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I am enjoying the debate so far. Mike Licona started it off. He had some good things to say, but he is still basing his hypothesis on a 2000 year old story and his trust in the authorship of that story.
I asked a couple of questions, but they must have been lost in the flood. So maybe I won't ask anymore. I will just sit back and learn and listen.
I think this whole debate will not be able to answer the one question I have today...
Even if the Resurrection did happen... what is it supposed to mean 2000 years later?
Oh... got to go.... Bart's up
After listening to Mike and Bart, I am still leery of how Mike is hanging on to real weak evidence. I wish he would say something about it being okay if you can't prove the Resurrection, but can still have faith in it being helpful for life. This world is very limited in what it can give people to survive it. Believing that the Creator of the Cosmos became human isn't a bad story... it is just old and needs updating, not to mention the bloody narrative that the whole bible embraces. But if I dare suggest an update, then that is going against everything most hold sacred. But sacred doesn't mean it happened. It is just sacred.
I think I could end now with so much taken away from the discussion. And yet there is more this afternoon. I might miss some due to my presence needed to load heaters, but this discussion is not lost. It will be recorded and I will have access to it for later viewing.
I am still going to say that I am 2000 years past the story and that is a long time to hang on to something that is life changing for me now. I don't think I am able to envision a Creator that is going to be limited to a revelation from 30 CE and expect it to hold through millennia without getting twisted, marred and seriously out of date. I look at the stars, the animals, the trees... I feel the wind and the snow on my face. This is evidence for me that there is something beyond myself wanting to connect with me. That is a Creator that moves with the changes in time and space. That makes a lot more sense to me. Maybe I can gain something from the story, but it will never be enough anymore. Like I said to my mother... I need something in my lifetime that I can connect with.
Okay... On to the afternoon.
I don't think I was ever bored during the hours of interchange between Bart and Mike. Both are incredible communicators. That is something greatly lacking in a lot of the speakers that make their way to Youtube these days.
My favourite part of the whole day was Bart's closing bit, because he explained why he does debates. He does it to include those who get excluded by Evangelical Christianity. He made a point to say that he doesn't mind if people embrace religion until it gets harmful. He strongly emphasized that Evangelical Christianity really flowed in the direction being divisive. As much as Mike is a nice person, it is the message he supports. That part was sad, but over all, the last five minutes was beautiful.
I want to end this post off with a quote I found as a reply to a post from someone on Facebook. I don't know if I agree or disagree, I just like the quote.
"Faith is nothing more than substituting knowledge with emotions" Lloyd Moore
