The debate was billed as The Calvinist vs. Brian Flemming.

But it has really turned into The Calvinist vs. The Calvinist.

The Calvinist:

If Jesus is the result of conflation of pre-existing religious stories, please produce any of those sources, without regard to genre or date – with the minor qualification that the sources predate the authorship of Mark as you have agreed to it in 70 AD. I’d be willing to give you a blank check in word count to cut-and-paste those stories here in translation, side-by-side with the passages of the NT you think use them for source material.

Vs. The Calvinist:

I found Brian’s essay here instructive in several ways, but the most interesting was his claim that I am demanding that he prove the Gospels were plagerized. In fact, I was demanding nothing of the sort.

Of course, we should expect this sort of cognitive dissonance in CalvinWorld. In CalvinWorld, a god who suffers so that you can have salvation is nothing like a god who suffers so that you can have salvation. Totally dissimilar creatures, really.

Is The Calvinist merely exhibiting the toxic effects of sincere blind faith, or is he aware of the emptiness of his arguments? Post your guess in the comments. (But be gentle–he’ll be reading your comments.)

Oh, and if you are unfamiliar with the Christ Myth argument, Brian’s latest response spells out the case. At length. And by “at length,” we mean grab refreshments. Bat Boy appears in the final act, so be ready for that.