Killer Mike

Just wondering if anyone has thoughts on the possibility that Jesus never even existed? Granted even secular scholars at Harvard, Yale, etc.. conclude he existed but there is some evidence he may have not. There were many "Christianities" that had developed my the end of the 1st Century AD. One group called "Gnostic Christians" believed that Jesus never existed in human form, only spiritually. Needless to say this put them in direct conflict with the majority of Christian denominations. Gnostics had their own "churches", rituals, and scripture (needless to say it never made in into the New Testament *grin*). Any thoughts?

Chris Weimer

jesusneverexisted.com

Arken

I met him in Tijuana last time I visited.

Asha'man

You should ask this question in the BC&H Forum, where the topic is already discussed endlessly. (Actually, I bet the mods will move this shortly)

There is a school of thought, called the "Mythic Jesus", that there was never any such person on earth as Jesus. There is simply no historical evidence for Jesus, and the development of the stories of Jesus have an odd pattern: the theology was written down before the history. You need to check out The Jesus Puzzle to get the full scholarly treatment from Earl Doherty.

Personally, I think this argument is strong, and most likely there was no historical Jesus, it's all just a story that got blown out of proportion.

Chris Weimer

oh and welcome to the club :wave:

Jehanne

Here’s my take on Jesus:

1) He was most likely the “Exorcist from Galilee� who, like many religious loons of our day, believed that the end of world was going to occur during his generation. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of individuals just like him moving about 1st-century Palestine.

2) Like some other religious loons, he ended-up getting himself crucified by the Romans, who crucified anyone that they deemed to be a threat to their rule. His followers dispersed initially but due to religious fanaticism and mental and neurological illness (the "types" of people who are predisposed to religious extremism and hence would be attracted to Jesus), they began having "visions" of their "risen" savior. These "visions", like the claims made at Roswell, began to soon take on a "life of their own".

3) Paul, who had frontal temporal epilepsy, (and who, according to Christian tradition, was already a religious nut to begin with) sought power for himself and tried to keep the early Christian communities united via appeals to his "apostolic authority".

4) When the "end of the World" did not come, anonymous authors synthesized early Christian traditions, beliefs and legends into an incoherent set of documents, some of which formed the New Testament.

5) The early Church seized power until religious & political harmonization occurred under Constantine, after which, the Church hierarchy grew even more powerful until the reign of Innocent III. Dissent from "dogma" was not tolerated and soon became a capital offense.

6) The Dark Ages lasted until Galileo showed the Bible (and the Church) to be in error.

7) The struggle continues...

Regards,

Don

IamMoose

I saw him in Tesco yesterday..

Actually I am inclined to think that Jesus existed, but not that he was the Son of God .. just don't see any evidence at all for that latter.

rationalOne

well there's the Historicity Of Jesus FAQ right here on infidels.org. Also there's How Jesus got a Life on atheists.org, although the first paragraphs regarding planetary precession seem irrelevant.

God's Will Hunting

you betcha :thumbs:

Crucifiction

Agreed. I think it's like Jesus existed {Well, not Jesus; but someone the Biblical Jesus was modeled off of}, and over time the definition was lost in translation, as it were, and totally corrupted.

More than likely, he was an extremist Jewish Rabbi whose teachings conflicted with either the estalbished Jewish traditions or the Romans themselves, and he got his ass crucified because of that.