[whitecrow]

It's refreshing beyond words to see that people really can discuss this question without hostility. So many good posts. Everyone has brought good points to the table.

I don't think that the person we call Jesus actually existed. I'll put that another way: I don't think the biography we have inherited in the Bible is a factual account of a real person. I think those stories are based on a real person, possibly several people, but so many myths and legends are attached to this person that it's impossible to separate fact from embellishment.

I haven't yet used the word truth. I do think the Bible is true, or rather that it reveals profound truths.

The Bahá'is have an important concept in their theology, that of Manifestations. In Bahá'i belief, the Prime Source has conveyed certain key truths to mankind repeatedly, through Manifestations. Manifestations were actual people, like that mysterious individual we call Jesus. Buddha was one. Krishna was one. So was Moses. Bahá'is recognize Muhammad also, and acknowledge that many Manifestations are not known to history. There are those who would include Quetzalcoatl, Deganawidah (teacher of Hiawatha) and White Buffalo Calf Woman in this category. In the Bahá'i teachings, these were followed in modern times by The Báb and Bahá'u'llah.

The importance of the concept lies in the fact that these teachings continue in the form of the world's great religions, and that they all teach the same rules of conduct. Love God. Love each other. Treat each other as holy. Everything else is either commentary or social teachings appropriate to the culture to which it was revealed.