Genuinely difficult question that I can't give an answer to.....

[Pauliesonne]

so if there is anybody out there in the vast paradise that is the JREF, I ask for some help....

please.

http://www.carm.org/evidence/conspiracy.htm

[Marquis de Carabas]

Who put forth this conspiracy theory in the first place? Smells like straw to me. That something false is believed true by a group of people does not require a conspiracy. And conspirators would have gotten their stories straight before they published.

[Nyarlathotep]

IT sounds like a strawman question in the first place. I certrainly have never heard anyone make that claim.

They also make a nice, classic, false dichotomy here

When we look at the New Testament claims of Christ do we see what looks like an elaborate deception concocted by several people? Or do we see that their behavior is more consistent with the idea that Jesus actually did do miracles and rise from the dead?

There are other options than "They are big poopy headed liars" and "Everything happened precisely as they said". So the whole question is flawed from the start. It honestly smacks of the old "Lunatic, Liar, Lord" argument just given a new twist by focusing on the writers of the gospels rather than Christ himself.

[Nyarlathotep]

BTW, this little gem caught my eye

There is a principle known as Occam's Razor. This principle states that generally the simplest explanation is the best.

Occams Razor is NOT "the simplest explanation is the best". Occams razor is simply that one shouldn't add in unnecessary entities to an explanation. I.e. If I leave a bowl of milk on the counter and the bowl is empty the next day and two explanations are offered: One is "My cats drank it" the other is "The milk fairy drank it", both explanations are equally simple. But under Occams razor the first explanation is favored since I DO have cats but we have yet to establish the existance of "The milk fairy"

Idiots.

[This Guy]

From the link -

"When we look at the New Testament claims of Christ do we see what looks like an elaborate deception concocted by several people? Or do we see that their behavior is more consistent with the idea that Jesus actually did do miracles and rise from the dead? It is the latter explanation that best fits the facts."

I think there are other options.

I lean toward a mixture of truth and fiction.

Whether the fiction was intentional, or the honest writing of deceived/deluded people, or something added to the truth later (by whomever, and for whatever purpose) I'm still working on.

And my views are subject to change, and I learn more :)

[Lothian]

so if there is anybody out there in the vast paradise that is the JREF, I ask for some help....

please.

http://www.carm.org/evidence/conspiracy.htm
What is the question, in your own words ?

[Cosmo]

What is the question, in your own words ?

And why, Pauliesonne, do you continue to take the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry seriously?

[Ducky]

If the new testament writers worked so closely to conspire, how come they couldn't get things right between themselves, like Jesus' lineage or his last words on the cross?