Christianity is false

I however am not a Christian, so I don't think I will make a conventional argument that a Christian would make, and it allows me to be objective. I have argued the Pro side of this many times and would be most afraid of the argument I am going to make as I think it is very tough to beat, so good luck Pro. Pro start by pointing out the many issues with the Bible, and religion in general, which I would agree with in principle. However, this is not the end of the story but the beginning. Christianity should be defined as belief in Christ and his teachings, and following his moral guide. Which is the definition I will use for this debate. I think anyone with a historical knowledge can see that there most likely was a man named Jesus that lived, and by all accounts was a very moral person and lead a lot of people, the best interpretation of this in modern terms is that he was a populist and lead a populist uprising. Matthew 21:12 Is a perfect example of his great dislike for the "money changers" the modern day bankers. He understood that they were the real source of power and lead the people up against them, and was very successful. Of course the "elites" of the day were not going to take this lying down, so they had him killed and set an example of him. Though this only made him a martyr and his popularity continued to rise. Rome continued to persecute people that followed Christs teachings supposedly feed them to lions in the coliseum, whether true or not, they were undoubtedly trying to stop the uprising Jesus caused, and when unsuccessful they did what all elites inevitably do when they know they are not able to control a movement, they co-opted it. After 300 years or so of trying to stop the Christian movement the elites under the guise of priests met in Nice and constructed the bible, including adding the old testament to give it antiquity thus validity. They also incorporated most of the traditions of the current religions hence Christmas is at the winter solstice and Easter is close to Passover, its much easier to tell your people, "we are not changing our belief just the name of who we believe in" that way you are getting the best of both world. Thus the Roman Catholic Church is born, and the Bible was officially assembled. Thus using the bible as more than a historical lesson of Jesus, and it can not be interpreted on a line by line basis. As the translations and historical context have been changed and manipulated. This does not invalidate Jesus and his teaching, rather it means that much of the historical truths of his life were lost. It is impossible to prove the facts of Jesus because of the co-opting of them by the church, and it is obvious they assembled the bible and basically rewrote it, other historical text have been found that directly shows different stories that were not included in the bible, most notable are the Gnostic scrolls. These do however give extremely strong evidence that Jesus was a real person. Whether he is divine or not is not as relevant as his moral teachings and his leadership against the elites of the day. People always find ways to gain power over their fellow man, and this is preciously what Jesus was against. He would not agree with religious leaders of today, and would encourage us to be good moral people. One of the key problems today with acknowledging the problems inherent in the bible is to ignore the fundamental teachings of the new testament. When you tear down religion and its ethical teachings and don't replace them with secular ethics I believe it has detrimental effects on society, esp since they do not teach ethics in school and very little has been done to advance ethics outside of a religious framework. You see this very clearly today with most atheists that replace religion with worship of the state, as they try to fill the void that religion normally fills. So while all of your biblical critiques are valid, and the bible is obviously man made (I personally think they made a big mistake adding the old testament and it would have been a better book if you got rid of it as well as Revelations, in all its silliness) it does not invalidate Jesus as a person or his teachings. Thus belief in Jesus and his teachings on life are very valid today and a good way of teaching ethics especially to children. I argue that that is the heart of Christianity, and thus is not false. I will conclude there, and I look forward to Pro's rebuttal.