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Did Jesus actually exist as a historical figure?

arthra

Baha'i
I think the "Jesus Seminar" has been working on this topic for quite some time...

My own feeling is that there are a great number of fragments and various sources that suggest to me Jesus was a historical entity ... Coptic, Koine Greek, Aramaic ...albeit in fragmentary form that suggest to me there was a historical person.

The other point I feel is that even the sources that are antagonistic to Jesus maybe inferring He was a magician or such by Roman and Jewish reports do not suggest He was a fable or purely legendary figure.
 

we-live-now

Active Member
Anyone from any religion is welcome to join in on the discussion, but I have a few rules that everyone must follow. If you do not want to adhere to these rules, please be respectful and refrain from commenting. Thanks so much for your input and respect to the nature of this discussion:

1. Do not refer to one part of the Bible as proof for any validity of any other part of the Bible. We are trying to be objective here.

2. Do not make claims stating that "Biblical Scholars agree ..." This is nothing but a cop-out, and I would like to discuss the actual evidence that might lead those Scholars to agree in the first place.

3. No claims without sufficient evidence to back them up. You cannot just say things like "everyone knows".

4. Finally, there is absolutely NO CLAIMING THAT ANY OPINION SHARED MAKES THE HOLDER OF THAT PERSON ANY LESS OF A DECENT PERSON. Let's be adults and keep this one clean.

If you don't like the rules, please avoid the thread. Thanks so much. I look forward to the discussion.

What an AWESOME QUESTION! I like your heart and OPEN outer person.

Are you sitting down? Ready for the most radical ideas you ever heard?

I spend hundreds of hours in the scriptures and believe every word of it is absolutely truth and God's very word.

And I am absolutely 100% convinced that JESUS did not YET appear in actually physical history or on physical earth.

I have been spend MANY MANY hours pouring over history accounts and also Biblical accounts (to reconcile them) and the actual ORIGINAL words of scripture and what I found is MOST astonishing as it will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF.

I believe the words of scripture are SPIRITUAL and not NATURAL. They are of "faith" and are HIDDEN from sight as of right now. The hidden SPIRITUAL has NOT YET been "reconciled" or made ONE which is God plan "over the ages". Man is currently a 3 part "creature" of spirit, soul and body. God is SPIRIT. John 4:24.

God is NOT "soul", nor is God a "body'. YET.

But he WILL be. He has a SOUL who is his "helper" who works "below" in the LOWER realms of the soul and body.

Enter "Jesus" his spiritual SON. He is not a NATURAL Son. To be God's SON he has to be SPIRITUAL JUST LIKE GOD HIMSELF IS!

Now, we must start to believe the VERY WORD of God and STOP BELIEVING THE FAIRY TAILS taught on Sunday.

Jesus did NOT YET appear as a single human being. That is OBSURD. A single human person could NOT atone for the entire sins of the world. How ridiculous is that?

Jesus is a SPIRITUAL man in a SPIRITUAL BODY that HAS appeared in parts of man's SPIRIT and IS APPEARING in our very SOULS hidden within us. Those of us who see him inside our spirits and SOULS have NO CONTROL over it and can't DENY it. He appears at will and speaks directly to our inner man. We are only conscious of our outer (natural) man. Our inner man is HIDDEN from us and only God the father can see and have access to him to give him faith.

So, the SINGLE TIME that Jesus will appear to all people which we think occurred 2000 year ago DID NOT. God gave us those TRUE SPIRITUAL words before THEY EVEN OCCURED in this lowest realm "3" of the dead outer man and natural body. This event will TRULY occur when his current body (those who truly believe God at his Word) is fully dead and leaves this earth and returns/reappears. His true SPIRITUAL body is a CORPORATE body and will return both as individuals but in a corporate, spiritually renewed Body of God himself. They will be able to act TOGETHER with the full power of God but also independently.

How is this possible?

Think about it. What is the most popular and IMHO best book of the NT and the "6th" book?

Romans.

What is the 4th Kingdom of Daniel?

The feet (of God) but a DIVIDED Kingdom. Partly spiritual, partly flesh. The first TIME the romans were here, they were flesh. The next time they will be SPIRIT.

I am telling you. The Kingdom of God is Rome. Study the entire Roman empire. It is split into 3 parts over many ages and way into "BC" before Christ.

I am telling you, we are still living in "BC" times. The Church still teaches the old covenant of Law trying to earn your own righteousness by "going to church", "reading your bible", "confessing your sins". All law and none of which will save you.

Only God as Christ inside you will save you speaking to LIFE your new man in him. Some of us will even be his Son Jesus and rule with him when "Rome" part 3 and 4 returns.

All the things that occurred in scripture DID NOT OCCUR in the lowest realm of the natural body. They are all in the soul and spirit realms of man. I can prove this a hundred times over if anyone has the faith to consider it and search it out.

