Did Jesus exist, Part II

I watched a fascinating doccie on sunday entitled: "Did Jesus Die?".In it the people interviewed basically took it for granted that Jesus was an actual person, but did bring into question his death and resurrection. since this thread isn't about that i'm not gonna go into it, but...the doccie also brought up something that i had not heard before, regarding a period of significant length in Jesus' life.It seems that in 1894 a russian doctor, Nicholas Notovitch, went to the himalayas, ended up in Tibet and found a series of ancient scrolls, detailing the life of Jesus in the region. Here he was known as St. Issa.It seems that from the ages of 13 to 29, Jesus is recorded to have lived in India, learning the teachings of Hinduism and Bhuddism.This is a link to the translatiion of these scrolls by Notovitch:
The Lost Years of JesusI've been looking around the net for other sources of this information, and what i find interesting is that many christians deny the existence of these scrolls, even though they could constitute evidence of Jesus' existence, independent of the Bible. Funny that.Edited: slight error on my part, He did not go to Tibet.This message has been edited by U can call me Cookie, 01-11-2006 02:18 AM

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

Maybe you were a little too hasty with the "no eastern flavour" statement.If you had bothered to even glance at the link ReverendDG posted, it might have been pretty eye-opening.

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

Interesting. so you concede that buddhism did reach the hellenic world before the birth of Christ.Then surely Jesus could possibly have come into contact with buddhist teachings in his lifetime.A number of scholars, even christian ones, some who have studied the life and teachings of Jesus indepth, have themselves said that Jesus reflected Bhuddhism quite strikingly, albeit through the filter of his own beliefs. Jesus and Buddhism: A Christian View Was Jesus a buddhist?
(This is just an abstract. I don't have access to Project Muse. If anyone does...please be a pal...)

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

Thanks Funk!Having read thro' Notovitch's translation myself, i can say i doubt its authenticity as well.I might be biased here, but it seemed to me, to be trying too hard to reflect the same story in the NT.

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

You really aren't looking at the links provided, are you.The paper funkaloyd provided, (for my abstract), clearly decribed the strong influences buddhism did have in the region, even in certain Jewish factions, such as the Essenes. U know...the faction , John the Baptist was part of.
I could provide you other data, but it seems pointless.You should know it better than me, that Judaism and the OT did not have that strong a hold on Jesus. If it did, you wouldn't be christian right now.

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

Of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes; which sect's belief did John's actions most closely align to?
Even from your point of reference, the Bible, it would seem to be the Essenes.This is further corroborated by the discovery of the Qumran texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which describe Essenic life and beliefs.But i agree with you, Faith. The evidence is still quite conjectural.
And yet, there is more evidence supporting this surmise, than there is of Jesus' existence.Hmmm...makes you wonder how conjectural the latter proposition is...

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

Surely you would not describe John as a member of the Pharisees or Sadducees?But it isn't only his philosophy that lends credence to him being influenced strongly by the Essenes; its also the physical things, his manner of dress, the things he ate, his early ascetic lifestyle in the desert near Qumran. all these things are a lot more suggestive than you make them out to be.In the end, i'm not saying John was Essene thro' and thro'. I concede that i cannot make that claim; but for you to claim so vehemently that he had little to do with the Essenes, and was not in the least bit influenced by them, is just as 'wrong', even more so, in the light of supporting evidence.still conjectural tho...

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

So you would assert that John acted as Elijah, who lived 800 odd years prior to his existence, than as a group that existed during his time, whose location he lived in close proximity to? The Essenes ate as he did and lived as he did.Yes, i admit that it is conjectural; yet less conjectural than the actual existence of Jesus.
With regard to supporting evidence, the Qumran texts are regarded as such.This message has been edited by U can call me Cookie, 01-13-2006 06:20 AM

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda

The qumran texts describe the life of a people living at the time. When these were found and interpreted, they were found to provide a context for John's life that made that found in the NT quite a bit more meaningful. Conjectural yes, as i said, but still supportive.Take note Faith, i am not trying to "push" an issue. This is to me, simply an interesting topic of debate; or were we not debating? If you feel otherwise, then so be it. It is of no consequence to me.

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So intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
- Pablo Neruda