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Returning the thread to the original question, one of the best proofs that Jesus did indeed exist is the gospels themselves (and here I refer to not just the four canonical gospels but also "heretical" gospels like the gospel of thomas). Lets remember that they all appeared in different places, each one using different sources and quoting different material (except that mathew and luke both used mark as a source) and all coming up with a very simmilar portrait of Jesus. Either there is some truth underlying this, or there was an unbelivably effieient conspriracy allowing the early christians to get their stories straight.
The fact that we no little about Jesus' early life is of little concern. The Gospel writers was only concerned with those parts of Jesus' life that affected people's faith.
Finally, there are the non-christian sources about Jesus. The best is Josephus, and while some people think that he was edited by later christians most agree that he does, at least, mention Jesus since he uses words and phrases about him that appear nowhere in christian texts. Also, in early Jewish criticizems of Jesus, there is never the claim the Jesus didn't exist, only that he was not who he claimed to be.
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