Comment author:Desrtopa
08 January 2011 07:45:15PM
26 points
[-]
One of my favored arguments against the historicity of the miracle accounts in the gospels is drawn directly from my own experiences in middle school.
I went to some lengths to convince other children at school that I was an alien. I was smarter than the vast majority of students at my school, and was able to blind them with science so that a fair number actually came to believe my claims. Not only did I manage to convince a number of students myself, many went on to convince other students, making up feats I had not and could not perform as "evidence."
I can't say for sure that all the students who claimed to believe that I was an alien actually did, but a number staked a considerable amount of social status on their belief in my claims, so I'm fairly confident they were not all faking it.
Anyway, it was that experience that taught me about people's propensity to simply make up evidence to convince others of their beliefs.
My favorite part of this anecdote is that it still gets the point across even if I am lying, and made the whole thing up myself.
Comment author:macauley86
04 January 2016 08:35:27PM
0 points
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I can see a few problems with your example:
- you were all kids (kids are more credulous)
- there was not much at stake (on the contrary, increased social status for them; kinda cool to be associated with you)
- the whole gig was short-lived (I hope they still don't believe you are an alien)
Now, compare that with the Hebrew apostles, and consider that, even today, to become a "completed Jew" can cut you off from your entire family. Imagine what it would be like in those days.
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One of my favored arguments against the historicity of the miracle accounts in the gospels is drawn directly from my own experiences in middle school.
I went to some lengths to convince other children at school that I was an alien. I was smarter than the vast majority of students at my school, and was able to blind them with science so that a fair number actually came to believe my claims. Not only did I manage to convince a number of students myself, many went on to convince other students, making up feats I had not and could not perform as "evidence."
I can't say for sure that all the students who claimed to believe that I was an alien actually did, but a number staked a considerable amount of social status on their belief in my claims, so I'm fairly confident they were not all faking it.
Anyway, it was that experience that taught me about people's propensity to simply make up evidence to convince others of their beliefs.
My favorite part of this anecdote is that it still gets the point across even if I am lying, and made the whole thing up myself.
I can see a few problems with your example: - you were all kids (kids are more credulous) - there was not much at stake (on the contrary, increased social status for them; kinda cool to be associated with you) - the whole gig was short-lived (I hope they still don't believe you are an alien)
Now, compare that with the Hebrew apostles, and consider that, even today, to become a "completed Jew" can cut you off from your entire family. Imagine what it would be like in those days.