How do you know jesus really existed?

Originally Posted by Squatchit

You daft bat....that's what this thread is about. Whether Jesus was or wasn't.

Get with it matey!!

Thank you, Squatch, you're too kind. Bats are special animals.

Did you read only the first sentence of my post? tchk, tchk

[Triner]

Originally Posted by Bluegreen

It is not really important whether Jesus was an actual person. The message in the NT is what is important.

However, I believe that he was a person who actually lived some 2000 years ago. I base this on accounts of people who under hypnosis remembered seeing three people crucified, for example, remembered lives, Cayce.

Pretty much my sentiments too. The message is what's important.

[Asrais]

While I believe that Jesus existed, I don't think the Bible can stand up as an historical document. So much about it has been manipulated. This statement below is a good example of that.

Originally Posted by lightworkerAu

The girls found him with the tomb empty and one was a previousgirl of il repute- Mary.

Mary Magdalene was not a person of ill repute, the church admitted in 1969 that she was not a prostitute. http://www.religionnewsblog.com/3151...gdalenes-image

It just shows that mistakes have been made in the Bible - if there is one mistake there are others. If we study the Bible as historical, there are many inaccuracies, for instance, there is no evidence that the Jews were ever enslaved by the Egyptians -the Egyptians kept records, none of which show any great escape by their slaves or any plagues or sickness wiping out entire herds of cattle or killing first borns.

I do not think the people who wrote the original books that became Bible were lying. They wrote what they saw, as they saw it and interpreted it - that doesn't make it accurate.
The people who put the Bible together, chose what books they felt most delivered the word of God - as they saw it. They left everything else out. Some of there decisions were political, but that doesn't mean they lied - it just means the manipulated the truth.

So, my belief in Jesus is based on faith - I cannot prove he existed, the Bible (for me) does not prove that he existed, it's just a story.

Ah Jesus...

[Squatchit]

Originally Posted by Bluegreen

Thank you, Squatch, you're too kind. Bats are special animals.

Did you read only the first sentence of my post? tchk, tchk

'You daft bat' is a term of endearment.

At least I hope so, as my Mum often uses the phrase on me.

And yes, I must have read the first sentence and jumped in without finishing your post - mea culpa.

Originally Posted by Squatchit

'You daft bat' is a term of endearment.

At least I hope so, as my Mum often uses the phrase on me.

And yes, I must have read the first sentence and jumped in without finishing your post - mea culpa.

Squatch, it is a term that I have never come across before. I thought that you must either be English or Australian. Especially the latter would explain why I did not recognize it.

You are forgiven if you forgive me.

[Squatchit]

Originally Posted by Bluegreen

Squatch, it is a term that I have never come across before. I thought that you must either be English or Australian. Especially the latter would explain why I did not recognize it.

You are forgiven if you forgive me.

I'm English, daft as a bat, and I refuse to fogive you as there's nothing to forgive.

Originally Posted by Squatchit

I'm English, daft as a bat, and I refuse to fogive you as there's nothing to forgive.

Back

Originally Posted by lightworkerAu

there is a lot of lame fanciful theories abot what happened and thats all they are.

If it was a made up story would so many die for it... Think about it. they were crucified upside down and tortured. some were stoned to death by jews and Romans John was boiled in hot oil.
I just spent lot of time researching this. their lives they gave up to tell us what they saw. :(
Many who have tried to prove this all false are now believers.
With all our current and past knowledge nobody has succeeded.

Because Jesus lived and was who he said he was.

The girls found him with the tomb empty and one was a previousgirl of il repute- Mary. If you madea story up the last person you would use in them days was a woman for an eye witness. They were low in society. A made up story would use a man as a witness.

Pretty much with you on all that lw, valid point about the women, in that time, in that culture, totally radical,, and completely in keeping with the behaviour and example set by Jesus during His earthly ministry, looks more like truth than some seeker friendly doctrine to me.

Apparently, the Romans also believed in the existence of Christ, at least, their historians like Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the younger, Tranquillus, as well as a few emperors did, the rest of them were often busy persecuting some group known throughout the empire as the Christians, only in the end, they (romans) declared themselves the earthly representatives of,, gee there He is again, Jesus Christ.

[Lightspirit]

It must have had something going for it. Apparently a lot if early Christians got to be lion food and died other horrible deaths. I wonder why they just didn't give up and go away and do something safer. I admire their bravery and gumption for doing what they believed in the face of adversity.

Also the dead sea scrolls mention Jesus too