Did Jesus ever exist? (96)

If you are looking outside the bible then the first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord's Supper.

The evidence in biblical history is quite overwhelming he existed, however there is little hard, fact based evidence outside of biblical history that he did.

Try Google? There are substantial amounts of properly cross checked evidence that not only did Jesus exist, his ability to present a coherent, fair and decent system for society was millenia ahead of anyone elses.

The parts of the bible story that are in serious doubt include the immaculate conception, and other random Christian wishful thinking, together with some serious selective bible re-editing in 325AD, care of the nicene creed....

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,but remember,things are not what they seem,neither are they otherwise.

to whom many christians look to to confirm the existance of jesus. So I googled him for you

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Josephus+hebrew...

You can pick the bits out you want .

Sissy by name & sissy by nature
He [or she] , who is afraid to pick up the dice will never throw a six .
I am one of the few who lives what's called .....the Lowlife

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Jesus

It seems to have been slightly tampered with by 'believers' but it has to please everyone so, not a bad start.

I would opine that there are no strictly contempory accounts yet discovered but much of the earlier 'gospels' possess an authentic ring (phrasing, structure) as having been originally been recorded in contemporary Aramaic.

The 'message' is of course open to debate as the texts have been rewritten and edited across languages by people with an agenda.

I was raised in the Jewish faith so have a little insight into the cultural environment and context of the time. It seems, to me, that there was a significant someone at the time, who said much that people found wise, caused a ruckus, that was dealt with in the usual way by the occupying authorities and upon whom much additional material has been laid over the centuries. Good luck, whichever way you are arguing.

"He took a single sip of her pain and found it exquisite"

Also, not being funny, but surely if you stick absolutely to the question 'Did Jesus ever exist' there doesn't seem to be much opportunity for prolonged debate unless the subject is opened up a bit (without assuming other things are intimated in the title, as Cassius has already said).

'I'm somewhat contemptuously convinced that sentimentality is the refuge of those without genuine emotions' Nigella Lawson

Edited 18 Jul 11, 3:26 PM by Betony

A very Christian pastime.

Without establishing the original premise, you cannot address the follow-on question.

And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!

And a little more googling suggests the timeframe of the earliest copy to be around 1000ad, with no mention of that critical passage for 250 years after its original authorship...

In some sense this is just as unreliable a record as the Gospels themselves.... editorial control and all that.

And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!

Personally, I quite like the idea of Jesus-as-a-reactionary-rabbi...

A lot of the NT spends time criticising and villifying "pharisees" and arguing for a "return-to-purer-times", a cyclical thing that religions are prone to go through when faced with a monumental catastrophe (such as being conquered by Romans).

There is no right and wrong when it comes to sex ; only informed consent...