Does anyone here think the Nativity is not a myth?

[TreasonousBastard]

22. Of course not-- not any more than creation in 6 days, the Flood, or water into wine...

Most religions are built on myth, and Judeo-Christianity is no different. Myths exist to simplify concepts for the believers, as examples of moral or ethical concepts, or other things where facts are less important than the concepts the story illustrates.

(See Plato's Cave)

The Gospels describing these events were written years after the fact (years after Jesus' alleged death and resurrection) and no one really knows who actually wrote them or if they even witnessed exact any of it. That they often disagreed with each other is another point the early church bent itself into pretzels trying to deal with. And there was still more written that those early solons sent to fire as too dangerous for us to see.

Personally, I have no problem with myth, if it is understood as myth. So much our great literature, from Twain to Sartre is allegorical and meant to teach us some underlying truth. Literature classes teach us to dig down to seven or so levels of meaning, and there is often something in the work for every level of understanding. So it is with the Bible, and I defy any atheist to explain how horrible the Beatitudes really are. Sure, they mention God and Heaven, but aren't they basically a modern liberal manifesto couched in religious terms? (And shouldn't more modern churches listen to them?) I don't have to believe there was a Jesus who spoke those words to see the truth and beauty in them.