Did Jesus really exist or was his story a rework of the Horus/Mithras tales?

Answer 1

Allowing that one does not accept the prophecy from the Old Testament as proof, many of his time refer to his actual existence. Among these are Josephus, the Jewish Historian, Pliny the younger, Tacitus, Lucian and Hadrian.
In all fairness, none of these knew the historical Jesus. In addition, none of the writers of the 4 gospels directly knew Jesus either. Paul, however, relates the story of how Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus three times in the Book of Acts. Despite several of these sources, in addition to the Babylonian Talmud, providing reasonable evidence to Jesus' existence, there is no intellectual exercise which will provide this, IMHO, nor do I think it should. Each is only heuristic, rather than definitive, in its essence.
Neither will the issue of faith alone provide any proof, as much as some would have it so; faith, by itself proves nothing except that one believes. One may have faith alone in all sorts of absurdities.

The difficulty comes when we undeniably understand that we have both a material and spiritual component as human beings. If we didn't, however, then this whole discussion would just be neurons bumping into one another and would be meaningless.
The spiritual component is very difficult to explain in any sense of materialism. Philosophy treats any ventures into the realm of the spiritual as fantasy, at least that which cannot be verified.
However, if faith in Jesus Christ created a real bond, then this bond would have to be created not only by the believer, but the respondent. The respondent, in addition, would have to prove that he was God. The difficulty comes as to whether this is possible. How does one verify that God exists?
Briefly, the Bible teaches us that each one of us who comes to Him must love Him because he loved us first. In 2 Timothy 3:7, we read about those who seek to learn but never come to the truth. Paul teaches us that we must love God if we want to know him. (Also see Ephesians 3:17; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 2:2; and also 1 John 2:5.) If we want knowledge without love, it isn’t enough. We first see Him "as through a glass darkly"(1 Corinthians 13:12) but through our trials and efforts for Him, we come to see more clearly.
I suggest that the truth of Jesus lies not in any intellectual sense but in a personal relationship which must be individual: you can't believe because someone else believes and you can't discover it because someone else knows. Intellectual truth leads to skepticism and denial. While it is good to be skeptical of things, even Jesus' existence and association with the resurrection mysteries you cite, the real proof comes in the consistency of God's promise. Be forewarned: new believers usually suffer persecutions. In fact, persecutions are promised to all believers (2 Timothy 3:12.) Not everyone wants you to believe in the truth of Jesus Christ.

Answer 2

There is a mountain of historically reliable evidence that Jesus did indeed exist. Because of the vast amount of documentation of his existence, scholars of history do not doubt his existence at all. Of course there is great debate about his claims of being God -- that is entirely another issue. For some really good reading on the subject, I suggest you take a look at the book, "The Case for Christ", by Lee Strobel. It is a fascinating look at the evidence for Christ's existence, his claims, and the historical accounts of his life. It is written by a man who started out to expose the false claims of Christ and was surprised by what he discovered.

And by the way-- "Untamed Rose" says Jesus was just a "good man". Come now... let us reason together. It's impossible for Jesus to have been "just a good man" or a "great moral teacher". He claimed to be God and to have the power to forgive sins and offer eternal life. Those are pretty outrageous claims so if they were untrue statements then he was either an evil liar out to deceive people or a raving, deranged lunatic. Considering his claims with a reasoning, logical mind does not allow the possibility of his being simply "a good man."

Answer 3

Probably a mixture of both. There is evidence that there was a person called Jesus preaching in Israel around 2000 years ago. However stories of the Resurrection was probably inspired by the myths of Horus and Mithras in response to his execution.

Answer 4

I do not know about the horus tales however
the hindu religon has a savior and son of god
his name was rashus (spelled that wrong) but his and jesus lives are an exact match only the hindu was written 4 hundered years before!
I think jesus was a good man kinda a martin king of his time but nothing more

Answer 5

Jesus did exist

Answer 6

I believe it's very possible that he existed. But I also see many legends/myths/tales added on to him. It's been done with anyone who has made an impact on history. Columbus never set foot on America... George Washington did not have wooden teeth and did not cut down a cherry tree.

Answer 7

Jesus really existed. theres more solid, reliable proof that he existed than that Julius Caesar existed. and take our timeline for example. the letters BC stand for "Before Christ"(Christ = Jesus). AD stands for latin words that mean "in the year of our Lord" or the number of years after Jesus was born. I dont think we would base a timeline on someone that didnt exist

Answer 8

Yes, Jesus did and does exist

Answer 9

If Jesus did exist he was just a man a very obsessed man like some we have today. If he was more than a mortal man why did he cry out on the cross as he was dying FATHER WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME he was just a man dying and his God failed him after all his prayers and there in front of all those people he was dying alone,scared and no one answered his cry.

Answer 10

Jesus did exist and still does