Was Jesus a REAL person?

by Black Man 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Black Man

  So I've reached the point where I've reconciled that the majority of bible stories that I was raised with are the works of fiction and are as real as cartoon and fairytales. But Jesus, I'm still crafting my view(s)on that. Jesus as the son of an almighty sky god, I don't believe. But I think there was a charismatic leader named Jesus who people back in the 1st century put a lot of hope and trust in. Our modern day calendar is based on the birth of a jesus figure, but I'm trying to reconcile that figure with all of the miracles associated w/him, which I don't believe.

  So where are you with at with the whole Jesus concept? Any good threads on here where this was previously discussed? Was he real?
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  The Jesus that Paul wrote of was not pinned down to any time frame. The writings that do put a time frame into Jesus were written long after the time- many experts believe way after the time.

  To me, this adds weight to Jesus being a myth. There were other radicals in that time period. He could have been a composite.
• 

  Black Man

  up!
• 

  designs

  Yeshua ben Yoseph, itinerant Rabbi schooled in the traditions of the Pharisees and Essenes.
• 

  undercover

  There may have been an anti-Jewish-establishment revolutionary named Jesus. He may have preached a new gospel as he realized that the religious leaders were corrupt and burdening the people. He may have even been executed by the Romans at the behest of those Jewish leaders.

  But - he was not born of a virgin. He did not turn water into wine(unless he did it like all the other winemakers), he did not walk on water (unless it was frozen), he did not feed multidues with a couple of fishes, he did not cure the sick, raise the dead or communicate directly with God or Satan.

  The legend of a man that dared to stand up to oppressiveness became the martyred hero of the oppressed and his story was embellished and added on to as time went by so that now we have legends that either God himself came in man's form, or in the very least, is God's 1st born sent to earth.
• 

  truth_b_known

  Jesus is as real as Hercules, son of Zeus. Zeus had a mortal women give birth to a son and that son was Hercules...or was it Horus, the Egyptian god? I forget.
• 

  designs

  Perseus.
• 

  leavingwt

  For me, the crucial point is whether or not he rose from the dead. If he did, then I definitely want to be a Christian.
• 

  bigmac

  yep--jesus is real---right there along side batman, robin hood, superman, the lone ranger, uncle tom cobbly--an' all.
• 

  Terry

  This is not to be funny or cynical, but, Jesus or Yeshua is about as real as the person we have always heard referred to as St.Nicholas. Which is to say some sort of historical personage, but, buried under layers and layers of myth making and cultural flummery.

  Maybe, more accurate still, Robin Hood!

  Stories told and retold going back into the undocumented folklore that have caught human imagination are hard to verify or eliminate.

  The coming and going of candidate Messiah figures was about like the actors who played Tarzan. The people were real but the larger-than-life super heroic exploits are embroidered beyond truth.

  Mainstream christians conveniently forget (on purpose) that the figure of MARY was every bit as important culturally as Jesus.

  The first thousand plus years of christianity was as much MARY and various SAINTS as Jesus! Were these other divine characters based on some reality? No much.

  Ignorant and simple people are always willing to embrace the fantastic if it makes them feel secure, loved and hopeful.