I didn't. I asked a question.

@BCCPT2001 Actually, by posing your question as a statement of a factual happening, and then soliciting comment on it as if it were a real happening, on an atheist website, i think my question about your question is quite valid.

Some historians agree with that. But after he saw what happened to John he changed his tactics.

This is one of the reasons I believe that both Jesus and John the Baptist were historical figures. Such an embarrassing incident event as Jesus coming to John for baptism didn't fit in with the narrative of Jesus as God or with the narrative of Jesus as specially appointed by God, and I doubt it would have been included in the gospels had the writers not be forced to by the fact that the incident was well known among his contemporaries. To me, this says that Jesus was one of John's followers prior to starting his own ministry.

It's very interesting how one of the Gospels desperately tries to write John 'The Baptist out of the narrative. Yet even today there's a small group of people in the Middle East who regard John "The Baptist" in higher regard than Jesus (Joshua)

@WTSharpe Yes, I have read also read this speculation that Jesus was a disciple of John's and this had to be subsequently downplayed. Whether one considers this history or mythology, or a combination of the two, it is interesting. Dr. Richard Carrier (Mythicist) has emphasized early Christians' indifference to historical fact. Whether one agree with his mythicist view of Jesus or not, I think this point is beyond dispute.

@atheist Yes, what evidence indeed? Good question. Certainly no contemporaneous sources that I'm aware of. To me its like arguing over who was worse - The Joker or The Riddler at Gotham.

@MrBrown it is true that I do not presume the Bible to be fiction, but neither do I presume it is non-fiction. Much of it is obviously not based in fact, but that doesn't mean that everything the various writers wrote about was fictional. The attempt to determine how much is factual and how much is folklore has not been completely fruitless.

@atheist I know of no extra-Biblical evidence referring to a flesh and blood Jesus. A much-disputed passage in Josephus is often pointed to as proof, but I am personally convinced that passage is a forgery. Nonetheless I believe such a man existed. I don't believe the claims of divinity, and I feel much of his biography was invented by his later biographers, but I believe Jesus the man existed just as I believe Joseph Smith and Mohammed were real, flesh and blood human beings. Paul, the first Christian to leave any kind of written reword behind, never met Jesus (unless you include his visions, which I don't), but he does record meetings with some of the twelve who were among Jesus's most loyal followers. Moreover, the contentious nature of some of those meetings give them the ring of truth. These don't sound like incidents that Paul made up simply to enhance his stature among the faithful. A citizen of Nazareth? Probably so. The very ordinariness of the place makes it seem plausible. What glory does anyone add to their resume by claiming to be from the sticks? Born in Bethlehem? Very doubtful. Resume padding by the authors of Luke and Matthew (and perhaps Q) to make it appear as if his birth was in accordance with prophecy.

"Record", not "reword". Damned Swype! ????

@WTSharpe There is reference in Roman historian Tacitus, in notes, to events suggesting the crucifixion of Jesus, but again it is strongly suspected it was a later addition. You are right, there are no generally accepted and validated accounts in non biblical sources about the life and death of Jesus, or even the early so-called Jesus cult. And this, the so called greatest story ever told, during such a important period of Roman history, the Julian-Claudian emperors, of which there are a surprisingly high number of primary sources, both histories and documents, and yet nothing about these apparently amazing events. Not one. As more than one Christian has said to me, "It doesn't matter who the real Jesus was, and everything we say about Jesus is true." My mouth just drops.