Which of these Christian characters and events do you believe are real/actually happened?

[ꙮ]

Most (though not all) secular historians believe that a real Jesus existed, and was the basis of the Christian religion. However, essentially by definition, no non-Christian historian believes Jesus actually rose from the dead. Which parts of the story do you think actually happened?

I recently found out that Paul mythicists exist, which was surprising. Unlike Christ mythicists, who are a minority but not on the fringe, Paul mythicism is way out there. If you believe that Jesus didn't actually exist, Paul is a perfect person to pin it all on.

[PSOL]

2 and 12 did not occur and 6 was most likely done through non-magical means. All the rest of Jesus’s miracles are bunk.

Jesus was procreated through sexual activity.

[LabourJersey]

I am a weirdo Christian who believes in most but not all of these:

John the Baptist - I believe that there were precursor preachers in Judea that helped pave the way for Jesus, but I wonder if John is a composite character of several people who Jesus knew in early life, educated him religiously, etc.

Crucified on instigation of religious authorities - he probably was, but the political undertones of the post-Second Temple Jewish and Christian worlds make me wonder if the Jewish authorities's role is exaggerated and the Roman role under-rated.

Judas - the melodrama of the Judas story always rang a little hollow to me, but I suppose someone had to "rat" on Christ to the Romans (or to the Jewish authorities and Roman, per above). I wonder if Judas is a literary representation of men who heard Jesus but did not choose to follow The Way.

All other aspects I believe - though this poll didn't include a lot of the events regarding Mary that I think is honestly bunk (the immaculate conception of her mother Anna, her remaining a virgin while married to Joseph, and especially her Assumption)

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I am a weirdo Christian who believes in most but not all of these:

John the Baptist - I believe that there were precursor preachers in Judea that helped pave the way for Jesus, but I wonder if John is a composite character of several people who Jesus knew in early life, educated him religiously, etc.

Crucified on instigation of religious authorities - he probably was, but the political undertones of the post-Second Temple Jewish and Christian worlds make me wonder if the Jewish authorities's role is exaggerated and the Roman role under-rated.

Judas - the melodrama of the Judas story always rang a little hollow to me, but I suppose someone had to "rat" on Christ to the Romans (or to the Jewish authorities and Roman, per above). I wonder if Judas is a literary representation of men who heard Jesus but did not choose to follow The Way.

All other aspects I believe - though this poll didn't include a lot of the events regarding Mary that I think is honestly bunk (the immaculate conception of her mother Anna, her remaining a virgin while married to Joseph, and especially her Assumption)

Much of that is Catholic theology.  Protestants do not believe that Mary was sinless or that she remained a virgin for her whole life (just prior to giving birth to Jesus).

[DaleCooper]

All except for the virgin birth, healing the sick, and the resurrection.

[wnwnwn]

You forgot:
Jesus was born in Bethelem
The Herodian child massacre
The story of John 21 (a core story to catholic lore)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

All of the above and #18.

You forgot:
Jesus was born in Bethelem
The Herodian child massacre
The story of John 21 (a core story to catholic lore)

This one I actually don't believe in, simply because there's no other historical documentation of it, plus I'm kind of skeptical the Romans would've allowed it. I suspect this is an embellishment over the fact that Herod was a really bad guy and thus such stories about him are kind of believable, even if false. Kind of like the Iraqi Army throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators, it didn't happen but Saddam Hussein was so awful it's believable.

[afleitch]

I'm happy to accept the autobiographical stuff, reject the superstition and question the 'j'accuse' against religious authorities.

[vitoNova]

There's a legit movement on the tweeters-sphere amongst the tankies/fentanyl addicts to deny a figure like Jeezus existed.

...lol. wut?

* laughs in DMV secular objectivism *

[LabourJersey]

There's a legit movement on the tweeters-sphere amongst the tankies/fentanyl addicts to deny a figure like Jeezus existed.

...lol. wut?

* laughs in DMV secular objectivism *

I don't really understand the Jesus mythicist viewpoint.

It seems so convoluted to invent a main prophet for any religion - someone had to be the founder of a religious movement.

Though for what it's worth I think most atheists I know would probably agree that Jesus likely existed - they just think he was a non-divine, historic preacher.

