Reply #11: Just Because Some Old Platitudes are Attributed to Jesus [View All]

[On the Road]

doesn't mean he didn't exist.

Jesus had a brother, who was written about by Josephus, the only historian of that place and time. The emperor Domitian rounded up descendents of Jesus' family as possible leaders of a revolt, since they were also sons of David.

Some of Paul's letters such as Galatians are indisputably genuine and date from the 50s or 60s. Although Paul did not know Jesus, he was a contemporary and knew of him as a real person.

Having said that, nobody knows how much of the gospels are real and how much are invention. Many of the details of Jesus' life, and many of the sayings in the gospels, may have been invented. Paul didn't know Jesus and was estranged from Jesus' family and friends. Much of what he wrote may have been more influenced by his own preconceptions of what the Messiah was supposed to be like than the real human being.