Frank R. Zindler, in his article "Where Jesus Never Walked" at
www.americanatheist.org/win96-7/T2/ozjesus.html,
argues that Jesus probably never existed for a number of reasons:
1. Archaelogical and historical data suggest that Nazareth did not exist as a community, but only as a burial ground, during the days of Jesus. Like the Wizard of Oz, if there was no Oz, there could have been no Wizard of Oz.
2. References to Christ (e.g. in Josephus) were apparently forgeries probably added by later Christian apologists.
3. The New Testament Gospels appear to be works of fiction.
If Jesus didn't exist as the Gospels report, but was a myth invented by early Christians, yet millions of people today have such an unshakeable belief in Him and the ideal He represents to them, how can we have confidence in any non-scientific claims made by devout religious persons, Christian or otherwise?
If the stories of Jesus are lies then how can we rely on anyone's claim to truth merely based on their inspiration from God?
If the core parts of the New Testament, including the miracles of Jesus, are merely fiction, why should we accept any other religious text, such as the Old Testament, the rest of the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, or the Koran as reliable when they speak of phenomena irreproducible in scientific laboratories or to individuals who participated in these miraculous events?
If the Jesus spoken of in the Gospels was a myth, on what basis can we rely on the claims of any religion that there is a God or an afterlife or such things?
Does anyone have good evidence to refute Zindler's ideas? |