Hello Frederick,

Yes, Jesus Christ is a myth. I don't think anyone doubts that. The church invented him very early on, in layers, adding to the myth as time progressed, borrowing from other mythologies. Eventually, Jesus the Christ evolved.

As for Yeshua bar Yosef's reality, some individual inspired the growth of the early groups of people who all claimed to believe something about this individual. A group of Galileans sold their belongings and moved to Jerusalem to wait for a return. In the end, they were killed still professing what they believed. Those are pretty extreme activities for any group if they were creating a fictitious person and not getting something from it.

But we could argue about something like that all day and not really know anything more. That was 2,000 years ago.

All that mattered in the words we have ascribed to this person was that people should feel they can get knowledge about their place in the universe directly, without relying on anyone in the physical realm to have the "right" answers (orthodox). And what matters in life is to live in love, compassion, and brotherhood with others.

So even those words tell us to look within for our spiritual growth. We have to grow in wisdom, love, and compassion today, as individuals, without being shackled to any set of teachings or any person as a teacher from any time. Your introspection is as spiritual as anyone else's, regardless of a belief label we might put on ourselves.

But we can be inspired by someone's words. I like Rumi, and Wayne Dyer, and Marianne Williamson, and I like the words ascribed to Yeshua bar Yosef. They help me think through things about myself and my relationship to other people and the universe. That's why I look to the words in the holy books of all faiths, not because I'm trying to follow a man-god.

Love and peace, Craig