The historical Jesus was almost certainly a real person. Maybe he was a revolutionary against the Roman occupation and the severe social stratification and inequities of the time and that was why he was executed. But that's all. The claim that Jesus rose from the dead was a lie - probably started by certain early Christians, before they were even called Chrisitians, in order to bring hope and strength to the movement. But today, when a priest in Church claimes Jesus was the Son of God and rose from the dead, I'm not so sure its fair to say he's lying. He ought to know better, but this set of memes is very old and very powerful, so. But originally way back in the beginning, someone lied.