Josephus is one historian that mentions Jesus and his performing miracles
Without further research, or going back
through the books, I believe Josephus was the ONLY historian of his time to mention Jesus. In fact, I further believe, it has been proven to be a hox. In that a statement was made about Jesus, and later found to be added after Josephus's death.
The Cambrian explosion was a short period of time where most of today's primates appeared suddenly with no fossils found that can support macroevolution. Their are no links from these species to previously existing species, and the time span is short. Their are very good fossil records from this time frame, shortly before, and shortly after. This is unexplainable without accepting intervention.
I think you are referring to "the missinglink" debate here. Not sure. But I have not heard of the name you call it by. Further research would need to be done by me to speak to it. But again, just because science hasnt put a theory to something, or admits there are further questions to be answered, does not require anyone to fill in that gap with the supernatural. It may be unexplainable at this point, but so are UFO's.
Lee Strobel makes no claims of his own. He has only conducted several interviews of scientists and compiles those interviews in books. He gives references to studies from both sides.
As I mentioned before, Mr Strobel is a christian. So his books start under the presumption he is right. And end up with him being right.
I have read many of the studies from both sides, and was open for a long time, but the evidence really has pointed me in the direction of God, His son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
And I would not take that away from you. I hope it helps you in your life.
The evidence still requires faith, but much less faith than would be required for me to be atheist.
Again my dear friend... christianity
REQUIRES you to have faith. Atheism is the
dismissal of faith,
lack of faith, or
other irrational presumptions. It is simply having
no faith. You dont need to have faith that there is nothing to have faith in, in order to not have faith.
Just as you can have "faith" that someone has car keys in their pocket when they walk to their car and, reach in their pocket and all of a sudden their car lights flash and horn sounds.
Now if that person pulled their keys out of their pocket and showed them to you, it would not require faith to believe that they actually had keys in their pocket, but the evidence that a creator exists is similar to this. Similar historical evidence exists that Jesus is real, and was actually who he said he was.
Lost me on this one. I couldnt care less whats in someones pockets. But anyway, to your last point... there is also a LACK of historical evidence saying Jesus lived. Such as the fact that there are no other non biblical accounts of this man from anyone, including the Roman Empires own records.
In addition to that, I have personally experienced Him and can say that I am now certain that He is real, and I will pray to Him regarding you as I would any other person I've met in my life.
If I say I personally experienced the rock gnomes in my back yard, would you believe me? Again, I wont take it away from you. But I can come up with dozens of explanations to your experiences. And as I've asked Max not to do, I will ask you not to pray for me. Its rude, and it insinuates you have a special connection to something that I am unable to obtain if I so desired.
Please keep an open mind, as no one has or can prove that He is not real. Allow yourself to accept the possibility,
I have an open mind my friend, its called free thought inquiry, reason, rationalism and science.
and perhaps one day check into it for yourself.
May God bless you so that you may be a blessing to others.
lol...have you read anything I've said?? It should be painfully clear that I've looked into it
... Oh yeah, I waiting to hear how you like the books you asked about... are they making
sense to you?
My best,
-VP
