Brother Jeff Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I have just started a brand new website that I am really excited about! This is a serious site about Jesus -- the historical Jesus and the Jesus of faith as he is presented in the Gospels. There's not a lot there yet since I just bought the domain name today and threw a few posts together in a couple of hours or so, but any and all feedback is welcomed. http://truthaboutjesuschrist.info/ Glory! P.S. I bought the ".info" domain because it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the ".com", and money is important right now. But I don't really expect it to be too much of an issue. Bless the Lard! Glory! P.P.S. Another site, the Truth about the Bible, is coming soon. I have the domain name and WordPress installed, but there's nothing there yet. I'll let y'all know when it's online and ready to use. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I think the names are exceptionally clever. Good luck, Bro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yunea Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Looks good, I'll be reading! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenaissanceWoman Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 When I was first doubting, I'm sure a site with this title would have popped up first in my searching because I actually searched for words like "truth" and "Jesus." You're going to get lots of visitors, I would guess! You asked for feedback, so I will give a little. First off: What a wonderful one-stop place to find great links to the big names and arguments. Great idea! In your opening paragraph, two things caught my attention: "The general consensus view of the vast majority of historians and biblical scholars is that Jesus Christ did indeed live in history..." I'm surprised that it's "general consensus." I'm not very well-read on this topic, but I thought it was a raging debate and more and more people are falling away from the actual existence idea (new sources, new analysis by professionals finally unafraid to dig in, etc.). I'm sure you are correct, but I'm wondering if maybe you have a source for this assertion? It's not critical; I'm just asking. "...and what can be known about him with certainty aside from the fact that he lived is that he was baptized by John and he was crucified by Pontius Pilate." Is this really "with certainty"? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking the only non-Biblical references have been mired with controversy. For example, the Jesus parts of Josephus are debated as having been obviously inserted later for political reasons to legitimize the new religion. I guess I need to watch the videos and look for these answers. Maybe you could have a footnote to clarify? My reasoning is that I think as a casual Christian, I would have stumbled upon your site, noticed that hey, Jesus was real, so take that you atheist pigs! and then moved on. Perhaps a little teaser would have made me read further. Something like, "but of course these sources are mired in debate about their authenticity and motives (propaganda), and deserve further scrutiny as new sources are discovered and more professional historians take up the topic." On the other hand, you do give plenty of links to read more and most likely answer these questions -- I'm just saying that I might have needed to be encouraged to "read and decide for myself". You seem to have summed it up TOO nicely: case closed, let's move on. But we don't want them to move on just yet! Please, read on! (I hope that makes sense.) Another idea you could tease in the beginning is: OK, so just because he did exist, doesn't mean everything else isn't problematic (distortions, authenticity issues, propaganda, etc.) In other words -- keep reading, it's not a slam dunk "Jesus is real and so is my religion." On the other hand, you don't want to scare off the believers, as in -- "oh, this is just another atheist website dogging on my Jesus." So perhaps everything I have typed above is irrelevant, ha ha! I guess I'm just asking you to know what your goal is (preach to the choir of atheists or get believers to think more deeply or whatever). I do think you have well disguised your disgust for the religion, which is important for encouraging believers to dive in without being scared off first thing. You do come across as neutral, which is tricky. These are just my opinions. Disregard if you like. I will be watching the videos today as I work, and will come back and comment as needed. Thank you, Brother Jeff, for taking on this enormous resource. I applaud you enthusiastically. BRAVO! Keep us posted as you get comments on your site too. Could be interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnStewart Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I fear you're missing a key author, Brother Jeff: Richard Carrier. Check out his books Proving History and On the Historicity of Jesus. They provide what must be the strongest argument against the historicity of Jesus so I highly recommend you read them to give a balanced viewpoint. Best of luck, it's a very interesting topic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 I fear you're missing a key author, Brother Jeff: Richard Carrier. Check out his books Proving History and On the Historicity of Jesus. They provide what must be the strongest argument against the historicity of Jesus so I highly recommend you read them to give a balanced viewpoint. Best of luck, it's a very interesting topic. Richard Carrier? I'm not impressed. He's not a trained biblical scholar. He's an unemployed blogger who also happens to be an anti-Christian polemicist who always puts Christianity in the worst possible light. I looked up the Historicity of Jesus on Amazon. Just read the negative one and two star reviews for the reasons why I won't be spending my money on Carrier's books. That said, I will be addressing the Mythicist position more thoroughly on the site. There are authors who espouse the view that I take more seriously, such as Earl Doherty, though he too is also not a trained biblical scholar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 In your opening paragraph, two things caught my attention: "The general consensus view of the vast majority of historians and biblical scholars is that Jesus Christ did indeed live in history..." I'm surprised that it's "general consensus." I'm not very well-read on this topic, but I thought it was a raging debate and more and more people are falling away from the actual existence idea (new sources, new analysis by professionals finally unafraid to dig in, etc.). I'm sure you are correct, but I'm wondering if maybe you have a source for this assertion? It's not critical; I'm just asking. My source is the biblical scholar Bart Ehrman. He makes it clear in his books that there is no debate among serious, trained biblical scholars on the issue of whether Jesus existed or not. The "Jesus Myth" folks are a vocal minority, but they are not taken seriously by the vast majority of biblical scholars, for good reason. I'm currently reading Bart's book "Did Jesus Exist?", so I'll have more to say later when I get it finished. "...and what can be known about him with certainty aside from the fact that he lived is that he was baptized by John and he was crucified by Pontius Pilate." Is this really "with certainty"? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking the only non-Biblical references have been mired with controversy. For example, the Jesus parts of Josephus are debated as having been obviously inserted later for political reasons to legitimize the new religion. I guess I need to watch the videos and look for these answers. Maybe you could have a footnote to clarify? Again, this is from Bart Ehrman. Yes, these things about Jesus can be known with relative certainty. Jesus is mentioned twice by Josephus and once by Tacitus. And there are other extra-biblical references as well. The mentions of Jesus by Josephus do have some later Christian interpolations added to them, but once the suspect material is removed, the mentions of Jesus that most biblical scholars accept as authentic remain. My friend Tim O'Neill addresses Josephus and Tacitus in this link: http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/2014/01/did-jesus-exist-jesus-myth-theory-again.html?m=1 I agree with your other points. The site right now is very much a work in progress and what is there now is just what I threw together in the space of a couple of hours. Thanks for your input, Sister! Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I'm liking it! Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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