Please respond to the following discussion posts. Each reply must be at least 1

Please respond to the following discussion posts. Each reply must be at least 150 words.
Rachel Mandia Upon beginning to prepare research for this discussion board, the amount of articles challenging the historicity of Jesus was both shocking and saddening. Among the articles which appeared, was an article published by History.com Links to an external site.on February of 2019 titled The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists? The article, updated once more in March of 2021, challenges the existence of Jesus based on a lack of historical evidences; pointing out, specifically, that because there is no archaeological evidence which points to the existence of Jesus, or any real evidence for the existence of Christ outside of the New Testament, that Jesus may have neither lived nor died (Klein, 2021). It’s worth noting, however, that the article did go on to mention the fact that Jesus was mentioned by a few secular historians at the time of his “alleged” existence which should, and can, serve as proof for his existence, although the article does leave readers to draw their own conclusions, and based off of the statements made at the very beginning questioning the historical accuracy of Christ, it doesn’t seem to lean in the favor of what Christians hold to be true. And as stated before, this article isn’t alone in its questioning of the historicity of Christ.
Many articles, published by news outlets and secular scholars alike, denying the existence of Jesus exist across the internet and have an impact on what many people believe to be true about the Bible and Christianity. As strong dislike for Christian beliefs begin to grow, it seems that more and more articles like the one described above come to be published. One scholar, at the University of Sydney, stated that he “rejected all hypotheses involving the Christ of Faith,” as there was no true evidence to serve as proof for his existence in any way (Lataster, 2019). Because these scholars are the ones educating young, impressionable people in many ways, it’s not at all shocking to see the world turn more and more against the Gospel and even lose any belief in God at all. However, I do believe that there is Biblical evidence against many of the beliefs being shared online and in schools, and it’s essential that Believers come to understand why they believe what they believe so that they may defend their faith in an effective way.
Hiram Davila Media is used in several different ways now when conversing about God. It can and has been used to talk down about God and lift God. Even political leaders use it in different ways. Some as a convenience and others as an outlet. “How can the people that I listened to on the radio, who told me that character matters, just sell their soul for a song and dance a political power?” (Relevant Staff, 2020) This journalist is saying how political powers use religion to persuade the masses. They do not honestly follow all of the teachings of the bible but use it as a talking point. Social media and digital media also use religion in a particular way.
“It seems that the “religious” decree of digital media, and especially social media, is to see and to be seen-to participate.” (Religions, 2021) People are using social media to make themselves feel better about themselves or to make it known to people that they have faith. Rather than listening and following God. However, other countries like Burundi in Africa turned towards God during COVID-19 was used as a way of social control. “Ndayishimiye (presidential candidate) reassured the population that they should have not been afraid of the disease because when one believes in God, nothing can hurt him.” (Paviotti, 2021) During the worldwide pandemic, this country in Africa turned towards God’s grace and reassured its people that if they have faith, God will take care of them. They used the narrative of God in a way to gain political control over its citizens to maintain power. The Bible says, “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.” (New International Version, 2011, Proverbs 4:5). God does not want us to turn away from him and use his teachings as our own but rather to follow him. Media and social media may be used in different religious and secular ways. Some even to gain control by using a narrative.
Jeremiah Dawson Historian, Dr. Richard Carrier, wrote an article titled “Historicity Big and Small: How Historians Try to Rescue Jesus.” In this article, Carrier discusses the legitimacy behind the existence of the historical figure of Jesus. Carrier claims the Jesus of the Bible “…was constructed by different authors (both inside and outside the canon) to represent their own (or their community’s) ideal of what they wanted or needed Jesus to have been and done, so they could teach their worldview through the fabricated authority of “their” founder (who by this point was more a construct of the imagination, than the actual founder himself) and so they could test someone’s commitment to their view of things by testing their commitment to “their” account of Jesus.” (Carrier)
Essentially, it seems that Carrier believes that the Jesus Christ of the Bible was a made up character used as a motivation for those who believe in God to be faithful and obedient to the commands God has called them to. I think the fundamental problem with this is there are multiple sources that attest to not only Christ’s ministry, but the miracles He performed. This wasn’t just a few people, but multiple eyewitnesses. The disciples’ recollections “were not individual memories but collective ones—confirmed by other eyewitnesses and burned into their minds by the constant retelling of the story. Thus, both the repetition of the stories about Jesus and the verification of such by other eyewitnesses served as checks and balances on the apostles’ accuracy.” (Komoszewski). So to write off multiple eyewitness testimonies as “shibboleth” (Carrier) is academically irresponsible.
Another issue with Carrier’s claim is there were many Jewish people who had a real problem with who Jesus claimed to be. In fact, this is why He was ultimately put to death. In Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he reminds many of the Jewish people what they did to Jesus, “…you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” (Acts 2:23 [NASB]) Why would people from the same faith as Jesus, end up being the ones who send him to his death if they just made Him up to motivate belief in God? Now granted, Carrier could be referring specifically to the disciples and those of their teachings making up Jesus. However, another problem we run into is the several prophesies Jesus was witnessed fulfilling from the old testament. If he was just made up, then how do we have eyewitness accounts of him fulfilling “…more than 324 individual prophecies that related to the Messiah!” (Bernis).