No Jesus?

I have to admit – the headline got my attention. “If Jesus Never Existed, Religion May Be Fiction”  (Huff Post, Nigel Barber) What? No Jesus?

Am I going to have to ignore all those who speak of “knowing” Him. Here, in part, is what Mr. Barber is quoted as writing:

“Historical analysis finds no clear evidence that Jesus existed. If not, Christianity was fabricated, just like Mormonism and other religions. Why do people choose to believe religious fictions?Given the depth of religious tradition in Christian countries, where the “Christian era” calendar is based upon the presumed life of Jesus, it would be astonishing if there was no evidence of a historical Jesus. After all, in an era when there were scores of messianic prophets, why go to the trouble of making one up? Various historical scholars attempted to authenticate Jesus in the historical record, particularly in the work of Jesus-era writers. Michael Paulkovich found an astonishing absence of evidence for the existence of Jesus in history. ‘Historian Flavius Josephus published his Jewish Wars circa 95 CE. He had lived in Japhia, one mile from Nazareth – yet Josephus seems unaware of both Nazareth and Jesus.’He is at pains to discredit interpolations in this work that “made him appear to write of Jesus when he did not.’ Most religious historians take a more nuanced view agreeing that Christian scholars added their own pieces much later but maintaining that the historical reference to Jesus was present in the original. Yet, a fudged text is not compelling evidence for anything. Paulkovich consulted no fewer than 126 historians (including Josephus) who lived in the period and ought to have been aware of Jesus if he had existed and performed the miracles that supposedly drew a great deal of popular attention. Of the 126 writers who should have written about Jesus, not a single one did so (if one accepts Paulkovich’s view that the Jesus references in Josephus are interpolated).”

Would I be demonstrating my ignorance if I asked about the “writers” (may I call them historians) who wrote the 66 books of the Bible? Are all their references to Jesus (using a number of other designations particularly in the Old Testament)  interpolated?

Would I be castigated for asking about the multitude of people who have confessed to knowing Jesus through out the 2000 + years since His Incarnation and resurrection? I have personally known Him for over 65 years – He is my friend, closer than a brother, my Savior in whom I delight, and my Lord, ruling and reigning in my day to day existence. I have seen the changes He makes in life and people, and I know the power of His Spirit in my life and that of others.

I think I will re-read some of Flavius’ writing.  I have a copy. I am disappointed if he lived only a mile from Nazareth and didn’t know it was there. I know it is there, and I live thousands of miles away. I have walked it’s streets, and visited it’s sights. Surely no historian could have missed the presence of God on Earth – on second thought, millions of people on Earth have missed Him, and millions more continue to miss Him.