THERE’S ONE THING I’VE LEARNED about debating atheists on social media:
keep it sociable.
It’s too easy for me to get worked up because they often come at me pretty worked up themselves.
Some call me names for believing Jesus even existed. Just about all of them seem to think I’m a fool for believing in the Resurrection.
Still, I keep in mind that the best I can do is to address their questions and perhaps try to lighten the mood.
Here are excerpts from one discussion over the past few days. It’s a conversation that shows up in the comments section of my YouTube video, “What Romans said about crucifixion.”
The writer caught me off guard because his first comment made him sound like someone not well educated. I soon discovered otherwise.
[I’ll not correct any typos, etc. What you’ll see is what I got. Also, I don’t know what his byline means: tai’ infio Nesa. “Tai“ in Finnish means “or.” “Infio” in Latin means “begin.” “Nesa” in Swedish means “infamy” or “shameful.” Put it all together and it sounds a little like “Let’s stir things up.” ]
Here we go
tai’ infio Nesa
Was there a person who lived in the first-century name Jesus probably, was he crucified by Romans that to is a possibility now for the real hard question was he the son of a god or a god himself there’s no evidence outside the Bible to prove that assumption; so, more likely he wasn’t just a man who live and will die like rest of us.
Steve
Jesus is identified by first-century Jewish historian Josephus, who was also a Roman citizen, as “a man called Jesus…Pilate sentenced him to death by crucifixion…[his disciples] said he appeared to them after his crucifixion.”
First-century Roman senator and historian, Tacitus: “Christians…got their name from Christus, executed during the reign of Tiberius. One of our governors, procurator Pontius Pilate, sentenced him to death.”
In AD 197 a writer named Marcus Minucius Felix, writing in Octavius: “When [Christians] try to explain the reason for their rituals, they end up talking about a man executed for crimes so vile that he was hung on a wooden cross.”
People can doubt Jesus rose from the dead. That’s understandable. But to doubt he existed is stretching it. Christianity exists because his disciples died as martyrs rather than stop telling the world about the life and teachings of Jesus, who they said rose from the dead.
tai’ infio Nesa
[About Josephus] Yet this account has been embroiled in controversy since the 17th century. It could not have been written by a Jewish man, say the critics, because it sounds too Christian: it even claims that Jesus was the Messiah (ho Christos, the Christ)! The critics say: this paragraph is not authentic. It was inserted into Josephus’ book by a later Christian copyist, probably in the Third or Fourth Century.
Steve
Please read the notes that accompany this video. I’ve dealt with this question many times before in this comments section. [The notes I refer to explain that there are two versions of Josephus’ report about Jesus. One makes Josephus sound like a Christian who believes in the Resurrection. The other more reliable one has him simply reporting that the disciples of Jesus said he rose from the dead.]
tai’ infio Nesa
[After reading the notes I referred to] The people you mentioned in footnotes like Bart D. Ehrman are Christian scholars they have a vested interest in propagating the faith Ehrman began studying the Bible, Biblical theology, and Biblical languages at “Moody Bible Institute, Moody Bible Institute is a Christian institution
Steve
Your information is out of date. Ehrman now describes himself as an agnostic.
tai’ infio Nesa
Then what relevance of his arguments for the historical Jesus now as agnostic and let me make this perfectly clear I haven’t a problem with the existence of Jesus as a historical figure the issue is the proof of his divinity and there is where you have all your work cut out for you
Steve
Proving divinity is indeed a big ask. I can’t even prove my big toe hurts, but it does.
tai’ infio Nesa
Your big toe hurts because you can verify to world that it hurts that’s the difference
Steve
Nope. I can only claim it hurts.
tai’ infio Nesa
what if it’s inflamed and red and swollen would that be proof?
Steve
You couldn’t tell by looking at it. It was ingrown on one side. I just got back from the doctor and now have a big green wrapping covering the toe. That might be a clue now. But it wouldn’t be proof. I could have wrapped it in green gauze just for sympathy and attention.
tai’ infio Nesa
I think we about cover enough the health and well being of your big toe by now wouldn’t you agree?
Steve
Yes, but it is the most fun I have had with an apparent atheist in a long while. So thank you for your tolerance.
tai’ infio Nesa
Your welcome, take care
And in conclusion
My toe has a one-inch wide Band-Aid on it and feels fine outside of a shoe. And I think I managed to make an atheist smile. I know he made me smile.
If either of us is going to make headway with the other, someone has to smile first.
Very tactfully handled, Steve!
Now if we could get Democrats and Republicans to talk to each other like that we’d be on our way to a united country again.
Thanks Steve. I don’t know what would work with today’s politicians. I suspect many of them simply need to go away, one in particular. I’ll do my part in making that happen when my mail-in ballot arrives. I’ll hand-deliver that sucker.
Regardless of the propaganda, I will not be requesting additional ballots. Nor could I get one if I did.
The Bible talks a lot about selfish people and liars. The message is that life doesn’t end well for people like that. They think they have the power. But they are the hopeless, and the soon-to-be pitied as they face their consequences.
At the moment, it seems hard to pity them. But if we trust in God and in ourselves, it’s okay to let the pity begin…because it’s coming. Not a second too soon, I’d say.
Stay safe. Keep wearing that mask.