Religion
In reply to the discussion: Was Jesus even born? [View all]While a conspiracy is far more likely than a divine being, there did not need to be a conspiracy for people who may not have known each other to assume he existed and did at least some of the things ascribed to him. Remember that the oldest part of the NT is the letters of Paul, written perhaps in AD 40. Mark comes at about 60, Luke, Matthew, and Acts about 75, and John just after the turn of the century. Much of the history of the of the early church was orally transmitted and presumably embellished (since the earliest accounts have far few miracles and stories than later ones) before being reduced to writing. Most people were illiterate so the basic narrative existed in their memories or memories of stories, rather than as written instructions. This is also why there were so many Christian varieties in those days.