Quote Originally Posted by ermitonto
Yes, I do realize that the Gospels were probably based on exaggerated oral history, so we can't really attribute anything said in the Bible directly to Jesus, but when Christians want me to trust in Jesus they want me to base that trust on the material contained in the Bible (since we have virtually no other sources for information about him). Since Biblejesus predicts the Second Coming within the lifetimes of the people alive at the time, I can't trust Biblejesus, and since I have no way of knowing what Realjesus actually said (assuming he existed), I can't trust Realjesus either.

By the way, what was the evidence that Jesus didn't really preach such a quick return? It seems to me like it would be downright impossible to prove what somebody said or didn't say 2000 years ago whose life was never documented until decades after his death.
Let me just note, for the record, everything you write I agree with. I was just putting in my own 2 cents Of course there's no sure way of knowing what Jesus REALLY said, but some scholars I feel do come close in that they extrapolate from events in the Gospels and suppose what could really have happened. But then again, it's still just speculation, and reading these scholars' thoughts (most of which are Christians themselves, even priests!) makes me even more firm in my belief that there is no god, ironically.