God fractured time and each of the realms live under different scales of time. Time in the soul is different than the body than the "spirit". Ever hear "A day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day"?

But, he is putting the entire single, spiritual man of the LAST ADAM back together in his own spiritual son's body. His Son was crucified. He is all the spiritual realms of Earth and man and he was crucified BEFORE this current world was. The 4 gospels reveal this. Matthew is the view of the lowest realm of the body, Luke is the soul and is split into inner and outer, Mark is man's spirit and John is the MISSING part we didn't know man had - the spiritual "head" who is Jesus himself.

The ones who believe in THIS age of the dead natural body will also BE THE HEAD. That is once they ALL fully "die to selves" and are "beheaded". This means to have their soul removed from the spiritual body. This is the true "circumcision" of the flesh which will occur on the 8th spiritual day for all people. If you are lucky enough to have it occur on the "Sabbath day of rest" (now) then you are very fortunate as you will be with him in the next age helping him rule the Kingdom of Rome once again.

However, I must warn you. When his body loses its HEAD, it will be VERY DEAD and in DEEP DARKNESS and GLOOM until the father raises it. I pray none of us are around this body during that time. This is all the times of deep darkness of the OT.

Please know that I am "winging" all these dates an times and have not formally calculated them. It's what I hear from within as I try to ask "why did time and our calendar start 2015 years ago" while reconciling the Biblical kingdoms with the historical Kingdoms.

God actually SHIFTED ALL THINGS so we couldn't figure it out in our natural, logical minds. Only faith pleases him. Boy, do these INSANE ideas take a LOT OF FAITH.

Nothing written in spiritual words means what we think it does in "natural" words. It even says in Revelation that the Lord was crucified in Sodom and Egypt. These are the two spiritual kingdoms where he actually was crucified. One spiritual and one natural. Egypt is the tie in to the current world and the reason why it was such an awesome powerhouse. I believe the actual spiritual kingdom of "Heaven" during the OT times was called "Egypt" on Earth. The NT Kingdom OF God (higher kingdom) is Rome.

I have calculated we are living in multiple ages right now but are inside the year "0". 0 means we lack a true spiritual body still. We are living in the hidden year right now. When we (as believers) truly appear, we will be in the year "1", and "31" which is Genesis 1:31 when "what he made was good". We will get 3 1/2 years to appear AS him on the Earth and fulfill all the words he gave us in the scriptures (and will give us in our hearts as we "walk as and with him"). Those who didn't believe him at his word or persecuted him will live in extreme darkness and "gloom" during the second half of the sacrifice of his body that occurs in the middle of "33" AD in the inner man but also 66AD in the outer man. You can read about this "rebellion" of the "jews" (those who insist on living under the law for righteousness) and how they were crushed by the (spiritual) Romans just by googling the Jewish rebellion from 66-70 AD.

As a believer, I had this same rebellion inside me from my own personal "66" to "70". I will appear in the lowest realm in 71AD or wherever the Lord wants me to carry out his plan of salvation to ALL people.

Again, these are all SPIRITUAL ages and they don't make sense to us because we are at 3 digits now (body soul and spirit).

Remember, there is a MISSING 4th part (digit) of man which is the Gospel of John. He is the first and LAST "witness" of Revelation 10 and "11" that will appear and those who have faith will believe him. The ones who don't are the "pharisees" who are in danger of God's wrath as they want to live under the law and not God's grace.

So, our years will have a 4th digit to them and this could possibly occur in the years 3000AD-3111AD when we are brought back to 31AD and 66AD (spiritual time). The ones who don't believe will be put to sleep but then resurrected to an "age of disgrace and shame" in spiritual 66-70AD.

This is when the TRUE body and the TRUE JESUS appears in this realm. The father is waiting for the last appointed true believer to die in this age. "only a few will find life" (in this age).

So, if I were you and any of this seems to resonate with your heart, i would STOP LISTENING TO what you are taught on Sunday. That is the gospel of natural man handed down as man's tradition over the centuries. God will CRUSH that when it is time.

It's time to start simply believing God at his Word even if you can't understand how it all fits together. It won't fit together in the natural mind. You have to FORGET all the things you can see and focus ONLY on that which you can't see. 2 Cor 4:18 (our "eyes" is our inner man or our mind) STart clean and pretend you were born into this world blind and someone was reading the scripture to you as a blind person. We are all spiritually blind in our outer natural person. Only Jesus inside us can reveal what it means in our "minds eye" (imagination). This is why we MUST BECOME AS A CHILD to enter the Kingdom. The "know it alls" of religious teachings of Sunday will not make it unless and until they humble themselves. They have been totally indoctrinated into the religion of natural man under the God of THIS world.

pretty crazy huh?

Yes it is. God is wild and beyond anything we can ask or imagine. 3 years ago I believed all the same things other "Christians" do. He has completely "circumcized" me by immersing me into his Word only. I see all this as 100% true (or at least fully possible) within me even though I can't yet see it externally.

