So who is Jesus and did he exist?

This was the question posed tonight on the Alpha Course and I suppose my first thought on this links back to the comment I made a few days ago about there definitely being someone called Jesus. Nicky Gumbel makes a compelling case that Jesus existed especially when he refers to the documents of the time. He talks of there being 5000 + Greek copies of the new testament written within a respectable period of Jesus life (30 - 310 years) which in historical terms is nothing, that would be the equivalent of being written now about Henry VIII and there are a lot of documents that cover that subject so that really confirms that he existed and the documents are original documents.

I also thought is it possible could they have all been written by the same person and at the moment I am not fully convinced they weren't probably because I am sceptical about everything I come into contact with. This leaves me with an interesting thought that Nicky referred to which is about Lawyers being Christian. Their job is to get evidence and if they believe then they must have enough evidence to satisfy them. Maybe I haven't got enough of the right evidence for me yet.

The other thing of note was that Nicky said he was one of three things, a liar, deluded or the Son of God. I can reasonably happily exclude liar based on what I know and I can reasonably get rid of the deluded too. That therefore logic dictates with the option of Son of God. I don't yet have the belief or whatever it is I'd need to go yep he is definitely the Son of God.

So if I have ruled the other two out why is he not the third? Well I am thinking that he performed miracles, and he did things such as the resurrection which is where I have the issue I think. These things as a human (which was his form) are impossible and I am struggling to make that link. My brain would love a fourth option at the moment but there isn't one. That is probably why this hurts my head!

The message he has is a good one, there is no doubt about that. He says great things that everyone would surely want to be part of such as "Receive me - Receive God", he was definitely a great teacher and he inspired the Christian religion. He meets the prophecies, about 300 of them anyway. Evidence is also not only written within the bible but also in other documents too.

I look around at the people around me and think "here you all are comfortable and happy in the love for you that Jesus has" and you have this spiritual life which is so wonderful. I think I would love to have that too but I find myself asking maybe too many questions. The big ones that come up are, How do you experience the power and love of Jesus? followed by How would I know if I had experienced the power and love of Jesus?

Our discussion had a great question attached to it tonight. "If you saw Jesus, what would you feel and what would you say." That was one of the easiest questions to answer and I would say, "I have seen you for myself, now I can believe."

Other discussions were about the wondrous feel people get when they look at nature, sunsets, sunrises, big open spaces, nature and how wonderful it is and that it gives people a spiritual feeling. Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I think, that is pretty or that is nice, or that is big compared to me but spiritual probably not. If I look up in the sky on a clear day (not at the sun because that would hurt my eyes) I feel dizzy and sick but I don't think that counts.

Overall I feel a little down tonight, I came away with more questions than answers, why didn't anyone write about Jesus till he was 30? Was Christianity around before Jesus? Where an when were the prophecies written that were written that Jesus foretold? Why can't I just take it as being accurate? Why do I have to continually fight the whole thing? What am I missing out on? The people were lovely and great and they provided everything they can. I need to mull this over and make sense of it as it was a real struggle tonight and I feel like I have missed something. Everyone finds a piece of inspiration it seems that leads them in the direction of Jesus. If I am supposed to find one, where is it and am I going to miss it when it does occur. Anyway I'll add some more over the weekend. Till then.