Did Jesus exist at all?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

That's not what your special magic book says, now is it?

GC has a special version.

[Redbeard The Pink]

The Jesus of Nazareth character in the Bible did not exist in the same way that Robin Hood and King Arthur did not exist. Regardless of whether he was based on one person, multiple people, or was an entirely fictional character, the story that survived obviously isn't true at all.

[robvalue]

It's obvious to anyone outside the bubble.

So fucking obvious, it's painful. It's like I can see people dragging around these massive ball-and-chains. I can point to them all day long but they can't see them, just like I can't see all the magical things they describe that are supposedly going on all around me.

Put it this way: I'm deluded, or they are. There isn't any middle ground.

[Minimalist]

It's them.  Not you.

[Homeless Nutter]

If there was an omnipotent god - why would Jesus need to exist? God could have easily made it so that dumb people would believe in a made-up story about a magical Jew, who was a son of god and wanted them to be nice, so much that he died. Or Satan could. Or whatever other supernatural being...

And if god doesn't exist - why would Jesus need to exist? Clever, cynical people have been able to sell all sorts of demonstrably made-up tales to dumb people for Millenia before Jesus was invented.

If Jesus existed - he needn't have bothered his ar*e...

[robvalue]

I think he just wanted to sell a load of merchandise. He had a backlog of those dead-Jew-on-a-stick action figures.

[Simon Moon]

The Jesus of Nazareth character in the Bible did not exist in the same way that Robin Hood and King Arthur did not exist. Regardless of whether he was based on one person, multiple  people, or was an entirely fictional character, the story that survived obviously isn't true at all.

This is exactly the case.

Even if a historical Yeshua ben Joseph did exist, that does not offer a shred of evidence that he was born of a virgin, turned water into wine, rose from the dead, was a god, etc, etc, etc.

To elaborate on the King Arthur example, there are some historians that think he is based on a real person that helped unite a bunch of tribes in ancient Britain. But the existence of this historical "King Arthur" person does not move us any closer to accepting that he pulled a magic sword out or a rock, or he had a magic wizard as a mentor.

[Minimalist]

Even if a historical Yeshua ben Joseph did exist, that does not offer a shred of evidence that he was born of a virgin, turned water into wine, rose from the dead, was a god, etc, etc, etc.

The jesus freaks are singularly embarrassed by their godboy's apparent failure to make any mark on the historical record.  They will grasp at whatever straw they can find.

In many ways, they are quite pathetic.

[IanHulett]

If he did exist, then obviously he was so minor that either 1. Nothing was written about him when he was alive or 2. Very  little was written about him when he was alive but all those writings are  lost. 

He was 33 when He died and rose from the grave, He wasn't considered important to the people in power, yet because of Him Christianity became the largest religion in the history of the world. Anyone written something about you and what have you done for the world.

GC

Gman, is that you?

Also, Christianity may be the largest religion in the world, but Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, unfortunately. Which means very soon, it will be the largest religion in the world. Sorry to say, but math has that effect on... uhhh... stuff...

[robvalue]

You'd think god would have been able to force whatever evidence he required to continue to exist. He shouldn't be at the mercy of local scribes, and then relying on all the text not getting burned or eaten at some point.