WHAT I'M ON ABOUT

This blog intends to provide some balance in the religious debate by providing a counterpoint to Billy Graham's religious advice. On his website http://www.billygraham.org/ he responds to readers' questions by quoting from the bible. I am attempting to respond to those same queries by resorting to reason and rationality.







I must acknowledge a debt here to Jeff Hope who started in this vein but who has unfortunately taken a hiatus. His blog is http://atheistsanswer.wordpress.com/. Jeff has inspired me to continue.







Saturday, June 5, 2010

Extrapolation From Nothing

QUESTION: Today's comes from MG...
"Did you read about those scientists who think they've uncovered the image of Jesus from what might have been His burial cloth? Maybe now we'll know what he looked like. Or do we already know?".

IRRELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE:
We do not know what Jesus looked like because no one recorded it at the time. Trying to reconstruct his image from a cloth two thousand years later is such an inaccurate exercise that it is not worth pursuing. That a cloth can survive this long engenders a high level of scepticism. Beware of this supposed scientific venture. Invoking scientists to try and recreate someone's image from a cloth lends no credence to whether he actually was some deity. There is no scientific evidence for Jesus or that his alleged miracles actually happened.
There are major figures from long ago who had their image recorded, and if Jesus was really the great leader that his followers profess then it follows that many people should have drawn his face. However, they didn't and you have to ask yourself whether he was such a prominent person or has his reputation become enhanced with the passage of time by people desperate for a concrete sign from god. Having a religious belief that is founded on faith is constantly problematic as the followers always have a nagging doubt in their minds as to its veracity. So much so that they desperately latch onto the slightest shred of evidence.

BILLY GRAHAM'S ANSWER:
http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=6086

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