jesus really existed?

Yup. The evidence shows that Jesus is just a mythical character and never existed.

For Jesus-believers, here's the long answer (with evidence), which is needed to cover all bases:

All reliable evidence points to Jesus Christ being just a myth. There is no reliable evidence that Jesus even existed, and significant evidence that he didn't. The evidence is in the Bible, the other religions of the time, and the lack of writings about Jesus by historians of the time.

The story of Jesus can be shown to be just a myth created to fulfill prophesy, cobbled together out of stories from the Old Testament and previous gods and myths -- created in the 40's and 50's by Paul of Tarsus (who exhibited symptoms of epilepsy and had delusions of Christ talking to him), the other apostles, the unknown authors of the gospels in the 70's or later, and many other people. The reliable evidence for this is overwhelming.

Paul and the other epistle writers don't know any biographical details of Jesus' life, or even the time of his earthly existence. They don't refer to Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, Calvary or Golgotha — or any pilgrimages to what should have been holy sites of Jesus' life. They also don't mention any miracles that Jesus was supposed to have worked, his virgin birth, his trial, the empty tomb, or his moral teachings. To them Jesus was largely a sky-god, who existed in the spiritual past.

If Jesus had actually existed, Paul would have written about his life, disciples, teachings and miracles. Paul did not write about any of this. Paul even wrote (1 Cor. 1:22-23) that Jesus did no miracles. Also, Paul thought that Peter was another (competing) epistle writer. Paul referred to James as the Lord's brother, not Jesus' brother. This is much like people of a religion who refer to each other as brothers. Paul wrote (in Romans 16:25-26, Galatians 1:11,12) that he knew Jesus through revelation, which is another term for fantasy and delusions. We can also tell that people were accusing Paul of lying, because he attempted to defend himself in Romans 3:5-8.

If Jesus had actually existed, the gospels would have been written in first person format. Instead, they were written in third person fiction format, often with the supposed thoughts of Jesus. The gospels should also have been original. Instead, Matthew and Luke extensively plagiarized from Mark. The gospels don't even claim to be eyewitness accounts. In fact, there are no claimed eyewitness or contemporary accounts of Jesus - anywhere. All we have are hearsay accounts.

If the Jesus story were true, his trial would have been legal. Instead, the purported trial was illegitimate under both Roman and Jewish law. The story of the trial is just a re-telling of the Jewish ritual of scapegoating, where one goat is set free (i.e. Barabbas, which means "son of the father") and one goat is sacrificed (i.e. Jesus). In addition, many scholars have pointed out that the entire crucifixion scene is created out of material extracted from the Psalms.

If Jesus had actually existed, at least one of the approximately 30 local historians of the first century would have written about him. No historian of the first century (including Josephus and Philo of Alexandria) wrote about him or his disciples.

Therefore Jesus didn't exist.

The Jesus story also shows extensive similarities to other myths of the time (especially Horus, Mithra, Osiris, and Dionysus). For instance, baptism into the death and resurrection of Osiris washed away sins so the soul could obtain the best place in heaven. Some early Christians attributed these similarities to Satan who went back in time and created the religions that "copied" Christianity.

Jesus is worshiped on Sunday because he is a sun god, like over a dozen others whose birthdays were also on the old winter solstice of December 25, when the sun is “reborn.”

There were also over a dozen other deities and saviors who were resurrected (often after violent deaths). Christianity just told the story the best, and managed to get control of the government under Constantine.

For much more evidence, see the links. There are also several good books on this, including:

"Nailed: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed At All"

by David Fitzgerald

"The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty

"Not the Impossible Faith" by Richard Carrier

And if anybody still thinks that Jesus actually existed, please send the information on the reliable evidence supporting this position (not just somebody's opinion).

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Yes, Jesus did really exist and was a wise Rabbi and teacher but nothing more. We do have many of his collected sayings in "The Didache", which was used by the early Jewish followers of Jesus. Those believers, though, had never heard of the "virgin birth" or "resurrection" and had no thought of Jesus as "divine". The original followers of Jesus were simply one of many sects of Judaism at the time.

As for independent corroboration of the gospels or of the mythology in Paul's teachings, no, there is none for those. As "Lomax" points out, Jesus was most likely a real person that other people built legends/myths around for their own purposes.

@"Anne", sorry but Josephus' references to "christians" were later forgeries, that has been well known to scholars for MANY years. The first gospel, Mark, was not even written until about a generation AFTER Jesus' death, the gospels are NOT eyewitness accounts by a long shot.

