What do you believe about Jesus?

Answer 1

There are many views about Jesus. Of course, the dominant view in Christian countries is based on the gospels, which tell us that Jesus was the Son of God, that he lived in Palestine in the first century and that he died for our sins. The Islamic view is that he was a prophet of God and a predecessor to Muhammad, but was not divine. A very different view is that the gospel Jesus did not really exist, and that Jesus was originally worshipped as a spiritual saviour in heaven, but that the author of Mark's Gospel created a story of Jesus of Nazareth, possibly to deflect Roman interest in what this strange sect really believed. On that view, people began to believe the gospel story and even rewrite it in improved forms, much to the surprise of its author. One extension of this view is that Christianity was an underground Jewish religion, possibly based on the sun god, while another is that it was a version of the mystery religions that had become popular around that time.

I believe that the view that Jesus of Nazareth did not really exist is the most credible, athough I would not entirely rule out his existence.