@historianwriter, I suspect you’ll avoid directly answering these questions, but I’ll ask on the off chance you’ll step up.
Is everything written in your book true/fact/reliable? Or just some of it? If the latter, how do you know the difference?
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Howdy, HW! Welcome to the AR. We are always happy to have folks stop by for information and discussions. I’m afraid, however, in the realm of “New Testament Reliability” you have opened up a can of worms that has sent many a “Christian Historian” running for the hills away from here. As you may have already noticed, we have more than a couple of “heavy hitters” who have been studying the bible and its history for a vast majority of their lives. So all I can say in that regard is, “Good luck, and have fun.” I’m basically gonna just sit back with some popcorn and watch. Because while I find the topic interesting in and of itself, it has pretty much NOTHING to do with my being an atheist. Which brings me to the point where I shall insert a monkey wrench (Shut up, @Cognostic ) into your “biblical reliability” gears…
See, for me, I personally do not care if Jesus was actually real or not. Therefore, the “reliability” of the New Testament is pretty much inconsequential to me. And even IF Jesus happens to have been real, you (or anybody else) will have a great deal of work cut out to convince me he ever performed the “miracles” accredited to him. Even THAT, though, is really of minor significance compared to why I am an atheist. Just out of curiosity, have you ever even actually READ your bible? To be honest, I can’t even make it through the first couple of chapters of Genesis without having to fish my eyes out of the back of my head. Sure, growing up in the middle of the Bible Belt and being taken to church several times a week, I certainly heard all about god and Jesus and Satan and all the (selected) stories about them. Couldn’t be avoided. But allow me to let you in on a little secret… (looking around to make sure nobody is nearby)… by the time I was but the wee age of 8 years old, NONE of it ever made sense to me. There were just way too many contradictions and inconsistencies for me to wrap my innocent little mind around. (Granted, I did not know exactly what “contradiction” and “inconsistency” meant at the time, but hindsight is 20/20. 
) Anyway, being the obedient and respectful child that I was, I went along with it all to avoid any ill-will from my family and friends. Unfortunately, as a result, the fear of Satan and hell got firmly planted into my young and impressionable psyche. Long story short, I spent the better part of 40 years living in an almost constant state of anxiety and indecision before I was finally able to escape the brainwashing. And here I am today, happier and more clear-headed than I have ever been in my life.
So, feel free to “debate” about the “accuracy and reliability” of the New Testament all you want. Have a blast with it, if that’s what floats your boat. No skin off my nose. To me, though, it’s about the same as a used car salesman keeping a potential buyer focused on the shiny leather seats and the new paint job in an effort to keep them distracted away from the fact there is no engine in the car. Just sayin’…
(Edited for punctuality.)
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And they are unevidenced anonymous hearsay, written decades after the events they purport to describe. That ought to give one pause, unless one is more attached to the belief, than the truth.
You don’t know who said that, and repeating claims that have been demonstrated to be untrue in this way does not indicate an open mind, quite the opposite.
The rest is starting to look like you’re preaching, and this is a debate forum, so I’d politely suggest that if you wish to preach you find a suitable medium for that, as it is not allowed here. If however you want to debate, and by now you must have some idea of the kind of critical scrutiny your beliefs and claims will receive, then you need to address the facts and arguments presented honestly.
Excellent point, and I mentioned earlier that he is setting a standard for credulity with the anonymous hearsay of the gospel myths, that he then ignores for other religions. Of course I got no response to that, and now he is simply parotting claims from the gospel myths, ignoring the evidence presented that they are anonymous hearsay.
Our conscience is subjective, and I don’t believe in your supernatural curse, unless you can demonstrate some objective evidence it is real? Also the creation myth in Genesis that claims humans were created in their current form is demonstrably erroneous, since it is an objective fact that all living things evolved over billions of years. I am telling you this to caution you, as if you cannot evidence the claims in the Genesis creation myth by quoting it, anymore than you can evidence the anonymous hearsay of the gospel myths by quoting them.
I concur absolutely. Though I’d add that if one has to ignore facts to preserve a belief, and set a standard for credulity one would not use for other identical claims, then what does that say about that belief?
To @historianwriter I will ask again, can you demonstrate any objective evidence for any deity or anything supernatural, or that they are even possible? Now I can’t speak for anyone else of course, but quoting anonymous 2000 year old claims, is not objective evidence, since you’re setting the bar for credulity low enough to admit belief in countless religions and the deities they imagine is real.
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I find it funny when someone quotes the Bible on an atheist website. It’s like they don’t understand their audience.
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They don’t , if they found the bible as dubious as atheists then they’d be unlikely to remain theists. What’s interesting is they are happy to disbelieve identical claims form other religions involving other deities. I have even see people with wildly differing beliefs team up again atheists here, as if they are fighting the good cause, the irony is palpable, as theists are the ones claiming other theists are wrong, not atheists who generally just don’t believe the claims they make, and the arguments they present.
When I was eight years old I read the bible for the first time and was not impressed. It seemed a jumble of nonsense that contradicted itself. It was around the same time that I concluded that Santa Claus wasn’t real, and by extension, concluded that “god” was just Santa Claus for adults.
If, as a eight year old, I could see through the nonsense in the bible, I think the only way adults can accept any of it is through indoctrination from a very early age with no recourse to critical thinking.
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Regarding all the different New Testament accounts . . . I remind you guys of the points I made about the Amityville Horror, which is a story that spawned over 45 movies, many, many books, a bunch of news interviews.
There were hundreds of mediums, necromancers, Tarot readers, and so forth who claimed supernatural occurrences when they did their divinations.
Lots of writings, supposed eyewitness accounts, etc. should always be suspect.
In fairness, there is independent, very strong historical evidence that Pontious Pilate and Herod both existed.
Also, Caesar is mentioned by name when Christ was teaching, and we know that Caesar existed.
This does not mean that we must accept the rest of the N.T. without skepticism . . . especially because of all the damage done in the name of Christ.
The Amityville Horror is an example of a legend that’s a mix of fact and fiction . . . a mix of the supernatural and human chicanery, and a great exploration of human gullibility.
The Amityville Horror is proof that a bullshit story can take on its own life and grow until everyone believes it, so what of the events in the N.T. that occurred about 2,000 years ago in a time and place where people were often illiterate and had very little in the way of technology?
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If someone was quoting the Quran to you, to try to establish that the Quran was true; I think you’d understand the complaint a lot better.
Your religion isn’t special.
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BTW, I rechecked the list, and we’re actually up to 65 Amityville horror movies . . . not 45, as I originally thought.
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I was also about eight when I figured out the stuff I was being taught about god/Jesus/bible did not make sense. Problem was, though, the fear of Satan and hell got firmly implanted in my brain before I was fully equipped to defend against it. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a response from HW, though. I relayed my story to him earlier in this thread, and have yet to hear a peep from him about it. (Not that I’m really surprised. 
)
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He only responds when he has thoroughly researched on any christian website that gives him the answers he wants.
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Ah… Sooooo, uh, you’re saying it’s highly likely there is no Christian website out there holding the cure for my affliction?.. (heavy sigh)… Phew! Thank goodness! Was about to start getting worried. 
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I do recommend this series… [The Genius of the Gospel of Matthew » Powered by ThriveCart](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?
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And only then either in broad sweeps, or to the claims he fancies he has an answer, the rest go unanswered, as is always the case when someone is trying to bend the facts to a belief, rather than bend beliefs to the facts.
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Apparently you’re not looking to chat or you would actually be doing so, eh?
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