How do you, or the majority of christians, know that Jesus was the Messiah?  There are so many other messiah stories that occurred thousands of years before Christ, and all the ones I've read have the same story as Jesus.  How would you know if the Jesus story is plagiarized from other messianic tales?
Sincerely,
Cite Your Sources

Dear Cite Your Sources,

The differences are in the details – the story of Jesus’ life has lots of them.  History has lots of myths and fables of people performing otherworldly deeds, but when someone tells a myth, it never has specific details, and it never can be corroborated.  Jesus’ life is exactly the opposite.

• We know exactly when He was born and in what city (Lk 2:1-4).
• We know His exact name and family lineage (Matt 1:1-17).
• We know how He died, where He died (Jhn 19:17), and where He was buried (Mk 15:43).
• There were eyewitnesses to the empty tomb (Mk 16:3-5).
• There were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus (1 Cor 15:4-8).

Jesus was attested to by His followers as well as secular writers, like Josephus.  There is a clear and accurate historical record of Jesus’ life that was written within a generation of His lifetime and was undisputed by those most capable of presenting evidence against His resurrection.  Early Christianity flourished because of Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and the ready and available evidence to corroborate the story.  Unlike myths and fairy tales, Jesus’ life is detailed, documented, and corroborated by the historians and contemporaries of His day.   SB