Blessings on your Journey!

I am convinced by the documentation and evidence presented in the book "The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark" by Dennis R McDonald that the Gospel of Mark was a work of deliberate fiction. I am also convinced by scholarly arguments that all extra-biblical sources purporting to confirm such a person as Jesus are later Christian insertions. Furthermore, I find the Documentary Hypothesis for the origin of the Bible to be more likely and more compelling than divine origin or inspiration. This pretty much leaves no documentation to support any supernatural claims. As to whether or not there was a wandering preacher and former carpenter named Jesus of Nazareth, I have no way to know. But if there was such a person and he had any contemporary influence, he left no evidence that is not biased toward belief in him and as such, I see no reason to either accept or deny the existence of such a mundane person.

The Rabbis know. The Jewish temple was destoryed shortly after Jesus was crucified. And even before it was destroyed, the Talmud says that scarlet stopped turning white. The Rabbis changed the calendar. The word "aphikomen" means "I came". There is quite a bit of evidence to indicate that Jesus really exists. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are evidence. They are different at points just as witnesses to any event remember things differently. If the Gospels were the same, people would accuse the writers of collusion. If there was no Jesus why bother with any of it? Sorry if you're not familiar with the Jewish references.

1) Josephus mentions Jesus

2) The miracles were an easy feat for the God who created the universe.

3) The enemy satan controls the world and does not want anyone to believe in Jesus.

4) Josephus mentions Jesus.

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

5) Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are four eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life.

These are facts.

A message from Yahweh/Jehovah God, Jesus God, Moses the angel and Christine Anne/Zipporah the prophetess and woman of Revelation 12:14-17.

Yes there was a man named Jesus Christ who came to save the world from their sins and be cast into eternal damnation in hell. But Jesus came and payed the price he lived a perfect life, was tortchered like us so he knew what we go through, and died a perfect death. But on the third day (three days after Easter sunday or aka Black Friday) Jesus rose from the grave, concered death to show that he has power over death, and acended into Heaven the wonderful city with gold streets a mansion made for you (if you are saved {see http://biblebaptistseymour.org/%7D). Do not wait, Tomarrow might be to late.

There was almost certainly a man called Jesus of Nazareth. However, an awful lot of myths and legends have accreted around him, obscuring the truth.

In a similar vein, I have no problems in believing that there were real people called Agamemnon and Arthur, but that doesn't mean I take the writings of Homer and Mallory at face value.

There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.

http://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html

Suggested Reading

The Case for the Real Jesus By: Lee Strobel

http://www.christianbook.com/the-case-for-the-real...

Non Biblical evidence as proof for Jesus Christ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrRQqYGf4O0

'Did Jesus Exist?' A Historian Makes His Case

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/149462376/did-jesus-...

Refuting the myth that Jesus never existed

http://bede.org.uk/jesusmyth.htm

Did Jesus Really Exist?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/philosophicalfragment...

What do we know about Jesus - from non-biblical sources?

http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Divin/D-0201.htm

Did Jesus Christ Really Exist? Proving Jesus Without the Bible

http://beginningandend.com/jesus-exist-historical-...

Is There Any Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?

http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/index/pg79644

Is There Any Proof of Jesus Other Than the Bible? (1of2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HknelAk8_S8&feature...

Hi

No world class historian doubts that Jesus existed. His name appears in contemporary Roman and Jewish records as well as Christian writings. Incidentally one Roman writer records Jesus death at the hands of their own proconsul in Judea. :-)

You are trying to judge Jesus's life by modern standards. By those same standards Caesar didn't exist.

The fact that those stories are "incredible" is irrelevant. That they occur outside our experience doesn't mean that the people who did experience this were lying. The Amazon is outside of my experience. I have no direct evidence that it exists - should I deny it's really there?

We have to be consistent. Were the Biblical writers honest - did they believe what they wrote? Is it credible - can anything they wrote be verified? By asking these questions (of any historical document) we get to the truth of what happened.

:-)

@estefana: you have put up a strawman argument. I will except Christian writers when they reference FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS. They cant be written 100 years after JC lived. To further take apart your analogy, I totally except roman writings about Julius Ceasar that date from his lifetime. That is EXACTLY what I want for proof of JC. You in fact are stating the exact opposite of what I instruct. I want proof of JC from Christian/jewish/roman writings of the correct time period.