Re: Jesus Is God to intelligent people.

1) I reiterate: the early appearance of the written Gospels (between 50-
85 AD) is strong evidence AGAINST the storys being fantastic fables.
There were still witnesses alive to the events recorded, and they would
have spoken out if the stories were falsified.

2) The dating of the gospels, and the other boks of the New Testament,
is boosted by literary analysis. The language used, as well as the
locations and background, apply ONLY to the area around Jerusalem circa
30-35 AD. NO anachronisms have been found in even the oldest source
material (fragments of Matthew and John from late in the First Century
have been found). Compare this with the so-called Gnostic gospels- all
were writen 150-300 AD, and are utterly bizarre, with truly fantastic
and contradictory stories.

3) The letters of Paul (some of which predate  the Gospels) form much of
the theological foundation of the faith. These letters had to be written
before Paul's death in Rome, circa 66 AD \

4) There is indeed a mntion of Jesus in Josephus. PART of the mention is
questionable- a remark about His miracles and status as the true Son of
God, but the first part of the statement is usualy accepted by
historians.

5) The mention in the Talmud is that a blasphemer named Jesus was
executed; he was the result of a rape of an innocent woman by a Roman
soldier.

SOMETHING happened in Jeusalem in that period. SOMETHING convinced a
group of people to abandon families, friends and jobs to spread the
words of someone new. SOMETHING gave them the strength to accept the
persecution they were sure to face. SOMETHING drove them in ways neve
sen before to spread the word of a new faith, based not on fear, not on
greed, not on senseless ritual, but based on God's love for mankind-
such a great love He sacrificed His own Son to accept upon Himself the
punishment for our transgressions. THAT was what drove those men.

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