Did Jesus Exist? Well Yes and No! There are in fact two separate Jesus
characters that come to us through a careful reading of the Bible and other
contemporary works of the time. One is the 1st Century Jewish Prophet or
Messiah who tried to convince people that he was descended from the House of
David and had come to rescue his people from (Roman) occupation as foretold
in the ancient Jewish literature. The second is the Jesus of Paul's
creation who was molded with a new identity and separated from his Jewish
focus to appeal to Western (European) audiences.
At the time of Jesus there were many self-claimed Messiahs in the holy land.
One was Apollonian of Titania who, his followers claimed, was born of virgin
birth, raised the dead, could walk through walls, was persecuted, crucified,
rose from the dead, returned to Earth after death ..well you know the story,
it was an old one long before Jesus' time. I should also point out the
virgin birth was automatically attributed to all gods and even to some
important people. Alexandria was said at the time to be of virgin birth.
Of course Paul made this claim for Jesus after the Jesus' death. Jesus had
three or four brothers and two sisters and this claim of virgin birth of
course was not made during his lifetime.
The actual Jesus was an obscure 1st Century Jew teaching 1st Century
Judaism, period. He, like thousand of other Jews were actively opposing
Roman rule and like many hundreds were crucified by the Roman authorities
for his political actions. The Roman authorities could care less about a
person's religious beliefs, just as long as they didn't engage in any
secession activities. If he tried to convert Jews away from Judaism, or
preached a new religion, Jesus would have been stoned to death by his fellow
Jews in a New York minute. The OT scriptures are very clear as to the
punishment for this grave offense. As I previous stated Jesus was a 1st
Century Jew teaching 1st Century Judaism while claiming to be a Messiah.
It's
not clear if he actually died by being crucified, some claim he did not, but
never the less he was a normal human being and when his time came he died as
we all do. On the other hand the mythical Jesus of Paul's creation, whose
life and death is filled with miracles, myths, absurdities, and untruths is
the stuff of Biblical lore.
Khubla
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