Do you believe that there is proof that Jesus Christ ever existed?

It's been largely said that the existence of Jesus Christ as a physical being is all hearsay. Does the absence of physical proof deter you from believing that he ever did walk the earth?

He may have existed, however that doesn't mean he was a god.

Did a quick check to see if anything new had come up in the last several years. Nothing. So apparently there's not much outside of the bible. So that's still the definition of hearsay. Could a man have existed who had this story built around him, maybe. But like Suzi said...

I don't know what proof there is but I believe he did exist.

There is no direct evidence to support the fact that Jesus ever walked the earth. And there is no direct evidence to support the notion that if he did, he was the messiah prophesied by the Old Testament and Son of God. However, there is tons of indirect and circumstantial evidence to support the fact that Jesus did exist.

1) The existence of Christianity as a religion supports the notion that a central figure emerged from Judaism with radical claims that were supported by such a large number of individuals that it started a new religion. "Somebody" inspired followers to spread the message of Christ and subsequently be persecuted and murdered for spreading such beliefs. Such events are highly unlikely to have occurred if they weren't based on someone to actually inspire these events. At the very least, it proves that his followers believed that he existed. And for that many to all be suffering from the identical delusion, then crazy enough to sacrifice their own lives based on such a shared delusion is difficult to believe. Just from the standpoint of logic, it's more likely that these followers who were persecuted were inspired by a REAL person who actually existed (whoever they were and whatever their credentials may have been).

2) Archaeological discoveries have proven the existence of other biblical characters who existed during the same period when Jesus supposedly existed, and according to scripture actually interacted with Christ. The most significant of these archaeological finds is the Pilate stone. Pontius Pilate was a prefect of the Roman-controlled province of Judaea from 26-36. The bible records his existence and his significance as being the person who presided over the trial of Jesus Christ. The Pilate Stone which was discovered in 1961 contains an inscription confirming the existence of Pontiac Pilate.

3) The bible and apocryphal scriptures (while hardly a 'historical record' in the traditional sense) does contain facts and dates about specific events that occurred in specific periods in human history (particularly the history of the middle east and Rome). The fact that it contains such facts (ie: who was in power at this particular time; which civilization fell to whom and when; etc) suggests that at least some of the biblical record of Christ is authentic. It would be difficult to support the notion of Christ being "God" or "The Son of God" based on this fact alone, but a central character that forms the basis of the NT, who was witnessed by other characters that are confirmed to be historical suggests that Jesus was historical as well.

Jesus was a flesh and blood human being just like everybody else. Yes, he existed.

I'm not at all surprised that there isn't any proof. Historians can't even agree on when he was born. But I like to believe that he did exist.

I don't believe there's any physical proof of his existence, but I don't need it. It's a matter of faith and I'm a believer.

Proof is in the eye of the beholder and ultimately is irrelevant to whether or not something actually happened. I believe he existed. That's all that matters to me.

Chris wrote:It's been largely said that the existence of Jesus Christ as a physical being is all hearsay. Does the absence of physical proof deter you from believing that he ever did walk the earth?

What about you Chris?

yes he existed.

Yep.

captainbryce wrote:

Chris wrote:It's been largely said that the existence of Jesus Christ as a physical being is all hearsay. Does the absence of physical proof deter you from believing that he ever did walk the earth?

What about you Chris?

I believe he existed, but I also don't put total faith in how he has been historically portrayed.