Did Jesus Really Exist?

"Historical Jesus" cartoon by nakedpastor David Hayward Get a print here! > Do you question even the most sacred ideas? So do we at The Lasting Supper. I invite you to join us! So I wrote this in my journal:
"What if: What if there was an exceptional man who's name is now forgotten that was an itinerant teacher who attracted a handful of devoted men and women that later became the church after he died the death of a radical, and that their stories all conspired to place him firmly within the Judaic Messianic tradition while at the same time launching a new community claimingĀ¬ā€ his presence through the Spirit?"
I remember the fuss I caused in 2011Ā¬ā€ when I posted this cartoon, My Walk With Jesus Over the Years. The suggestion that Jesus disappeared was very upsetting to many of my readers. There are books being published now questioning the historicity of Jesus and that it is all, the whole thing, an elaborately fabricated myth. I don't dismiss these arguments. I listen to them. But to me it all doesn't come down to whether something happened or not. Truth runs its course at a far deeper level than that. I feel this is a real question we have to eventually ask. Those ideas or facts we assumed were true because we were told: are they? Are they true? And what does truth mean? Can something be true without being historical? What is my peace founded upon? Will I fall apart if something I believe falls apart? Please know I am not saying Jesus did not exist as a historical person, or that he did. I'm just sharing how for me these two choices float on a deeper current of what is true. The Lasting Supper is a community of people I work very closely with in this regard. We provide support for each other during these very unsettling times of deconstruction. Beliefs crumble. Faith wavers. Facts disappear. History wanes. Certitude languishes. I know first hand as well as through observation that this isn't easy. But it is necessary. I must say, it is easier when not alone.
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