words, teachings, and beliefs of our selves, or from other humans, so our beliefs are only of what human we believe in.
There is also no proof that it happened, and it still boils down to the fact that even close friends like Mary Magdaline didn’t recognize him, puts a lot of doubt into the story.His mother (of all people) would not have gone to the Tomb if she knew he was concieved of God and would ressurect as told. There is just as much proof that Muhammad rose into heaven, it is a matter of belief not fact.
If my son said to me ,"Mom I am going to die on Friday afternoon but I wil be back again on early Sunday morning’, I would just say,“Wll you want breakfast?”
I guess I’d pick the Exodus and then if I got to see the Plagues as well then so much the better. I pick them because not only are they religiously significant, they also have a higher likelihood to have some basis in reality, and in a significant way, than other religiously-important events. (By “in a significant way”, I mean that if I could see the early moments in Buddhism and Islam, it would not really change anything in history, whereas the historical facts behind the Exodus could really change our view of that point in time and space.)
That would be a very callous thing to say to him, since I’m sure you don’t think he’s God incarnate; and anyone who isn’t would have to be slightly cracked to say anything of the sort, and utterly insane to act according to what he said.
What is calloused about knowing the death would not really be a death as we know it.?Death to us is permanent. To me, If my Son were as Jesus is said to have been, then death would be nothing, there are men and women in our country (and others) who go into battle for us not knowing if they will return maimed, or not return at all.
In away If Jesus really said he would die and ressurect in 3 days(which was not really 3 days according to our calendar) and being God, he could choose the amount of suffering and the length of his death as it is written about him,( in my opinion) he could have done a lot better for the world had he decided to live for centuries and teach people how to live in all generations. It would have prevented a lot of blood shed over the years.
If Jesus thought he was trully God as people believe today, he would not have answered the Pharisee’s as he did in John 10, it sounds to me like he thought as the Psalmist did when qouted as saying," I said you are gods and sons of god". Jesus seemed to use that to explain why he called God his father. It is a matter of how one interprets the passage, I also noted that Jesus used the words;“It says in Your Law” not meaning anything of God. All is a matter of human belief.
Ahh, I see. Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as snarky. I guess I hadn’t thought out how you’d PROVE it was the historical Jesus/ Mohammed / Joseph Smith. Any takers?
As for once you did prove it was "The Jesus " ( "nobody fucks wit de Jesus ") then I don’t know, I suppose you could set up a camera in the tomb. Or you could follow Mary Magdalen or the Apostles around. Or if there is definitely SOMEONE who visits the Apostles you could look at them both and judge for yourself/ do a DNA test.
Truthfully, I suppose the identification aspect of the question was rather poorly thought out in retrospect.
The real thing I was getting at is whether there are people who, when offered the chance to find out first hand once and for all if a(/their particular) religion / faith is based on factual events ( the miraculous parts), would just say "no, fuck it. I am so 100% sure I am correct in my beliefs that I refuse to waste time verifying it, even for a minute. I might as well verify that there is dirt in Australia. "
If you pay for my plane ticket, I’d be more than happy to verify that there is dirt in Australia! Heck, I’ll bring you a sample in an empty Vegemite jar!
Accepting that the events of the bible happened literally as written and as specific definable events, there’s a few that would interest me - although I do have to admit that some I’ve chosen with a view to proving / disproving the bible.
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I’d love to see what happened with the Tower of Babel
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The actual conversation between the serpent and Eve, and then the eating of the forbidden fruit would be a must for me
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The plagues (as mentioned) would be fascinating
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The day of the birth - to see the star and everything
This part I’m not sure how to define, but I’d also be more than interested in seeing how kosher / halal laws were issued and the whole circumcision thing came about, where and how the idea came from. And I’d love to talk to the issuer of the “law” to see why.
Although I must admit that my own biases are driving that - I don’t accept the premise of a supreme being that issued to the laws, so I’d like to investigate whether it was vanity, greed, or a public health issue or something else that was the human motivator of the laws we see.
If I’d meant “calloused” I’d have said it. Well, it would be callous if you didn’t know your child was the Son of God. Apparently you do in your hypothetical, in which case it’s simply stupid and snarky to ask him what he will want for breakfast, because you know darn well that he can feed five thousand people on a kid’s lunch if he needs to, and you also presumably understand why he is going to die.
Also - since in your hypothetical you know he’s God Incarnate - you know that death is not permanent for humans - it’s an altered state of consciousness in which, all being well, they end up with his father, and all their earthly suffering is over, done with, and forgotten in the light of their new life. But you do know that, however trivial you may consider it to be for him to be tortured to death, he’ll have perfect memory of it for ever.
I’m not sure why you bother to resurrect (hah!) the tired old argument about whether he was dead for three days or a day and a half; when someone said either “on the third day” or “three days from now” when the Bible was written, they counted the day they were starting from. The length of time only really matters if you want to join the throng that are wearing T-shirts saying “jesus gave up a weekend for our sins lol”.
And really, had Jesus lived for centuries and then disappeared, by now the unbelievers would be arguing that either it was a put-up job involving a succession of men carefully groomed to look alike, or it was a space alien with a naturally long lifespan, or a ridiculously rare genetic freak of a human being, or a pack of lies made up about someone who never existed. Once you’ve eliminated the impossible - and we’re talking about people to whom it’s axiomatic that the existence of God is impossible - any other explanation, however unlikely, is infinitely more plausible.
As I see it if my son were able to stop the suffering any time he chose, wasn’t really dead, but in some sort of a coma(since he would know he could return at any time) would not be a big deal, if one is truly dead, then it would be permanent, since he was able to come bck at any time, to me it would be nothing, and many of our human soldiers make a bigger sacrifice by being willing to lay down their life( if necessary) to help other humans have a better life. Many humans suffer for a much longer time, some all their life for no fault of their own. And I would have (an do feel bad) for those people and their parents who watch helplessly at the suffering their child has to go through…not just a few hours, but many years,months, or days.Jesus mother, and his followers (according to the gospel writers were told by Jesus that he would return( as he was quoted) in 3 days, so why they would run to the tomb to annoint him or be surprised when he has ressurested is (to me) a sign they didn’t really expect him to return. One doesn’t run to anoint a body if they expect the person to come back in 3 days, or even a week if they believed that he would return; also the fact that they didn’t recognize a person they saw every day for a few years says something about the ressurection.
Atheist here, and nah, not really.
The resurrection itself (assuming it took place obviously) is not really groundbreaking or proof of the supernatural - it’s only recently that we’ve figured out how to conclusively differentiate between dead people and people who are only mostly dead. And we still get it wrong sometimes. For all I know (and all I would know, even if present) the J-man could simply have fainted or entered a brief coma, then come to. IANAD, and I seriously doubt the Roman authorities (or the Christ household) would let some bespectacled twerp pull shenanigans on the body anyway, so how would/could I know different ?
The ascension however, now that one would be quite a trick to fake, admittedly. I doubt I could bring back admissible and unimpeachable evidence of it, but even if it’s only me being proven mistaken (or reinforced in the notion that it’s a bunch of antique baloney), witnessing it would be worth somethin’. Maybe not worth missing a Game of Thrones rerun, but somethin’.
Well, it all depends on the purpose of performing the miracle in the first place, doesn’t it ? I’m just sayin’, maybe those French schoolgirls are fine lookin’ chicksas.
Would this then prove to you(or make you think) Muhammad also accended to Heaven? There is just as much proof as the Accention Of Jesus.
Nah, I’d be too busy encouraging young Adolf to further pursue his art.
Piccadilly Circus has become a square! It’s a miracle!