i am sorry but i dont think you got my points right.

the cross was the standard punishment method for slaves and low level criminals (stoning and beheading where absolutely not popular public punishments for the romans).
also this was used against blasphemic people (usualy bound but in hard cases nailed to the cross).
the reason is simple: its an visual long term icon punishment everybody can see
all of this has happened years and years before jesus was born. a lot of prophets or messias where killed on the cross before him and a lot after him.

predicting that he would die by the cross is like predicting today that somone who robbs a bank will get punished by arresting.


the resurrection point is not somthing to argue about subernatural things or the bible its simply the observation that the only way to keep your "religion" alive (usualy religions die after the messias and his prophets died) is to make something subernatural that is big enough to leave a mark.
knowing the standard punishment leaves only two options: not to die by the cross or to get resurrected. only these two icons will show the people that you are god sent.

the scientific approach to this is not accepting that jesus is the son of god and to find evidence for that but to see who jesus from nazareth was. the end result can range from a smart man with some magic fake tricks to the son of god.

i am amazed what people like copperfield can do. and you will agree with me that he is probably not the son of god but a good magician.

if you keep the same distance to the supernatural when talking about jesus as you would do when you think about david copperfield you can investigate how much of the written is true.

keeping an emotional distance to the topic can help a lot

i have heared a lot about predictions so far but either they are so vague that you can interprete god and the world into every sentence or they simply need to be bent so much to fit that they lose all context.

also speaking about the true and proofable parts of the bible.
all of the things we know are true (to a certain point) are unimportant when you ask the question about the existence of god.
having some people march for 40 years to find a new home can be true without a problem, but it doesnt proof god nor is it important for it.
on the other hand we cant proof a burning and speaking bush.

someone coming down a mountain with 10 rules from god could have happened. again its unimportant because the vital part, the speaking god who gave him this instruction, cant be profen.

and all religious book go on and on this way.
combining true facts with fiction (or not fiction, who knows) is a usual way to write.

bram stokers dracula is good, j.verne..great ones, stories about arthur or camelot are fascinating, atlantis or the amazons,... all of them contain some truth.
the question is just how much of it.

and if we are sceptical with all the stories above, why cant we be as sceptical and questioning when it comes to religion.
do we have to accept everything said or written just because its said or written?!


the bottom line of religion is that you want to believe. for e variety of reasons and nothing said could change that.

but again, not understanding something is not reason engough to say its supernatural.
where did the universe come from? how did it come from nothing? what is "nothing"?

good questions, but because you fail to have an answer isnt profing god in any way.

science needs proof and evidence to be true, religion needs believers to be true.

we do not understand the terms infinite or nothing.
whenever i hear the word nothing i remember the beatles and how they where soaked up into the "nothing".
the funny thing was it was white. so how can it be nothing if its white? or black?

the thing we dont understand is that mater needs mater to be created. its something we asolutely cant understand that maybe just a little "white" or "black" and the infinite ammount of time are enough to "create" something.

because if the universe was created supernatural who created the time before that? and how can there be something if there is no time?
and if god can exist without time, how come that nothing else can?
did god created "white"?

cheers