Why do people believe in Jesus?

Answer 1

* Some people believe that historically, Jesus did walk the earth. Whether or not he was the son of God is more the question. === === * It may be because their parents told them to or they were feeling vulnerable and somebody told them an easy way to feel loved. Sometimes a feeling of profound spiritual revelation can lead people towards a religion. They tend to choose the one which is dominant in the culture which they grew up in.The original Christians were just one more cult in the Roman Empire, whose myths (virgin birth, father called "Joseph", 12 disciples, healing the sick, raising the dead, various other miracles, being the son of God, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension to Heaven etc) were all just re-hashes of existing myths around Mithras, Horus and other well-known gods. So they were not out of the ordinary in what they believed, really. Strange cults were all the rage. So the original converts were not doing anything unusual by the standards of the day: it took Nero seeking a scapegoat to make the Christians anything different to the other minor cults of the day. Constantine's conversion propelled a minor cult into Official Imperial Religion overnight, and established the sub-sect which became Catholicism as a world power. == == * In the first instance, people believed in Jesus because they saw Him and heard His teaching and saw the miracles He performed. After He was crucified, they were in fear that they themselves would also be arrested as His followers and so hid behind locked doors. Something happened several days later to change all that. Many and various theories have been put forward over the years to try to explain away the central event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. None of them bear scrutiny, nor do any of them explain how people could die for a hoax they knew to be a hoax. Those who wrote the New Testament were either personal eyewitnesses or knew those who were, of Jesus Christ, whose feet left prints in the sand on the shores of Galilee. People are ready to believe that many other ancient historical figures, for which there is vastly less evidence actually existed. The question ultimately is not that Jesus existed but who He is.

* People today believe for a variety of reasons, as different as each individual. Some come to believe through being told about Jesus by others. Some come to believe through reading The Bible and seeing the emptiness in their lives or looking up at the stars and wondering about how it came to be without ever going into a church. Others, who were convinced skeptics, have looked at all the evidence and been convinced by it and changed as a result. However it happens, lives are changed and one cannot ignore that power of God called the Holy Spirit who is personally unknown to those who do not believe but who, like Jesus, is precious to those who believe today. Some even suffer imprisonment, torture, or even death to this very day for Jesus' sake because they know Him in whom they have believed. * The same reason anyone accepts any religious doctrine as universal Truth... cultural conditioning.

Answer 2

* Some people believe that historically, Jesus did walk the earth. Whether or not he was the son of God is more the question. === === * It may be because their parents told them to or they were feeling vulnerable and somebody told them an easy way to feel loved. Sometimes a feeling of profound spiritual revelation can lead people towards a religion. They tend to choose the one which is dominant in the culture which they grew up in.The original Christians were just one more cult in the Roman Empire, whose myths (virgin birth, father called "Joseph", 12 disciples, healing the sick, raising the dead, various other miracles, being the son of God, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension to Heaven etc) were all just re-hashes of existing myths around Mithras, Horus and other well-known gods. So they were not out of the ordinary in what they believed, really. Strange cults were all the rage. So the original converts were not doing anything unusual by the standards of the day: it took Nero seeking a scapegoat to make the Christians anything different to the other minor cults of the day. Constantine's conversion propelled a minor cult into Official Imperial Religion overnight, and established the sub-sect which became Catholicism as a world power. == == * In the first instance, people believed in Jesus because they saw Him and heard His teaching and saw the miracles He performed. After He was crucified, they were in fear that they themselves would also be arrested as His followers and so hid behind locked doors. Something happened several days later to change all that. Many and various theories have been put forward over the years to try to explain away the central event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. None of them bear scrutiny, nor do any of them explain how people could die for a hoax they knew to be a hoax. Those who wrote the New Testament were either personal eyewitnesses or knew those who were, of Jesus Christ, whose feet left prints in the sand on the shores of Galilee. People are ready to believe that many other ancient historical figures, for which there is vastly less evidence actually existed. The question ultimately is not that Jesus existed but who He is.

* People today believe for a variety of reasons, as different as each individual. Some come to believe through being told about Jesus by others. Some come to believe through reading the Bible and seeing the emptiness in their lives or looking up at the stars and wondering about how it came to be without ever going into a church. Others, who were convinced skeptics, have looked at all the evidence and been convinced by it and changed as a result. However it happens, lives are changed and one cannot ignore that power of God called the Holy Spirit who is personally unknown to those who do not believe but who, like Jesus, is precious to those who believe today. Some even suffer imprisonment, torture, or even death to this very day for Jesus' sake because they know Him in whom they have believed. * The same reason anyone accepts any religious doctrine as universal Truth... cultural conditioning.