First, I must introduce myself as an atheist. I do not believe that the Jesus of the NT is real; he is a myth. How can we validate his existence with what is described in the NT? Yeshua, the man, was nothing like the demigod portrayed in the NT. The Christ of the NT is a myth, although a valuable myth because embedded in the myth are some truths. When are we going to see that within the myth of the NT is embedded truth but not history? The NT is about theology, not history. There may have been a person named Yeshua ben Yosef who was dynamically charismatic and able to move people, but he was not a demigod. When he died, he died. No resurrection, unless it is seen as symbolic: love rose. The Jesus of the NT never existed. He is a creation of the early church, embellished by the institutional church that followed.  

• Smimbleshanks, the Railway Cat