[ꙮ]

Curious that, according to the poll, there is at least 1 Christian on Atlas who doesn't believe in the Resurrection. Conversely there is at least 1 non-Christian who believes he healed the sick. Muslim perhaps?

[Yeahsayyeah]

There is historical evidence that charismatic preachers would work or/and be regarded as healers, too, isn't it?

The placebo effect is a thing, too. And there are arguments that exorcism works on a psychological level, at least sometimes.

 In that regard, I, as an agnostic, think, that Jesus was probably a healer of sorts, and this role can be stripped from the miraculous interpretation.

[Yeahsayyeah]

All of the above and #18.

You forgot:
Jesus was born in Bethelem
The Herodian child massacre
The story of John 21 (a core story to catholic lore)

This one I actually don't believe in, simply because there's no other historical documentation of it, plus I'm kind of skeptical the Romans would've allowed it. I suspect this is an embellishment over the fact that Herod was a really bad guy and thus such stories about him are kind of believable, even if false. Kind of like the Iraqi Army throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators, it didn't happen but Saddam Hussein was so awful it's believable.

While I think the infanticide of Bethlehem is made up, given the size of Bethlehem at the time, we're speaking of some dozen murdered infants at the max and given the relative insignificence of the site at the time, no chronicle would probably bat an eye.

[Blue3]

I am a mix of Christian/Agnostic who likes to take the good parts from other religious philosophies too - such as some of Taoism in particular, and smaller elements of the Dharmic religions.

I believe that historically all are true except the miraculous birth and rising from the dead.

But at a spiritual level, I still believe Jesus did rise from the dead, so I did check that off.

I did not check-off the virgin birth. A lot of the nativity story and childhood years seem to have come later, especially to check off certain foretelling from the Tanakh said to apply to the messiah (even though most don’t actually read like prophecies to begin with).

[Skill and Chance]

I am a weirdo Christian who believes in most but not all of these:

John the Baptist - I believe that there were precursor preachers in Judea that helped pave the way for Jesus, but I wonder if John is a composite character of several people who Jesus knew in early life, educated him religiously, etc.

Crucified on instigation of religious authorities - he probably was, but the political undertones of the post-Second Temple Jewish and Christian worlds make me wonder if the Jewish authorities's role is exaggerated and the Roman role under-rated.

Judas - the melodrama of the Judas story always rang a little hollow to me, but I suppose someone had to "rat" on Christ to the Romans (or to the Jewish authorities and Roman, per above). I wonder if Judas is a literary representation of men who heard Jesus but did not choose to follow The Way.

All other aspects I believe - though this poll didn't include a lot of the events regarding Mary that I think is honestly bunk (the immaculate conception of her mother Anna, her remaining a virgin while married to Joseph, and especially her Assumption)

Much of that is Catholic theology.  Protestants do not believe that Mary was sinless or that she remained a virgin for her whole life (just prior to giving birth to Jesus).

Perpetual virginity of Mary extends surprisingly far into Protestantism, even including some early Evangelicals.  John Wesley believed in it. 

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

If you believe that Jesus didn't actually exist, Paul is a perfect person to pin it all on.

Paul would be a strange person to pin the Jesus stories on, considering he didn't mention a single miracle other than the Resurrection.

[RINO Tom]

Most (though not all) secular historians believe that a real Jesus existed, and was the basis of the Christian religion. However, essentially by definition, no non-Christian historian believes Jesus actually rose from the dead. Which parts of the story do you think actually happened?

I recently found out that Paul mythicists exist, which was surprising. Unlike Christ mythicists, who are a minority but not on the fringe, Paul mythicism is way out there. If you believe that Jesus didn't actually exist, Paul is a perfect person to pin it all on.

I just want to point out a subtlety in phrasing here.  "Most, not all" here is very much like saying most but not all climatologists believe in man-influenced climate change or most but not all biologists accept the theory of evolution ... the percentages of historians who think "Jesus" literally didn't exist are an incredibly fringe and small minority.  To question whether or not Jesus existed because you don't think the current evidence is satisfactory is to throw TONS of individuals who lived before modern times into question, 99% of which historians accept existed (e.g., Alexander the Great).

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I'm confident the supernatural miracles didn't happen, but Jesus definitely existed. I don't know much about the history of that period, so I can't say which of the historical events/people actually existed(but most of them probably did).