04-20-2007, 02:00 AM
<span style='color:blue'>Argument : Historical evidence is irrelevant. The real Jesus exists in disembodied form.
</span>
Con: Faith can be neither proved nor disproved. Once you take a completely mystical or ideal view of Jesus, the rules of historical research are irrelevant. This is an argument that offers no compromise with skeptics and scholars who try to unearth evidence of the real Jesus. Of course, to take such a position means that the mind of the believer becomes divided. On one side is Jesusâs miraculous world, where God can do anything and physical laws of nature obey his will. On the other side exists the material world, where God doesnât intrude and the physical laws of nature dominate.
In the past, believers were much more comfortable with such a divided reality. Today the two poles have pulled even farther apart, and the internal politics of the churchâespecially the conflict between fundamentalism and more liberal interpretations of the bibleâhave forced Christians to ask, Is Jesus part of a miraculous world or not?
</span>
Con: Faith can be neither proved nor disproved. Once you take a completely mystical or ideal view of Jesus, the rules of historical research are irrelevant. This is an argument that offers no compromise with skeptics and scholars who try to unearth evidence of the real Jesus. Of course, to take such a position means that the mind of the believer becomes divided. On one side is Jesusâs miraculous world, where God can do anything and physical laws of nature obey his will. On the other side exists the material world, where God doesnât intrude and the physical laws of nature dominate.
In the past, believers were much more comfortable with such a divided reality. Today the two poles have pulled even farther apart, and the internal politics of the churchâespecially the conflict between fundamentalism and more liberal interpretations of the bibleâhave forced Christians to ask, Is Jesus part of a miraculous world or not?