IS THIS EVIDENCE/PROOF JESUS REALLY EXISTED?

badboy

A CHRISTAN WRITER(HEPH???????) ABOUT AD 200? MENTIONS THAT LIVING DESCENDANTS OF PETER AND MATTHEW WERE KNOWN

Eyes Open

WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People seem to think that if the existence of Jesus is proved, that it means that everything about him in the bible is automatically true.

It is quite likely (almost certain) that Jesus existed, but the Jesus in the bible has been mythologised with Greek and Roman myths, which account for all of the wonderful tales of his birth and miracles.

chappy

If Jesus didn't exist as the direct miraculous Son of God it certainly doesn't preclude the existence of God the Creator. I'm certain our understanding will evolve with time. Keep your eyes and ears open; things are going to happen in the near future that will blow your mind!! later, chappy

yadda yadda 2

Anyone with the slightest sense of history accepts that Jesus really lived. It is a historical given. The question really is: what are the gospels and are they historically reliable?

Leading edge NT scholarship maintains that 30-40 years or so between when Jesus died and the first NT books were written is not enough time for the Jesus 'tradition' to have become highly mythologised in the same way pagan mythical figures were, particularly when many original eyewitnesses were still living, most of whom were Jews who were adverse to mythologising humans in the manner their pagan neighbours did. The latest research into ancient and modern oral communities and traditions shows that what occurred during the oral period before the NT books were written was not the same as typical folklore and mythology. Putting aside the whole question of belief in miracles or not, the gospels are better seen as some unique form of eye-witness reports/biographies, with some individual literary embellishment by each author.

I would highly recommend recent books on the subject by NT scholarship heavyweights Richard Bauckham and James D G Dunn.

THE GLADIATOR

Look! I was around at the time and this Jesus guy was conceived out of wedlock, a big no -no in those days so his mother tried to secretly give birth in a stable well away from their home town.

He was just a carpenters son with a penchant for watered down wine. He hung out with a bunch of fishermen because he liked fish more than Mr penguin. He didn't leave home until he was 30 and became an unemployed wanderer. Never even saw him in the arena.

This whole son of god routine was dreamed up years later when Rome was falling and the church needed to find a new angle to reinvent itself.

We have no god but Cesar!