rlb wrote:
"Read the works of the Jewdean Philosopher Josephus..."

I've read more on the subject than is required to know the full breathe of what is out there. So lets examine this without the benefit of brainwashing.

1. Josephus's wrote in what language?
2. Josephus's original text is precisely where?
3. The translations were all made from the original?
4. By who? When?
5. Do all translations agree precisely?
6. If not how do you know which one is authoritative?

The original of every work you mention has never seen the light of day. Has been mistranslated numerous times and most often intentionally for political purposes. If you had evidence as strong as this you couldn't get out of a parking ticket.

And continues:
"Where did they come from DA? Nowhere?"

Where did the Epic of Gilgamesh come from? Same place!

and you, like Blacknad quote Pliny the Younger around 111 or 112 AD. Lets get some dose of reality here. Someone 100 years after the fact is writing about events that happened before his children were born. If the current governor of Vermont wrote a letter about something that happened in 1906 would you have the nerve to stand up in public and hail it as evidence?

The hypocrisy of religious zealots knows no bounds.

and continues:
"either way we are all worm food in the end. Why be angry about it."

Because those that do not oppose lies are collaborators. Those that sanction the brain washing of children are abusing the next generation. Any more such questions?

Blacknad: Piggybacking if I may be permitted on Lillith's comment. No reasonable person is claiming that Jesus Christ whose mother was named Mary wasn't born in the Middle East. So were a lot of other misfits and nut cases. There are only two statements that make or break the Chrisitan religion.

1. Virgin birth
2. Resurrection

Take those two elements away and you have Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mohammed, or Moses. Another decent guy with followers but not the son of a god.

Islam is very clear on Jesus. He was a prophet. He is reveared. But his birth was nothing special and his neither was his death. World shaking events do not lead to totally different interpretations. You won't find people who will claim Vesuvius didn't erupt. You won't find people that will claim there was not tsunami in Indonesia a few years back. You will not find anyone denying the reality of WWI or WWII.

So prove to me the virgin birth ... and the only source you have is an authorless book. And I have a book, with author, that says otherwise. Same for the other end of his life.

If you want to engage in a search for truth. Start by reading the Epic of Gilgamesh. Jesus Christ received his virgin birth from the same source that Christmas received Santa Claus. Christians, trying to gain credibility, snagged engaging parts of someone else's mythology.

DA Morgan