Ben Wilson

But if you just forget what you know, it is so remarkable that this occurred from a man who never traveled more than 150 miles from home in his adult life, someone with no formal higher education, someone who died before he was my age. You know, I want you to imagine that you time travel to the year 4,000, okay, 2,000 years from now.

But if you just forget what you know, it is so remarkable that this occurred from a man who never traveled more than 150 miles from home in his adult life, someone with no formal higher education, someone who died before he was my age. You know, I want you to imagine that you time travel to the year 4,000, okay, 2,000 years from now.

And you are looking around at the flying cars and you manage to flag someone down and talk to them. And he explains what the world is like. And you find out that 10 billion people, a third of the world's population, follow the teachings of someone named John or Pierre. And he was born in a small coastal town near Paris and he never left France. He only had a few hundred followers when he died.

And you are looking around at the flying cars and you manage to flag someone down and talk to them. And he explains what the world is like. And you find out that 10 billion people, a third of the world's population, follow the teachings of someone named John or Pierre. And he was born in a small coastal town near Paris and he never left France. He only had a few hundred followers when he died.

But now his religion is the largest on earth. How desperate would you be to know what it was about this person and his teachings that led to this situation? So that's what we're going to look at today. I'm not coming at this from a Christian perspective necessarily. I'm not going to try and convince you to believe in Jesus.

But now his religion is the largest on earth. How desperate would you be to know what it was about this person and his teachings that led to this situation? So that's what we're going to look at today. I'm not coming at this from a Christian perspective necessarily. I'm not going to try and convince you to believe in Jesus.

I am trying to take a look at the historical Jesus and I'll go over the basics of who he was and what he did in his life and what it was that led him to take over the world. You know, how do you lead like Jesus and how do you create a following the way that he did? Okay, so having said that, I am going to be using the four gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to analyze his life.

I am trying to take a look at the historical Jesus and I'll go over the basics of who he was and what he did in his life and what it was that led him to take over the world. You know, how do you lead like Jesus and how do you create a following the way that he did? Okay, so having said that, I am going to be using the four gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to analyze his life.

These aren't objective historical documents, right? They definitely have a perspective. They are trying to convince you that Jesus was the Messiah and the son of God. They certainly are not correct in every little minute detail. They don't agree with each other in every little minute detail.

These aren't objective historical documents, right? They definitely have a perspective. They are trying to convince you that Jesus was the Messiah and the son of God. They certainly are not correct in every little minute detail. They don't agree with each other in every little minute detail.

But for one thing, the Jesus as presented in the Gospels is the one who took over the world, if that makes sense, right? Most people who became followers of Jesus never met him. It was this person as presented in the Gospels that became so popular. So that is who we want to understand.

But for one thing, the Jesus as presented in the Gospels is the one who took over the world, if that makes sense, right? Most people who became followers of Jesus never met him. It was this person as presented in the Gospels that became so popular. So that is who we want to understand.

If non-Christians are correct, that he was just a man and that the miracles attested to in the Bible are either exaggerations or fabrications, then it's still the Jesus of the Bible who we want to understand, even if he is more literary character than historical character. It is still that character who captured the world's imagination.

If non-Christians are correct, that he was just a man and that the miracles attested to in the Bible are either exaggerations or fabrications, then it's still the Jesus of the Bible who we want to understand, even if he is more literary character than historical character. It is still that character who captured the world's imagination.

And then secondly, there are a lot of reasons to believe that the Gospels are correct, at least in the broad details of Jesus's life. There is one school of thought that suggests that the gospels were written by people who were more than 15 degrees of contact removed from Jesus and have no relation to the truth whatsoever. But I just don't find that reasoning very compelling.

And then secondly, there are a lot of reasons to believe that the Gospels are correct, at least in the broad details of Jesus's life. There is one school of thought that suggests that the gospels were written by people who were more than 15 degrees of contact removed from Jesus and have no relation to the truth whatsoever. But I just don't find that reasoning very compelling.

People have a number of biases and the gospel writers certainly had biases. They were not objective historians trying to write a non-biased account. But one bias people have is for the truth. Even when they are biased in other ways and they have other motivations, people prefer to tell the truth where possible. The truth is always cleaner, simpler, and more easy to explain than lies.

People have a number of biases and the gospel writers certainly had biases. They were not objective historians trying to write a non-biased account. But one bias people have is for the truth. Even when they are biased in other ways and they have other motivations, people prefer to tell the truth where possible. The truth is always cleaner, simpler, and more easy to explain than lies.

And so I think even from a historical, secular perspective, there's probably a lot of truth about the life of Jesus in the Gospels. And in addition, you can see the writers of the Gospels trying to wrestle with and explain inconvenient historical facts. If the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life have no relationship to his actual historical life whatsoever, then why do they include these facts?

And so I think even from a historical, secular perspective, there's probably a lot of truth about the life of Jesus in the Gospels. And in addition, you can see the writers of the Gospels trying to wrestle with and explain inconvenient historical facts. If the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life have no relationship to his actual historical life whatsoever, then why do they include these facts?