Did Jesus exist?

The question, with all respect, is not 'Did Jesus exist', but 'Does Jesus exist'?
I would answer in the affirmative - Jesus exists.
The place to look for Him is perhaps not so much in texts, but in the heart.
 
lucius said:
The place to look for Him is perhaps not so much in texts, but in the heart.
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It was to address the problem of the heart that Jesus came, so without the texts, we would be no better off than before ...

Thomas
 
Thomas said:
It was to address the problem of the heart that Jesus came, so without the texts, we would be no better off than before ...

Thomas
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The texts are just a means to an end, a vehicle. Looking at it another way, they are just a shadow of what we are to regard as reality. The texts have no value except when people do something constructive with it. It is up to us to bring the legend of the texts to life. By faith we turn a legend into reality.
 
Saltmeister said:
The texts are just a means to an end, a vehicle. Looking at it another way, they are just a shadow of what we are to regard as reality. The texts have no value except when people do something constructive with it. It is up to us to bring the legend of the texts to life. By faith we turn a legend into reality.
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I think maybe, by faith, we keep a reality, from becoming a legend...
 
Jeannot said:
....
Basically, the principle involved here is Occam's razor: the MOST LIKELY explanation of the Jesus phenomenon recorded in the gospels it that there actually was such a person. Granted, people can create works of fiction with remarkable characters and lots of detail. But what we have here is a large number of accounts—not just the four gospels—which takes different and often discrepant routes from the same originating phenomenon.
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I was always taught (although not necessarily by competent people) that the actual physical existence of a bloke called Jesus being executed was recorded somewhere as all executions had to be reported to the emperor.

Surely though the issue isn't whether Jesus existed, rather was he was he is purported to be.
 
TheEndIsNigh said:
I was always taught (although not necessarily by competent people) that the actual physical existence of a bloke called Jesus being executed was recorded somewhere as all executions had to be reported to the emperor.

Surely though the issue isn't whether Jesus existed, rather was he was he is purported to be.
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There was a Jewish writer that spoke of Jesus and his execution, about 40 years after Jesus' death. And he could have cared less about people...he just was a journalist.
 
Just to share my view here as a Baha'i I believe that Jesus physically existed.. that He was like an itinerant wandering preacher.. Whose companions or disciples were nondescript people for the most part and not well educated or very literate..

The other aspect of this in trying to find some external evidence say to the Gospels is pretty unlikely as the area was destroyed by the Legions around 71 CE so records were likely destroyed and there was the diaspora as well where Jews as well as Jewish Christians had to leave Judea..

- Art
 
Arthra, when you say "as a Baha'i" I know you are saying it is your opinion, and that you are a Baha'i. Does it also mean that for all Baha'is it is a fact, like an incontrovertible one?
 
Dream said:
Arthra, when you say "as a Baha'i" I know you are saying it is your opinion, and that you are a Baha'i. Does it also mean that for all Baha'is it is a fact, like an incontrovertible one?
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Thanks for your question Dream..

I was not following this thread lately so I apologize for my tardy reply.

All Baha'is acknowledge the existence of the historical Jesus and that He was a Manifestation of God .. that the attributes of God were perfectly manifest in Him. We don't believe He was God but that God was manifest through Him. We believe He was born in a miraculous way and that He was crucified and martyred.


When Christ appeared He manifested Himself at Jerusalem. He called men to the Kingdom of God, He invited them to Eternal Life and He told them to acquire human perfections. The Light of Guidance was shed forth by that radiant Star, and He at length gave His life in sacrifice for humanity.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 116-117

We also believe that the Spirit of Christ continues..

The body is composed, in truth, of corporeal elements and every composition is necessarily subject to decomposition; but the spirit is an essence, simple, pure, spiritual, eternal, perpetual and divine. He who seeketh Christ from the point of view of His body hath, in truth, debased Him and hath gone astray from Him; but he who seeketh Christ from the point of view of His Spirit will grow from day to day in joy, attraction, zeal, proximity, perception and vision.
Thou hast then to seek the Spirit of Christ in this marvelous day.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith p. 388
 
path_of_one said:
1. Some scholars argue that our problem with "Let the dead bury their own dead" is a combination of 1) a lack of linguistic and historical-cultural context and 2) a mistranslation. First, the saying "Let me bury my father" in Aramaic does not mean his father is dead. It means, roughly translated correctly, "My father is very old and could die any day now. Let me stay and be with him until he dies, and then I will follow you."
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I heard a priest (don't remember his name, but it was St. Anne's on Mackinaw Island, I remember the occasion) translate it as, "I'll get around to following you when the kids are out of college."
 
Bob X,

This has nothing to do with the topic, "Did Jesus exist?" But I saw your name and I want to let you know how happy I am to see you posting here again. I read your article, "torah torah torah" from 2003 a few days ago and I was VERY impressed! It's a wonderful piece of research, and it's obvious that you really know your stuff when it comes to Semitic languages and culture. I read most of the article anyway, along with bananabrain's response to it. If you want to read my response to both articles, and to the back-and-forth between you and BB following his "tilting at windmills" post, you can find them on the Judaism board towards the end of the "Reform" topic.

B'shalom,
Linda
 
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