For me, the dead giveaway is this. Jesus wrote nothing.
Stop and think about that.
If Jesus were the authentic messiah, his ministry would not simply be local.
His instructions, his mission, the details of his teachings would be too precious to risk leaving it in the hands of "men unlettered (illiterate) and ordinary (blue-collar yokels)."
Jesus, were he the one and only hope of mankind, would be absolutely certain to write down with great simplicity and specificity the exact Owner's Manual necessary to rescue mankind.
NEVER HAPPENED!
Jesus was not the Great Physician who confided the lifesaving prescription to knuckleheads and sailed off heavenward while the rest of us end up swallowing placebo pills and slow poison.
For me, this drives a stake in the heart of the New Testament.
Salvation is so mishandled, inept and loosey-goosey, it can't be taken for fact.
Sorry folks. Game Over.
Almighty God would be an idiot to jeopardize the rescue of humanity.
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"But Terry," I can hear somebody shouting from the back of the room, "God was testing our faith."
Oh Ple-e-e-ease!
Stop and think. Why does anybody TEST anything?
Isn't it because there is ignorance of outcome which must be satisfied by running tests for the purposes of discovery? YES, of course it is.
Is God ignorant?
Let us not make excuses.
Jesus did not write anything. His method was entrusted to the LEAST RELIABLE of all methods of data transmission: oral tradition.
Like I said before: Game Over.