Informal Poll: Did Jesus exist?

[TruckStuff]

I'm conducting some research and am curious what kind of results this question gets. I'm hoping this doesn't get relegated to Political b/c I need numbers, so please be civil. :angel:

Question: Did Jesus walk the Earth in the form of a man ~2,000 years ago in the area that is present-day Israel? Please set aside what you believe about his teachings and/or supernatural/spiritual powers. I'm just interested in his physical presence in this world.

Thanks! :)

[BigJon]

Beside of his teachings and stuff....yes, I do believe that he existed.

[Nija]

I think Jesus walked the Earth. Was he all he's cracked up to be, I highly doubt it.

[nickel]

yes.

[MikeD]

Yup...

[ArkiStan]

I have no trouble believing that.

[OC]

Yes.

[topane]

I think Jesus walked the Earth. Was he all he's cracked up to be, I highly doubt it.I'm with you. I'm sure there was a Jesus who had quite a following.

[oblongmelon]

yes.

[Kevster]

He did exist - there is secondary historical evidence that he did.

[Mommypooh]

I say Yes as well

[blueindian]

you may want to word this differently, as others have hinted towards. with little doubt, there was a man named jesus who walked the earth back then. heck, there was probably more than man named jesus, same as today.

i think the question you are asking is whether or not folks believe the man called jesus in the bible was the son of the god in the bible.

i voted yes to your poll, but i have no clue if that particular jesus was the son of god.

[le_stick]

God(s) exist only when we WANT them, just my 2 cents.

[Itsme]

I assume there was such a man, not sure how powerful he was though.

[angl2b]

no doubt in my mind - yes.

[Prisoner 24601]

I say yes in both aspects but I do feel generally, people can/should accept of the 'man' living just like we are all living here today at this moment!

[Butch]

I'm with all the :stupid: above who say there was probably a fella named Jesus who lived way back then. I don't think he was the 'son of God,' however. He was likely just another fella in my view.

[Burzhui]

as a man yes

[esme]

i also agree w/everyone else

[InfiniteNothing]

you may want to word this differently, as others have hinted towards. with little doubt, there was a man named jesus who walked the earth back then. heck, there was probably more than man named jesus, same as today.

I think it was intended to be a loaded question.

[nickel]

I think it was intended to be a loaded question.
looks like no more loaded questions from him today :bigeyes:

[InfiniteNothing]

That was for calling people "trolls".

[ooBaKeep]

No doubt in my mind that he did.:duh:

[zippyjuan]

Even Jews believe that Jesus lived. They do not believe he was the Messiah though. Yes, he existed.

[InfiniteNothing]

Not how I'd put it but yeah. Muslims go so far as to hold Jesus as a prophet.

[StonedWheat]

Yeah he existed, I don't think anyone can contest that. I wonder who put no?

[nickel]

That was for calling people "trolls".
yeh, i read that. "troll bait" was what he said.

[Hiro]

**EDIT** I didn't fully read.

[Houdini]

Yep. He did, and I know it's been confirmed by multiple ancient sources that some guy matching his description and teachings was around the area at the time. So it would be tough to convince me that historically, Jesus didn't exist.

[Burzhui]

who you gonna call?

JESUS BUSTERS
http://www.mlevant.info/jesusbusters.jpg

[tupacboy]

no doubt... yes

[ialsohaveadream]

"In the form of a man"? I'm pretty sure, despite the long hair, Jesus wasn't a woman.

[zenbooty]

Yep. He did, and I know it's been confirmed by multiple ancient sources that some guy matching his description and teachings was around the area at the time.To be fair, though, that part of the world was crawling with bearded hippies proselytizing and starting cults back then. It was almost like a big fad. "Those crazy kids and their monotheism!" Then over a couple hundred years the Christians grew to the point that they put everybody else out of business for, oh 1200 years or so. So those stories could be about most anyone :P.

[TruckStuff]

yeh, i read that. "troll bait" was what he said. Thank you. I called the post troll bait (which is what it was); I didn't call anyone a troll. But that is beside the point...
you may want to word this differently, as others have hinted towards. with little doubt, there was a man named jesus who walked the earth back then. heck, there was probably more than man named jesus, same as today. No, I intentionally worded it that way. I'm reading a book about the life/times of Jesus, and there is a chapter in it about the evidence for Jesus. The chapter focused more on whether or not Jesus, the man, actually walked the earth, not the veracity of the Bible as a whole. I know that there are folks out there who think the entire idea of Jesus is fabricated, I was just curious what kind of perentages those people represent.
i think the question you are asking is whether or not folks believe the man called jesus in the bible was the son of the god in the bible. Please... If I were going to start such an obvious flame war/troll post, I *definitely* would have done that in Political. :P

[Airencracken]

who you gonna call?

JESUS BUSTERS
http://www.mlevant.info/jesusbusters.jpg

Too good! :heh:

I chose I don't know, mostly for the reasons Zen stated.

[Kevster]

He did exist - there is secondary historical evidence that he did.

To follow up, there are two categories of non-Christian sources on early historical documents about Jesus:

Pagan (secular roman - Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, and Tacitus)
Jewish (Flavius Josephus, a jewish historian of the day)

I can go more into them, but I don't have the time.

[InfiniteNothing]

Wow, I've never seen a poll get such a high voter turn out. :shrug:

[Mommypooh]

well to clarify I believe Jesus existed and that he was the son of God. That is my personal standing on the point, and I believe he did most of what was in the bible, maybe not all though. I mean it was written by men so you know how they like to streach the truth.

[ialsohaveadream]

I think it's hard to argue that Jesus as a person didn't exist. The historical evidence is fairly strong considering the relatively few people that could write in that era. To me, it'd be kinda like arguing that Genghis Khan didn't exist.

[kgsilvas]

Yes!

[DankNstickY]

well to clarify I believe Jesus existed and that he was the son of God. That is my personal standing on the point, and I believe he did most of what was in the bible, maybe not all though. I mean it was written by men so you know how they like to streach the truth.

:stupid:, except for the part where its not all true because the writers God chose "stretched the truth".

[InfiniteNothing]

:stupid:, except for the part where its not all true because the writers God chose "stretched the truth".
You're going to have to bring me up to date on the bible, didn't people chose which writers get in and edit a bit to get the stories coherent?

[TruckStuff]

You're going to have to bring me up to date on the bible, didn't people chose which writers get in and edit a bit to get the stories coherent? People guided by God's sovereign plan for the universe. :)

[InfiniteNothing]

Men who had "limited" free will?

[TruckStuff]

Men who had "limited" free will? No, man has free will, its just free within God's sovereignty. Yes, its complicated. :) However, it probably doesn't need to be discussed here, so PM if you wish to persue. :shakehand

[nate el bueno]

because there were few books and readers back then, people had better memories. a lot of historical accuracy can't be determained, but a lot of the broad points can.

[revil]

I highly doubt a mexican was living in that area long ago.