Posted: Mar 13, 2016 7:53 pm
kyrani99 wrote:I believe that Jesus was a historical figure, a prophet, for two reasons:-
1. some of the statements he made require great insight, eg "the kingdom of heaven is within you",
2. Mohammed talked about Jesus and did not believe that he was crucified.
Do you imagine that you're actually deducing something, here? The bible already tells you that Jesus is a person of great insight and that he said those things. Your statement (1) amounts to saying you believe what the bible tells you, and maybe because the bible tells you that it is telling the truth.
Your statement (2) doesn't allow you to deduce anything, either. Mohammed might merely be repeating stories he's heard.
If you want to believe Jesus is a historical figure on the basis of this kind of 'reasoning', you might as well say you believe it because that's what you want to believe. Maybe you could make an argument; you just haven't done any more than rationalize it to yourself, so far. This gives off a whiff of expediency.