Did Jesus even exist?

You are obviously a scholar and studied this subject long and thoroughly.

Not only did He exist, but exists within me today. That's how I know, in the strongest sense. Jesus dwells within me. He said that He would, in the case of those who believed in Him, and He does, in me, because I do.

If this constitutes 'hate-speech', that deceitful euphemism used to mask neo-Communsim and Islamofascism, then I am, by that fraudulent standard, guilty of so-called 'hate-speech'. Come and get me, Stalin. I'm ready to die fighting you.

I read at least one book on Major World Religions that questioned whether Jesus even existed. There are at least 2 reasons for such doubts:

1. New Testament is written in Aramiac, which is a dialect of Greek. Also, Jesus' claimed miracles work to place it closer to Greek mythology;

2. No independent historian of Jesus' time mentions Jesus.

Regardless, I believe that Jesus existed. Jesus was no where near as strong a character as Moses or Muhammad. Jesus' religion prospered mostly thru luck than by any of Jesus' own doings. Also, Jesus lived too short of a life. I think, for these reasons, no independent historian of the time ever wrote about Jesus. I think, The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), portrays Jesus accurately. Jesus was a kind, emotional, unhappy and often lost character, who really didn't know what he wanted. If he had any direction, it was due to his witful apostles.

How does 'no' sound? Is 'no' okay for you?

"Last Temptation of Christ" is garbage.

Not actually being a Trekkie, I really wouldn't know...although like any other fiction, the NT has to be judged on its content and story line. In short, it wouldn't even make a good Star Trek episode. On the up side, the OT makes the cut (barely), it is fair fiction albeit not very accurate historically :patriot:

You're just one more person, with an anus and an opinion, trying to thwart a massive movement, ideology and set of institutions -- even an entire civilization

Evidentially, I am not the only "anus and opinion. Don't look now, but your "massive movement" is slowly dying...in 1990 87% of Americans claimed to be Christian and in 2000 only 62% claimed to be Christian (U.S. Census Bureau figures)...that's a 2.5% a year lose of membership. At that rate, in a decade, Christianity will be a minority religion in the U.S. The only place in the world that Christianity is growing is the 3rd world, mainly Africa. The first African Christian missionaries to the Americas are already here! This problem is the subject of discussion in the majority of Denominational news publications and by the anxiety shown in the articles must be a very worrisome matter to the various denominational heirarchies.:devilheadbang: :devilheadbang: :devilheadbang: :devilheadbang: :patriot:

In other words, you have no real rebuttal and must tap dance around the subject. :patriot:

The only problem is that the Orthodox Church is growing much faster than the Catholic Church (must be those pedophile priests that turn people from the Catholic faith) and even then according to the figures from a Christian source (can't be much more Christian than the National Council of Churches), Christianity is decreasing by at least 1% a year! Face it, we will have a secular America soon! Just like in the good old days before the Evangelitical movement! :patriot:

We might actually be a Spanish American society (probably not, but it is possible - slightly) but we will NOT be a Christian Spanish American society. You live in Texas, you should see how the younger generation of Hispanics are, very non-religious...they are just like most of the American young, very apathetic to all religion and especially to Christianity! :patriot: