The Golden Bough. Frazer. Macmillan & Co.
A Short History of Christianity. Robertson. Watts & Co.
The Evolution of the Idea of God. Grant Allen. Rationalist
Press Association. Buddha and Buddhism. Lillie. Clark.
Our Sun God. Parsons. Parsons.
Christianity and Mythology. Robertson. Watts & Co.
Pagan Christs. Robertson. Watts & Co.
The Legend of Perseus. Hartland. Nutt.
The Birth of Jesus. Soltau. Black.
The above are all scholarly and important books, and should be generally known.
For reasons given above I claim, with regard to the divinity and Resurrection of Jesus Christ:
That outside the New Testament there is no evidence of any
value to show that Christ ever lived, that He ever taught,
that He ever rose from the dead.
That the evidence of the New Testament is anonymous, is
contradictory, is loaded with myths and miracles.
That the Gospels do not contain a word of proof by any
eye-witness as to the fact that Christ was really dead;
nor the statement of any eye-witness that He was seen to
return to life and quit His tomb.
That Paul, who preached the Resurrection of Christ, did not
see Christ dead, did not see Him arise from the dead, did
not see Him ascend into Heaven.
That Paul nowhere supports the Gospel accounts of Christ's
life and teaching.
That the Gospels are of mixed and doubtful origin, that they
show signs of interpolation and tampering, and that they have
been selected from a number of other Gospels, all of which
were once accepted as genuine.
And that, while there is no real evidence of the life or the
teachings, or the Resurrection of Christ, there is a great
deal of evidence to show that the Gospels were founded upon
anterior legends and older ethics.
But Christian apologists offer other reasons why we should accept the stories of the miraculous birth and Resurrection of Christ as true. Let us examine these reasons, and see what they amount to.
OTHER EVIDENCES OF CHRIST'S DIVINITY
Archdeacon Wilson gives two reasons for accepting the doctrines of Christ's divinity and Resurrection as true. The first of these reasons is, the success of the Christian religion; the second is, the evolution of the Christlike type of character.
If the success of the Christian religion proves that Christ was God, what does the success of the Buddhist religion prove? What does the success of the Mohammedan religion prove?