The Bible is too liberal

[DesignFox]

Now I have a mental image of someone going "The Bible is the literal Word of God and we must obey it, but it's wrong so we must change it!"

Isn't this what all religions do to some extent?

[Flyndaran]

...
(Summation: All historical evidence points to the existence of a religious leader named Yeshua, who was of the lineage of David, and he was the son of a Carpenter. He was executed by the Roman Empire because he posed a threat to the entrenched power bases.

Whether or not he was the Son of God, both fully human and fully divine, or simply a very charismatic religious leader with some really good social ideas, that's where the matter of faith begins.)

There are far too many inconsistencies and plain wrong facts to rationally accept that a single person Jesus existed. You may accept it as a matter of faith, but as an atheist I have higher standards.

[Gravekeeper]

There are far too many inconsistencies and plain wrong facts to rationally accept that a single person Jesus existed. You may accept it as a matter of faith, but as an atheist I have higher standards.

I believe Jesus existed in some form. There is enough evidence to support at least that much. I do not, however, believe he was the son of God. He was a mortal man. A teacher, and a guy with some good ideas ( That suspiciously sounded Buddhist ) but a mortal man. Both Jesus Christ and Sidhatta Gautama had similar teaching styles and similar lessons. Despite being hundreds of years apart.

I think the whole divinity part was penciled in and overblown later to make him sound more impressive. Considering his whole birth story seems oddly similar to Gautama's from centuries earlier. Which I'm sure is oddly similar to some other story centuries before that.

If you want your religion to compete in the ancient world, you have to make it sound impressive. Either that or just wipe out every other religion, as Christianity was want to do quite a bit later on.

[smileyeagle1021]

but as an atheist I have higher standards.

I will call you on that... you have higher standards because you are an intelligent person, not because you are an atheist... I've known several ignorant atheists in my lifetime who's standards have been just barely above "well, they said it on the evening news, so it must be true".

[Flyndaran]

I will call you on that... you have higher standards because you are an intelligent person, not because you are an atheist... I've known several ignorant atheists in my lifetime who's standards have been just barely above "well, they said it on the evening news, so it must be true".

I meant higher standards for religious claims, but I concede your point.