Was Jesus really a Rabbi named Yeshua ben Yoseph?

Question

Do you think Yeshua was a real historical person?

Some people have suggested that "Jesus Christ" is a fiction, created by Paul, and advance as part of their argument the lack of referrence to Jesus in the contemporary record. While I agree that Paul's "Jesus" is fictionalized, I think that, all things considered, there is a factual person behind his fantasies -- Yeshua. Paul wasnt an idiot. If he had wanted to invent a god-man out of whole cloth, he would have done a much better job; coming up with something that had much more appeal to his Hellenistic and Roman audiences; somehow, a failed Jewish rebel doesnt cut it -- a point that Paul himself wasnt unaware of. That said, the "Jesus Christ" god-man he foisted on a gullible ancient world is certainly a pastiche, and only tenuously connected to Yeshua. He knew little, if anything about Yeshua, and probably only knew the Talmidin as adversaries.

As Rabbi Samuel Sandmel said, Paul only quotes Yeshua once, and manages to get that wrong -- that doesn't speak to great familiarity. But overall, one is left with the feeling that there was a real Yeshua, with followers convinced of his rightousness, and that Paul wanted to take over this movement for his own purposes.

Answer 1

True! but christians dont know this........

Answer 2

That was his true name, Jesus Christ is the Greek translated name. He was never an official rabbi, he just claimed to be the son of God. He followed the written Rabbinical laws, but refused to subscribe to the Oral Laws. As he was, he would never of passed the Rabbi test with his opinions on his own messiah status.

The status of Paul has always been controversial, he claimed to be from a very highly rated rabbinical school, but there are parts of his testimony that cast doubt on that. There is some evidence he could not speak Hebrew, and that would be proof his resume was dishonest.

Answer 3

What I'm about to give is not meant to be inflammatory and is only for some interesting information:

http://www.messiahtruth.com/response.html

There is no evidence of anyone named J*sus or Yeshua ben Yosef (especially not a rabbi named such) of that time period or place. None at all.

Peace

Answer 4

Yeshua means Jesus in Hebrew. Jesus is a Greek translation. Don't study history so foolishly.

Answer 5

Just look at Robin Hood. He was a rebel brought to a hero status, too. In some tales he is the champion of the people, fighting against corrupt officials and the oppressive order that protects them, while in others he is an arrogant and headstrong rebel, who delights in bloodshed, cruelly slaughtering and beheading his victims.
The Robin Hood we know is a present day hero and we have used the phrase, 'Rob from the rich and give to the poor.' Often in reference to him. It can happen, has happened and will continue to happen.

Answer 6

A good argument, but you forgot Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Hebrews (author unknown,) James, and Peter, whose writings all point to one man, not several.

Answer 7

can be true, but jesus managed to see beyond, where none were not allowed to venture and ask question. they had to believe what they were taught since childhood.

who can dare this?

many who dared and found the truth were killed.

it's like swimming in a pool but when you swim in the ocean it's different.

Answer 8

Trusting any of this writing over the words of Jesus is dangerous business! Google i walk by faith!

Answer 9

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/surfeit.htm

Answer 10

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/mara.html

A Letter of Mara, Son of Serapion

Mara, son of Serapion, to Serapion, my son: peace.…..For what benefit did the Athenians obtain by putting Socrates to death, seeing that they received as retribution for it famine and pestilence? Or the people of Samos by the burning of Pythagoras, seeing that in one hour the. whole19 of their country was covered with sand? Or the Jews by the murder of their Wise King, seeing that from that very time their kingdom was driven away from them? For with justice did God grant a recompense to the wisdom of all three of them. For the Athenians died by famine; and the people of Samos were covered by the sea without remedy; and the Jews, brought to desolation and expelled from their kingdom, are driven away into Every land. Nay, Socrates did "not" die, because of Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King, because of the new laws which he enacted.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/talmud.html

Here is what is written in Baraitha Bab. Sanhedrin 43a, probably second century:

On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! - Ulla retorted: Do you suppose that he was one for whom a defence could be made? Was he not a _Mesith_ [enticer], concerning him Scripture says, _Neither shalt though spare, neither shalt thou conceal him?_ With Yeshu however it was different, for he was connected with the government for royalty [i.e., influential]. Our Rabbis taught: Yeshu had five disciples, Matthai, Nakai, Nezer, Buni, and Todah.


http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/tacitus.html

The most famous passage in which Tacitus mentions Christianity is as follows (Annals 15.44):

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order.

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

http://www.allabouthistory.org/josephus-and-christ-faq.htm

Josephus mentions Jesus in Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 (this paragraph is so phenomenal, that scholars now debate the authenticity of some of the more "favorable" portions of this text):

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/jrthal.html

Julius Africanus quoting --Thallus (c. 50-75ad)

On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? Let opinion pass however; let it carry the majority with it; and let this portent of the world be deemed an eclipse of the sun, like others a portent only to the eye. Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth--manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? Surely no such event as this is recorded for a long period. (XVIII.1)

http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Divin/D-0201.htm
Lucian, the Greek satirist, wrote this rather scathing attack in The Death of Peregrine circa AD 170:
The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account... You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed upon them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.