Otherwise I don’t see why Christians would have made up the whole trip to Bethlehem story about a census which we have no record of. They needed the real jesus to have some reason to be in the prophecied place.
At that time in that region there were a lot of cults. It’s very likely that the Jesus figure from the bible is an amalgamation of multiple cult leaders from that period.
There probably was a historical jesus.
Otherwise I don’t see why Christians would have made up the whole trip to Bethlehem story about a census which we have no record of. They needed the real jesus to have some reason to be in the prophecied place.
At that time in that region there were a lot of cults. It’s very likely that the Jesus figure from the bible is an amalgamation of multiple cult leaders from that period.
Of course, by the definition of cult used at that time all monotheistic and henotheistic religions are cults.
Yes they are. The only difference between a cult and a religion is the number of followers.
Well no, in the first century a cult is a group which worships a single god. Like the various mystery cults that thrived in ancient Rome.