Do you believe Jesus existed?

Apparently you can't do polls on here.... but

Do any of you think that Jesus actually existed? What do category do you fall into?

A. Believed he existed, claims are false

B. Believed he existed, claims are exaggerated

C. Don't believe he existed

D. Believe he existed, claims are true (sorry had to leave the idiot category open)

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Permalink Reply by Michael Howard on October 6, 2009 at 1:05pm
I have come to believe as others, that Jesus was an amalgamation of several so called messiahs. Stories mashed together and manipulated….or outright fabricated by Saul/Paul to propagate "his" new religion.
Permalink Reply by David Brandow on October 6, 2009 at 3:10pm
Partway between A and B.
A man named Jesus probably, although not definitely, existed. The claims about him are, for the most part, false and/or exaggerated. He did nothing supernatural, but he likely did perform some parlour tricks of some kind and likely did do some wandering ministry work. Again, assuming he existed, he was the iconic faith healer, popcorn philosophy combined with simplistic prestidigitation to dupe the masses. Later, important figures in the church like Paul used his name and reputation to establish a church.
Permalink Reply by D.O.S on October 6, 2009 at 4:12pm
I go with C. There isn't a single verifiable fact about him. That seems a bit odd since he's suppose to be one of the most significant figures in history. It doesn't help that the earliest sources of his "life" were written by devoted believers or that the sources (4 Gospels and Letters of Paul) don't agree on anything about the guy.
Permalink Reply by Eric P. Metze on October 6, 2009 at 4:40pm
Considering how hard it is to research census studies done two thousand years ago, this discussion is based almost entirely on conjecture.

However, the film Zeitgeist proposes the most convincing argument for the Jesus legend that I've ever heard. For those that haven't seen it, the basic assumption is this: Jesus was an amalgamation of dozens of other prophet legends that are themselves based on the pagan understanding of the seasons. During the winter solstice (around Jesus' supposed birthday) the sun reaches its lowest point on the horizon and three days later begins its ascent back into the sky. Sound familiar?

For thousands of years humans relied on this information to calculate when the winter would leave and the warmth would return, so it has been a part of our species' heritage stretching back far beyond the age of the Bible. Though I can't support all of the assumptions in the film, the first third (dealing with the Jesus myth) is absolutely fascinating! Even if certain details are wrong, the overall point is far more believable than anything people have suggested so far. I highly recommend it to anyone reading this right now.
Permalink Reply by Jim DePaulo on October 7, 2009 at 10:53am
I find the whole issue of Jesus’ alleged birth to be particularly interesting.
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a CITY of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.(Luke1.26,27)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the CITY of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the house and lineage of David:
(Luke 2.3,4)
The story is nonsense on several levels, first there is no record that the city of Nazareth existed before the 2nd century CE. This assumption may have been made with the reference "Jesus the Nazarene" - the Nazarenes were an offshoot sect of the Essenes. Next is the fact that Galilee was not a Roman province and would have no reason to respond to a Roman census. And finally, there is no record of Augustus or any emperor conducting a census (the Romans taxed property not individuals). So except for those minor issues the story seems acceptable to the deluded.
Permalink Reply by Bitsy Haywood on October 6, 2009 at 6:25pm
There's a big difference between believing and knowing. I believe (suspect, actually) he possibly may have existed. I know that if he did exist almost everything ever written about him was written by people born long after he was killed, based on stories repeated over and over and then the writings were edited and redacted into incomprehensibility by people with political agendas.
And the story of the virgin birth? I bet even Jesus himself knew that wasn't true, but it kept his mom from being stoned to death, so he was probably more than willing to play along with it.
Permalink Reply by William Restemeyer on June 7, 2010 at 9:15am
The "virgin birth" is a mistranslation. The word in Isaiah is not "betulah" (virgin) but "'alma" (young woman, maiden).
Permalink Reply by Matt VDB on June 7, 2010 at 9:37am
That's fine, but the virgin birth of Jesus is not described in Isaiah.
Permalink Reply by William Restemeyer on June 7, 2010 at 9:44am
Isaiah 7:14. This is where the early church (ie. Constantine, Eusebius, and their successors) got the virgin birth idea. This is one of the "prophesies" that Jesus was claimed to fulfill.
Permalink Reply by Matt VDB on June 7, 2010 at 10:50am
Ah, gotcha. Yes, that might be where they got the idea.
That said, Isaiah 7:14 was not regarded as a prophecy by Jews of the time; the same goes for many other passages in Isaiah that Jesus supposedly fulfilled: many of them were never meant to be prophecies at all. They only came to be interpreted that way by Christians.

That's why it's dubious that the legend arose simply as a means of fulfilling prophecy.
Permalink Reply by William Restemeyer on June 7, 2010 at 11:18am
No, "prophecy" was a very convenient way to shore up a new form of government, contrived by Constantine and Eusebius. And to assure that the pagans could be assimilated too.
Permalink Reply by William Restemeyer on June 7, 2010 at 11:34am
I place them as leaders of Salvation cults (yeshua) and Messianic cults (christos) which were later synthesized into a "catholic" (universal) religion (read: form of government) by Constantine and Eusebius (the probable forger of Josephus, among others).

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