Unpopular Opinion

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Jesus was a historical person. This doesn’t mean Christianity is correct, but there is sufficient historical evidence and most mainstream scholars of the era agree on this. (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by andros_rex@lemmy.world to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

132 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I think Lemmy has a problem with history in general, since most people on here have degrees/training in STEM. I see a lot of inaccurate “pop history” shared on here, and a lack of understanding of historiography/how historians analyze primary sources.

The rejection of Jesus’s historicity seems to be accepting C S Lewis’s argument - that if he existed, he was a “lunatic, liar, or lord,” instead of realizing that there was nothing unusual about a messianic Jewish troublemaker in Judea during the early Roman Empire.

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[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't think most serious scholars would swear that a Jesus existed at that time and place, but would say that it is much more likely than not based on the confirming evidence from outside of the Christian faith. At some point you need to decide how much evidence is enough for any ancient topic. There's no particular reason that I've found credible enough to convince me that there WASN'T a historical figure there, even though I absolutely refuse to accept any magic or miracles.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

That's the thing though —you shouldn't need convincing that he wasn't real. You should need convincing the he was real. I don't have any particular reason to doubt he existed, but equally I don't have a good reason to believe it either, so I just don't. That's the default position.

I don't need to doubt he existed to also not hold a belief that he did.