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Whether the stories told about him are true or not is a different question.

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Between the gospels (Matthew, Mark , Luke and John) "there is enough of a discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they were all independant narrators of the same great transaction."

The writers had nothing to gain from putting this out there, but they faced persecution because of it. They seem to have written down what they saw and put it out there because they believed it.

there is also reason to believe that Jesus' biographies were reliably preserved for us to read today. This is why it is understood that Jesus was a real person and did the things that are attributed to Him.

The case for christ, written by Lee Strobel, is full of evidence supporting the belief that Jesus was a real person.
He was an atheist too.