Did Jesus exist?

Dinosaur said:
Aside from the Bible, is there any evidence of the existence of Jesus?
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Not that I have found.
There are very obscure references to a christ but there is not anything one could remotely call evidence.
Perhaps someone will come forward with evidence but I doubt it.
Alex
 
kx000 said:
What qualifies as evidence. If you were only skeptical it would destroy all your evidence.
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Don't be silly. Evidence consists of objectively verifiable facts that support a hypothesis. If they are objectively verifiable, they cannot be dismissed by a sceptic - or not without intellectual dishonesty, at least.

The bible constitutes one piece of evidence (the manuscripts undoubtedly exist in several ancient languages). However, as (a) the consensus is that the NT was written a considerable time after the events depicted and (b ) it was obviously written to found a new religion (i.e. is not objective) , it is not very good evidence, unless corroborated independently. Which is what this thread is about.
 
Dinosaur said:
Was there a reference to him by Josephus?
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Yes it seems there was. I was too hasty in my earlier remarks. See this article from the Guardian newspaper:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...cal-evidence-that-jesus-christ-lived-and-died

It seems there is also a mention by Tacitus and also in Jewish rabbinical writings. So there is more to it than I had thought.

One thing the author of the article says which is at variance with what I had previously understood is that the synoptic gospels were written within 40 years of Christ's death. I had always assumed they were written a good deal later and thus the contributions of Josephus and Tacitus could have been "reverse-enegineered" into the gospels, by writers generating the new religion. I suppose I should investigate the evidence for when they were written. Not sure I can be bothered just now however.
 
exchemist said:
Don't be silly. Evidence consists of objectively verifiable facts that support a hypothesis. If they are objectively verifiable, they cannot be dismissed by a sceptic - or not without intellectual dishonesty, at least.

The bible constitutes one piece of evidence (the manuscripts undoubtedly exist in several ancient languages). However, as (a) the consensus is that the NT was written a considerable time after the events depicted and (b ) it was obviously written to found a new religion (i.e. is not objective) , it is not very good evidence, unless corroborated independently. Which is what this thread is about.
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Both faith and skepticism can be verified.
 
Dinosaur said:
Aside from the Bible, is there any evidence of the existence of Jesus?
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I don't know of any historical evidence, but you've got to remember he was, in his time, an insignificant figure that grew larger over time. You can probably think of others whose story became more significant as time progressed.
 
kx000 said:
Both faith and skepticism can be verified.
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Sure they can

You can easy verify this member XYZ relies on faith while this member ABC is a skeptic

What you mostly cannot verify are the claims made by the faithful or the uncertainty objections made by the skeptic

:)
 
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