Jesus is a mythological figure. Christianity is not for thinking people.

Jesus is a mythological figure and as such is very similar to earlier pagan, Egyptian, Greek/Roman, and Asian mythological figures. In addition to sharing many similarities with other warrior/savior Gods, Jesus is based primarily on sun worship and therefore shares many aspects of that religion. It is easy to look at pagan symbols, statuary, and paintings and see distinct parallels between Jesus and figures such as Horus, Mithras, and Dionysus. There are few, if any, credible references to support Jesus as a historical figure other than the bible. The bible is a fictional account just the same as any other fictional book. There are no prophesies, only writers picking up where others left off. Many historians who lived at the same time as Jesus do not mention him. Why? If Jesus was a historical figure, he most certainly did not perform miracles such as walking on water and turning water into wine. Why? Because those things are impossible. They are impossible now and they were impossible then. Any thinking, rational person can clearly and easily see that this is so. People who believe in Jesus have not one shred of evidence that Jesus existed or that he performed miracles other than the word "faith." They turn away from their own intellect, their minds, their intelligence, and everything that we as people know to be true, and cling to one word: "faith." Children have faith in Santa Claus too, but that does not make Santa Claus real. The fact is, there is no proof, no evidence, that Jesus even existed, let alone that he performed miracles. Why can Christians scoff at Pagan beliefs and call them myths and then turn around and call Jesus' miracles (which are equally impossible) real? This makes not one shred of sense whatsoever. People who think about Jesus for ten minutes and use their intellect will swiftly and completely come to realize that these stories are not real, and that they are no different than all of the other mythological stories which existed much before Jesus appeared on the scene. Just as Neptune did not fly out of the water on a horse, so Jesus did not walk on water. A painting of Neptune resides in the Vatican, along with many other early pagan paintings. It is amusing to view the Pagan paintings next to paintings of Jesus and realize that they were being painted at the same time period, and yet today people still believe in one of the paintings and scoff at the other. What makes Jesus any more credible than Neptune? Perhaps I can draw a parallel between the current book "Wicked" and the book "The Wizard of Oz." The book Wicked is based on the Wizard of Oz and as such has many of the same characters from the earlier book. How did the author of Wicked do this? Is L. Frank Baum a "Prophet"? or did the author of Wicked simply read the Wizard of Oz and then write Wicked based on the Wizard of Oz? Are either of the books real? No, they are not real. They are works of fiction. Because we all know that there is no such thing as flying witches. But what if both authors had an agenda, and they submitted their books as real, and claimed that there really was a land of Oz and good witches and bad witches? Would you buy it? If not, then why do people buy the bible? What makes the bible real and the Wizard of Oz not real aside from the fact that the writers of the bible said it's real? Why are "cults" considered cults yet Christianity is not considered a cult? It's just as outlandish, if not more so. People only believe it because they are not thinking for themselves and because the fear of death is too overwhelming to deal with. Further, the religion one believes in is a matter of geography. Those who believe in Christianity believe it because they were told to believe in it. They've been fed a line of nonsense and they have bought it. However if they had been born in the middle east chances are they would not be Christian but would be Muslim. What makes Jesus real and Allah or Buddah a myth? Just geography, that's all. The very fact that Muslims believe in their own religion as the one true correct religion and that Christians believe the same about Christianity creates a huge problem in proving either. In fact, it renders both completely unprovable. The challenge is, to win this argument without using the word "faith". I submit that it can't be done. I want my opponent to deliver to me credible historians who were not biblical writers, who talk about Jesus. And no historians with one line thrown in about Jesus such as in the case of Flavious Josephus (this is proven to be a forgery). I'm asking for Roman historians, actual records. No Christian historians and no historians who mention "Christians". I know that Chrisitans existed. What I'm asking for is records of Jesus' existence other than the bible which is simply a fiction book, perhaps somewhat based on real events or people, but highly fictionalized. The fact is, if we remove Flavious Josephus from the record and we look at all of the other historians of the time period who were not Christians or biblical writers, we are left with absolutely nothing. No records, no proof, nothing. I have done the research and all I can come up with is records of "Christians who believed in Jesus". That is not proof that Jesus existed. I need independent historians. I also want my opponent to offer proof that the miracles that Jesus performed are not a work of fiction.