We should discuss this issue further in its own thread.
But I agree with @simonize – the claim that there was a wandering religious teacher at the time is far from extraordinary. That there should be supernatural claims made about him is also not hard to believe. The idea that these claims are both literally true and the most significant events in history is more difficult to swallow. I’ve had people ask me what evidence would convince me of the literal truth of the whole Bible, and particularly the claims about Jesus. I don’t even know where to start, as the question itself presupposes that this is all some kind of untested hypothesis. I generally answer by saying something like “I don’t know. A lot more than claims like that doctors wouldn’t lie or that people wouldn’t lie to continue a cult when their life is on the line, or that people couldn’t mistakenly believe something that becomes a world religion. Something that isn’t routinely disproven by observing many cults nowadays, at the very least.”
As for questions about the existence of some guy called Jesus who is loosely the basis for the Gospels, I don’t think it matters too much whether he did or didn’t exist, or whether the stories were actually based on many people, the sun god or anything else. There’s enough time since the alleged time of death for myths to develop (which they do even with living cult leaders), and I find it easier to believe that someone existed to hang these myths onto. Who knows though – it’s not like the information we have is particularly reliable.
