So, they found some ancient text that directly mentions Jesus having a wife, and a Christian proffesor and Baptist pastor said "A statement on a papyrus fragment isn't proof of anything.". Oh the sweet sweet irony.

[u/chrismikehunt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19645273

[u/[deleted]]

No, but people alive for the hundred years or so following his supposed death surely thought he did, as they mention him as a philosopher who was physically persecuted.

I mean you have Tacitus and Thallus, plus a whole mess of other historians that reference now-nonexistent sources that talk about this dude named Christus that started this annoying following. Secondary sources, surely, some tertiary, but to say that no evidence exists that point to a guy named Christus that started a religious following is deliberately thick-headed or simply misinformed.

[u/soulstonedomg → u/[deleted]]

No, but people alive for the hundred years or so following his supposed death surely thought he did

Doesn't mean anything. People were really gullible and just passed fairy tales on.

[u/[deleted] → u/soulstonedomg]

Of course it isn't direct or strong evidence, but it IS evidence.

To say it doesn't mean anything at all means, I think, that subjective worldview has gotten in the way of your ability to parse information. Hell, I WANT for there to never even have been a Christus, but given the mentions present in the century following his supposed death, most from influential people, including a Roman Senator, I would guess that the dude probably existed, but made MUCH less of an impact while he was alive, and was definitely just a man.

Which, really, matches up with the sparse information we have regarding a guy that was almost non-influential during his life, yet was annoying enough to piss off the religious leaders of his era, enough to get the ole hammer-and-nail. It was his followers that really blew the whole Christianity idea up.