Is Jesus the son of God?

[Jenny A]

Somewhere between two and three for me. There probably was a prophet named Joshua (Jesus in Hebrew) preaching around Jerusalem and he may even have been crucified, but he probably wasn't the only source of the Christ legend. He certainly wasn't the only messiah with followers in the area during the period. I think Christianity began as a secret knowledge cult based upon Jesus and others. There are a fair number of similarities with other secret knowledge cults and there are leftovers of that beginning in the Gospels.

The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. 12 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’

Mathew 13:10-13 NRSV