Quote:
Originally Posted by Chill Cosby
.... Jesus was a real person.
And the exact opposite of what you say is true:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus
What's up for debate is the legitimacy of the version in the Bible, considering there are quite a few contradictions regarding his teachings and particular events.
But yeah, Jesus was a dude who actually existed. |
It's not as clear as you might think. Sure, a Jesus likely existed as it was a very common name (as was James), but the question is if the Jesus portrayed in the Gospels exist? Even Bart Ehrman, a strong proponent of Jesus existence, admits there's very little reliable evidence, and he relies almost exclusively on the Gospels as a result, particularly the passages that would make no sense to make up if Jesus didn't exist.
Until the last 50 or so years, Christian history was studied almost exclusively by believers. Further, many of these people work for institutions where if they denied Jesus existed would cost them their job. This is not merely conjecture, or trying to explain away the consensus. David Fitzgerald, one proponent of Jesus never existing, has publicly stated that he has received a lot of messages from scholars he never expected them from stating that they agree with him that Jesus probably didn't exist, but nevertheless publicly say they do as they would lose their job otherwise. Of course, the number of people in this situation are probably no where near large enough to seriously change the percentages, but it's something to remember.
I personally believe that Jesus existed, but I'm not certain, and I don't think the evidence for his existence is nearly as strong as many think it is.