Did Jesus exist?

[leo-rcc]

I think Jesus may have existed, but what they say in church are greatly exaggerated. No, he's not the son of God, and he doesn't have all these healing powers. He may of founded Christianity, but he certainly didn't do all the crap the want you to think that he did.

Maybe he existed, maybe he is just a mythical figure. In the end it does not matter because what Christians will rely on is the book that depicts the stories like he existed, not historical data. So whether he did or didn't exist is a mute point really, it's the biblical message that counts.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

[Snipped for Space]

Where the xtians got upset, after their underwear dried, was in the realization that there were other ossuaries in the so-called Talpiot Tomb ( which was exploited by known huckster, Simcha Jacobovici) which would be the wife and son of Jesus. That was too much for the xtians and they abandoned Jacobovici faster than an altar boy who shows up at a Vatican reception.

That makes sense. That would certainly explain why I haven't heard anything of it since that time. Fraud and the religious groups wanting to wipe their hands clean of the entire event certainly explains everything.

[Minimalist]

From what I've gathered, there seems to be some evidence to show there was a man called Jesus (it was a common name then) who was a carpenter. However, there is certainly no evidence to show that he was the son of God, or performed miracles.

What evidence? All that exists are the rantings of xtians most of which derive from one book....the gospel of "Mark," written at least 40 and probably more like 100 years after the event.

The fact that later xtians went back and invented (forged) stories only suggests that even they knew there was no actual historical evidence.

[DeistPaladin]

Once we discard Josephus' Testimonium Flavianum as a rank forgery, the most powerful piece of evidence we have is the Annals of Tacitus.

This piece is second century, it's an oblique reference to a "Christus" (translates to "anointed one"; it's so oblique that Jesus isn't even mentioned by name) who is named as the founder of the Christian faith crucified by the "procurator" Pilate (his actual title was "prefect", they weren't called "procurator" until later centuries). For all we know, Tacitus might have just been passing along information he'd heard from the Christians (he was known to pass along fanciful legends and myths, including his fascination with mythical beings).

This is as good as the evidence gets. Late, oblique, brief and one suspicious error.

So even if there was a historical Yeshua, good luck ever knowing anything about him. All we have is Christian mythology.

[Minimalist]

Yet in the single medieval manuscript we have for Tacitus' Annals the word in question was apparently "Chrestianos" (followers of Chrestus) not "Christianos" (followers of Christus) which puts Tacitus into agreement with Suetonius who wrote of "Chrestus" causing trouble in Rome during the reign of Claudius.

Surely you've heard this? A couple of years back there was an ultraviolet test of the manuscript showing that a copyist had changed the word "Chrestianos" to "Christianos."

[Minimalist]

Now that it isn't 12:30 in the morning I was able to find the paper on the Tacitus issue.

http://www.textexcavation.com/documents/...tianos.pdf