I know this. God is in charge of ALL things including 100% of all history and all we do, think, ask or imagine. He either reveals or hides. Everything that has ever occurred will eventually work out for our good if we believe it. Including all historical events that HE GAVE US through man. Think about it. How could man have recorded all those things so accurately? He didn't. God did. Babylon is a spiritual Kingdom. Egypt is a spiritual Kingdom and so is Rome and Assyria. This current realm is all the "Animals" and "beasts" that our current natural body came from. Does that put a whole new TWIST on Evolution? That's right, our body is a Genesis 2 "beast of the field" which is an animal. Before God gave us a soul and a spirit we were natural beasts or basically "human animals".

He who has ears, let him hear.

God bless.
 
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outhouse

Atheistically
The 'credible' answers being whatever you agree with.

No.

Had you actually studied or even looked at it, you would agree. Im sorry nothing is credible for you, or ever will be, but that's your personal problem.



The site isn't as bad as most and it gives many different takes on the topic, the problem is if one doesn't know whats up so to speak or has no real education on the topic, one could easily be lost and not know which direction to go. Its has many people that carry outdated apologetic views no longer followed. It even had Simcha and other known quacks, and included a little on why Ehrman is wrong.
 

LXX70

New Member
Did Hammurapi actually exist? How certain are we? Or Shuppilulumas? Or Socrates? How does the evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth compare to most of the other figures who we take for granted in antiquity?
 

jdorisco

New Member
Only second and third hand accounts. no tangible evidence.(writings, or other artifacts) As always, the burden is upon the claimant. right?
 

Bunyip

pro scapegoat
No.

Had you actually studied or even looked at it, you would agree. Im sorry nothing is credible for you, or ever will be, but that's your personal problem.
LOL Don't be ridiculous. Your unquestioning faith in the historicity of Jesus is faith, nothing more.
The site isn't as bad as most and it gives many different takes on the topic, the problem is if one doesn't know whats up so to speak or has no real education on the topic, one could easily be lost and not know which direction to go. Its has many people that carry outdated apologetic views no longer followed. It even had Simcha and other known quacks, and included a little on why Ehrman is wrong.
Your ignorance of the relevant historical research is all but total.
 

Wayofthespirit

I am a Monotheistic Deist
I believe (by faith and inner conviction that you might call 'instinct') in God and Christ but, having wandered far away from 'mainstream' as a result of years of forum interaction, that's about as as far as it goes.

If there is indeed but one true God then to my way of thinking/believing he has to be ‘God of the entire universe’ and not just the 'God of Israel', adopted by Western Christendom. (By 'God of the entire universe' I mean ‘universe’ as we currently understand it, as distinct from 'God of the universe' that was limited to the Hebrew/Egyptian confines of the 15th-11th century BC.)

In my ‘book’ myths and fables such as those of the Genesis creation and Noah’s Ark stories have no more authenticity than do the fables surrounding the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, purporting the world to be ‘flat’, off the edge of which sailors would fall if daring to venture beyond the Straights of Gibraltar. That being the extent of the knowledge of our cosmos that limited those who wrote what we call the old Testament.

‘Man’, (including Moses and the Prophets) has, in my opinion, always had the propensity to respond to his inner conviction of an unknown paranormal realm by ‘creating’ God in his own image/imagination and committing his imaginings to ‘holy writings’.

Christ (in my opinion) did indeed exist, and came to correct all such imaginings, replacing such writings with the one single law of ‘Love’ written (if I might indulge in a borrowed phrase of Christendom) only in the ‘fleshy tables of man’s heart’.

Man however, as is his wont, reverted to his propensity to create God in his own image and, shortly after the Christ's death, immediately began to reverse the purpose of Christ’s ‘mission’ by reviving and adding to man’s earliest ‘holy writings’ in the form of a new composite holy text book.

So, here we are today, ‘Christ Within’ by means of ‘Faith’ supplanted by ‘God in a text book’ by means of ‘Religion’.

And that (as ironic as you can get) is ‘this man’ having created God in my own image/imagination.

My belief in Christ (the subject of this thread) is somewhat stronger being backed by historical record, but that brings me back in full circle to my belief in God, since I believe Christ's mission was to correct man's understanding of God.

It's all about one's personal 'faith' and what I consider to be 'Christ Within'.
 

`mud

Just old
Premium Member
And more winds of the spirits.
I get lost in the lack of accuracy.
I have to go find Oz !
~
'mud
 

Edwin

Member
Would proof that a man named Jesus existed who did everything the Bible says Jesus did EXCEPT those things which violate physical laws, be acceptable as proof that Jesus existed as a historical figure? It is quite plausible that such a man could have existed, but there could be no way to prove that physical laws were violated. IOW are we here only trying to prove or disprove something plausible, or to prove or disprove that physical laws were violated?
 
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