and phantom, i can understand how you don't believe in god, but it's really inaccurate to say jesus didn't exist. there is so much historical evidence that shows he has walked this earth. to say that he hadn't wouldn't just be a disagreement of opinion, it would be false. it's understandable to believe that he isn't the son of god if you'd like, which i believe, but to say he never existed? well, that's just incorrect.
You did read my post right? Where I said I 'doubt'; 'doubt' meaning the possibility that he did. And then my next sentence where I explain that if my doubt wasn't correct, what I thought he was?
Also, there is much reason for doubt, that I will explain here, to explain said doubt.
The discussion on whether Jesus was an actual being that walked the Earth, meaning that a man existed - during 0AD to approximately 33 AD, or 0CE-33CE - matching descriptions and events noted to be attributed to his person, is called 'historical Jesus'.
In fact there are many different theories attributed to historical Jesus, that can lead to understandable doubt that a man, as described in the Bible, never existed as described, or was a completely different person entirely.
Let's look first into what is commonly understood as fact, Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, and what empirical evidence we have for it.
First, there are relics. A relic is a religious object that is associated to a Saint or religious figure of importance. This can be anything from a literal piece of a saint, a toenail for instance, or an item, a piece of the crucifixion cross. There are many of these objects and they were a common form of business for the early church, "Here have a saint's earwax!" Other relics were commonly taken back from the Crusades, like water from the river Jordan, for example, was a hot commodity. People would travel hundreds of miles and pay their life's worth for such an item. And every Catholic church HAS to have a relic beneath their altar or they are not officially seen as a church.
Now, what relics do we have to associate with Jesus, and are they sufficient to place as empirical evidence?
The Shroud of Turin is a common story within the church. It is claimed to be the shroud in which Jesus' body was buried in the tomb. It bears a negative, so to speak, of a body that was most likely crucified, and the face bears much likeness to that which is familiar to many as Jesus. Though the Shroud is a falsehood. When it was dated it did not date to the time of Jesus, but rather the 14th century. Even without the dating, it is impossible to know if that was him. Many, many people were crucified over history. It's a needle in a haystack, honestly.
Pieces of the True Cross, the cross that Jesus was killed on, exist all over the world. Many are used as relics for churches, others, family treasures... but here's the thing, there are too many of them. It is said that if they were to be put back together it would be enough to build a ship. The Nails of the cross have also allegedly been found, but they could easily have been from one of the many, many, many other crucifixions in history, especially during that time period.
As for textual knowledge, there is little to go on. Most are confirmed fake one way or another.
Many who believe he existed as the story says, are gripping at the straws of majority opinion.
Now let's look at the Bible, the largest evidence that he existed. You can link to barely known archaeological sites as much as you want, but still the strongest evidence is the Bible, sadly enough. And as some one already said here, it's not a historical document.
The Bible contradicts itself in so many ways, and the story of Jesus, the Gospels, are no different. There are four Gospels that are in the current Bible. I say current because many many books were removed from the Bible or never accepted, many contradicting the others in amazing ways, like the Gospel of Judas, which obviously was never added in any version. It disagrees in many things, some small, others notsomuch. There are many things that happened in that time that can be confirmed. Others that cannot. IE: The Massacre of the Innocents, of which there is no evidence of other than Biblical or religious texts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory