# Is this story \[regarding meeting Jesus\] real? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437 "2016-04-17T03:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/21 "2016-04-18T16:55:12Z")
\*\*Is this story [regarding meeting Jesus] real? \*\*In My Humble Opinion, anyone that claims to have met Jesus loses credibility if they are less than 2000 years old or so. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/22 "2016-04-18T17:21:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Pics (or shroud) or it didn’t happen. You just got served, son: [http://i.imgur.com/JPQa8Wt.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/JPQa8Wt.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/23 "2016-04-18T17:39:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > No, it’s not true. There’s no way that Jesus is getting a ride from an SUV driver; he’d only ride in a Prius or other fuel-efficient vehicle. No, that is completely inaccurate. Everyone knows that the god family has a brand loyalty to Plymouth products. For example, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden in a Fury. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/24 "2016-04-18T17:41:14Z")
Also, wide variety of fonts sizes and upper case is scientific proof that the story is true. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/25 "2016-04-18T17:43:50Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > No, that is completely inaccurate. Everyone knows that the god family has a brand loyalty to Plymouth products. For example, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden in a Fury. I saw the movie! Morgan Freeman in “Driving Miss Eve”, right? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/26 "2016-04-18T17:46:45Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Wow, that’s so incredibly wrong, don’t they teach any theology these days? Everyone who’s read the Bible knows that Jesus drives a Honda but doesn’t brag about it. > > “For I did not speak of my own Accord” - John 12:49 The Lord is supposed to buy **me** a Mercedes-Benz. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/27 "2016-04-18T17:50:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The Lord is supposed to buy **me** a Mercedes-Benz. I’m told I’m in for a handbasket ride. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/28 "2016-04-18T18:06:22Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Does the prose of the story sound honest to you? I can’t really judge. Plenty of short stories and novels written in the first person sound just as “honest” but aren’t meant to be believed beyond the “willing suspension of disbelief” you indulge in while you read the story. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/29 "2016-04-18T18:23:02Z")
When faced with an account like this one, I consider that there are four possibilities: 1. It’s a fictitious account which the writer has made up. (This could be further divided into 1a: the writer expects or wants people to believe it really happened, and 1b: the writer expects or wants people to realize it’s fiction.) 2. It’s an account of something the writer _believes_ actually happened, but all or part of it is actually a hallucination, dream, or false memory, possibly brought on by drugs or mental illness. 3. It’s an account of something that actually happened but which has a mundane explanation. For example, it might have been staged by someone as a stunt or prank. 4. It’s an account of a genuine supernatural or otherworldly occurrence. I know that many of you rule out #4 _a priori_. I don’t rule it out, but it’s certainly not the first conclusion I leap to. In this case, my gut feeling is that it could be any of these but that the order of probability is the order I’ve listed them in. But since I have neither a way of knowing nor a need to know which it is, I’ll just shrug and reserve judgment. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/30 "2016-04-18T18:23:17Z")
Many people have supernatural events that happen in their lives. I have heard similar stories from other people including the one they made the movie “[Heaven is For Rea](http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/16/boy-who-says-he-nearly-died-and-met-jesus-in-heaven-responds-to-his-critics/)l”. However I like most of you am always skeptical and want to apply scientific reasoning to each and every issue. Interestingly Howard Stern once said he met the devil. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/31 "2016-04-18T18:32:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > When faced with an account like this one, I consider that there are four possibilities: > > 1. It’s a fictitious account which the writer has made up. (This could be further divided into 1a: the writer expects or wants people to believe it really happened, and 1b: the writer expects or wants people to realize it’s fiction.) > > 2. It’s an account of something the writer _believes_ actually happened, but all or part of it is actually a hallucination, dream, or false memory, possibly brought on by drugs or mental illness. > > 3. It’s an account of something that actually happened but which has a mundane explanation. For example, it might have been staged by someone as a stunt or prank. > > 4. It’s an account of a genuine supernatural or otherworldly occurrence. > > I know that many of you rule out #4 _a priori_. I don’t rule it out, but it’s certainly not the first conclusion I leap to. In this case, my gut feeling is that it could be any of these but that the order of probability is the order I’ve listed them in. But since I have neither a way of knowing nor a need to know which it is, I’ll just shrug and reserve judgment. Doesn’t this make a false assumption that all four possibilities are equally likely, when the truth is that number 4 is so unlikely as to not even be worth considering? If someone tells you that they are secretly the President of the United States, do you also reserve judgment? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/32 "2016-04-18T18:33:15Z")
My guess is bath salts or meth was involved. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/33 "2016-04-18T18:38:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Doesn’t this make a false assumption that all four possibilities are equally likely Of course not. Did you see where I said “… the order of probability is the order I’ve listed them in”? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/34 "2016-04-18T18:47:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Of course not. > > Did you see where I said “… the order of probability is the order I’ve listed them in”? Missed that-sorry. Would still like to know what probability you would give each one…and why #4 is even on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/35 "2016-04-18T18:50:16Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > My guess is bath salts or meth was involved. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to suggest that Jesus is a meth user. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/36 "2016-04-18T19:04:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m not sure it’s appropriate to suggest that Jesus is a meth user. True. He would have been more of a pothead. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/37 "2016-04-18T21:42:49Z")
Nah. That was Matthew McConaughey. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/38 "2016-04-18T23:45:34Z")
Back when I was a Sunday School teacher to second and third graders one of them drew a picture of Jesus that was really pretty cool. He had jeans and workboots, a white t-shirt and a carpenter’s tool belt. Oh, and he was wearing glasses and had short hair. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/39 "2016-04-19T00:53:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Doesn’t this make a false assumption that all four possibilities are equally likely, when the truth is that number 4 is so unlikely as to not even be worth considering? If someone tells you that they are secretly the President of the United States, do you also reserve judgment? Why should you just throw out any possibility? What if this truly was the son of God? Remember back in Jesus’s day many doubted who he was either and that was when he was right there performing miracles. Now I’m also skeptical but at the same time I am open to any and all possibilities. Many people have reported visitations with supernatural beings. Are they all crackpots? Thing is while you cannot prove this was real unless you find evidence of outright fraud you dont know it isnt either. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437/40 "2016-04-19T01:35:17Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Why should you just throw out any possibility? What if this truly was the son of God? Remember back in Jesus’s day many doubted who he was either and that was when he was right there performing miracles. > > Now I’m also skeptical but at the same time I am open to any and all possibilities. Many people have reported visitations with supernatural beings. Are they all crackpots? > > Thing is while you cannot prove this was real unless you find evidence of outright fraud you dont know it isnt either. I have no doubt that it could be real. Out of 7 billion people on this planet I’m sure that any combination of scars can be found. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-story-regarding-meeting-jesus-real/752437.md?page=3)