Jesus Christ is the most influential figure on the planet, with more than 2 billion worshippers worldwide and many more who fondly study his teachings. But what if he never existed? Many skeptics have posed this very question, and while true believers scoff at such suggestions, the debate is far from resolved. Jesus may have changed the world, but did he really walk the Earth?
Author: "Why I Became an Atheist."
There is little doubt that when the early church told their stories about Jesus they threw in some mythical elements, most notably the virgin birth story, but probably some others as well. How many I cannot say exactly. My argument is that there was a person named Jesus who was at the core of these expanding stories. He was a doomsday prophet and nothing more. The church came to believe he was the one predicted to return because of non-veridical visions, not his resurrection. Such a doomsday prophetic figure like Jesus makes the most sense when it comes to who started the Jesus cult. Jesus himself did.
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