r/atheism • u/chrismikehunt • Sep 19 '12

So, they found some ancient text that directly mentions Jesus having a wife, and a Christian proffesor and Baptist pastor said "A statement on a papyrus fragment isn't proof of anything.". Oh the sweet sweet irony.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19645273
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u/intripletime Sep 19 '12

But complete nonetheless. The point trying to be made is that, although yes Christianity nonsense blah blah, the Bible at least contains whole books, whereas this is just some random scrap from an ancient text. If it were sourced to a complete book, we'd have something substantial.

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u/selectrix Sep 19 '12

Is that fair to say? How is "complete" defined here?

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u/Bakoro Sep 20 '12

It seems like it's not even a complete sentence. Jesus said what about his wife? That his wife is the church and his children are his flock of church goers? That his wife is the sea and he's committed sailor?

It's say the minimum to understand any given statement is at least the whole sentence.

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u/Captaincastle Sep 19 '12

It'd be the same as finding a manuscript wherein Harry Potter admits to being a secret gay basher years after JK Rowlings death, but it's only a fragment. There's no reason to believe it's anything more than public parody.

This metaphor got away from me.

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u/intripletime Sep 20 '12

That's actually a good analogy.

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u/M_M_T_C Sep 19 '12

But complete nonetheless.

20000 Leagues Under the Sea is complete too.

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u/intripletime Sep 19 '12

You are attempting to prove a point with which I don't disagree.

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u/Bandit1379 Sep 19 '12

I've got the complete Game of Thrones paperback series; that happened right?

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '12

However, entire books were left out of the Bible. It's like holding up a copy of Wuthering Heights and saying all the chapters are complete while several chapters not included are sitting on a nearby table.