Why the Bible? (Religion)

by David Turell , Monday, September 15, 2008, 18:51 (5707 days ago) @ George Jelliss

George has referred us to an interesting atheist site called ebonmusings. 
 
> I read the (rather long) essay called 'Choking on the Camel', which sets out a stimulating thesis that Jesus never actually existed. 
>The virgin birth, the miracles, the resurrection, the three-day darkness ... as far as I'm concerned, they all sound like the product of the propagandists. But I'm not convinced that Christ and his contemporaries were fictional, or that the latter suffered their appalling martyrdom for what they believed to be a fictional character.> - I've also read "Choking on the Camel", and appreciate George pointing out the website. - If you google "Hebrew word for virgin" you will find Christian apologist websites that try to justify the Greek translations of Isaiah that introduced the 'virgin birth' concept. Also there are Jewish Biblical scholars who point out that The Book of Isaiah uses the Hebrew word for 'maiden' in the prophesy that the Christian world uses as the supposed announcement of the coming of Jesus and the specific word for virgin five other times in other places in his writings. Remember that the entire Book of Isaiah was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and dates to a time around that of Jesus. The Jewish scholars are adament that 'virgin' is a mistranslation of 'maiden', granting that maiden can imply virginity, since there was an explicit word for virgin in the Biblical writings at that time.