Quote Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
What corroborative evidence (other than uncheckable and inconsistent Bible stories) of his life and teachings can you point me to?
It is not my job to convince you or anyone else of the reality of Jesus Christ. Like me, everyone has to make their own decision whether to accept him or reject him – there are no grey areas. If you want evidence in the scientific sense then yes, you will be disappointed. I remember someone once gave an example about evidence – how can you actually provide evidence that your spouse loves you? Yes they may look after you when you are ill, they may say they love you, they may go out of their way to be kind to you and give you special gifts. Isn't it just possible that it's all an elaborate act in the hope that one day you will die before them and they will inherit all your wealth and possessions? Pretty unthinkable isn't it? So I believe it is the same with Jesus. What did he have to gain personally by claiming that he loved all peoples and went around healing folk and urging them to repent and become better people? Answer: nothing. There could be no other motivation other than he genuinely loved people and could only foresee disaster ahead if they did not repent.

In the end of course there has to be a step of faith, but not blind faith. If you knew me then you would know how my life has changed since coming to faith but you don't.

The New Testament is all you need. Yes there are different accounts in the four main gospels but to me that only serves to confirm their authenticity. If these were manufactured accounts then you would expect the author(s) to make very sure that they all matched in every detail. Obviously a lot of the detail cannot be “checked” retrospectively as the authors would have collated verbal statements from eye witnesses who were still alive at the time.

All I know is the world would be a far better place if everyone just followed the example of Jesus even if they reject the notion that he was God incarnate. But as I said in my reply to OM's contribution they have rejected him, so here we are reaping what we sow. It will not end well I fear.