Christians - What would you do if it were discovered Jesus never existed?

[Cecelia]

Cecelia: Have you heard of an apologist called William Lane Craig? He stated that even if he was taken back in time and was shown Jesus never existed, he would still believe in Christianity. He would assume he was being tricked.

So in other words, when realility contradicts religion, reality must be wrong. I think it's a common mantra. The narrative must be preserved at all costs; the mental effort necessary to fudge facts is less than is required to stop and actually consider you may have been wrong for a very long time.

I'm vaguely familiar with Craig.  I've never heard one of his arguments, but from what I've read about him he's the type of guy who 'wins' arguments the same way pigeons win chess games.

I unlike most of you, do not like others doing my thinking for me. I don't take an expert at his word, simply because he is deemed an 'expert.' An 'expert is so because generally speaking, they make their living doing what they do, and can be swayed with the right motivation. I would ask to the 'evidence' and make my own conclusions.

I would also have a lot of questions as in:

What does the evidence of someone not existing look like?

Any testimony can be dismissed, or cancled out by contrary testimony.

The lack of records would only be valid if ALL records of that time were accounted for.

So Im logically at a loss at how one can establish how a specific indivisual in the sea of human History can be proven to never existed. At the very best all that can be said is this person existence has not been confirmed. And if we are talking about Christ, then everyone else of that time frame is also suspect, because their is more data on Him and anyone of that period.

So I'm taking this to mean you'd dismiss any such evidence that suggested, for example, that the church invented the character of Jesus entirely. 

Also there's certainly more data on others from that time period than Jesus.  Especially that are actually from around that time period.  I find the bible highly suspect.  It's just another 'expert' that has the proper motivations to convince people otherwise.

To answer the OP, I used to be a Christian (yes, a True Christian, fuck you people), and I encountered evidence that convinced me Jesus of Nazareth most likely did not exist as a historical person, and when I did I immediately de-converted to atheism. While a lot of Christians are prone to sticking their fingers in their ears, they're not all beyond hope. I wasn't.

Interesting.  I'm curious mostly because of how Christianity and Judaism are tied together.  I suppose Islam and other faiths are also connected to both of them as well.  Do you think that the evidence the suggested Jesus most likely didn't exist also convinced you that other religions were 'full of it' (pardon the term)?  Do you think you were less likely to believe other religions as a result? (Thus choosing Atheism because you accepted the evidence that led you to your conclusion that your religion was not telling the truth)