You will hear a lot of people nowadays who are uneducated or wrongly educated on the subject tell you that Jesus was a myth, he was made up! now actual historians normally do not debate that Jesus was a real person, this will go into what actual evidence there is to prove Jesus was who the bible said he is so atheists can't say he was not real!
But i also hear arguments that say OK he was real, but he was not divine, he was not anything special basically! this is based upon nothing more than unbelieving speculation rather than on actual evidence.
So the 2 claims:
1, Jesus is a myth, never existed
2, he existed, but he wasn't special or did what the bible said he did (no evidence)
Well we could enjoy what people who were born in the 18th 19th and 20th century have to say about Jesus, even though they have nothing positive to back their claims, or we could go to the historic works of a man called Josephus.
Josephus was a recorder of events in his time, he was born 37 AD - 100 AD and he lived in Jerusalem, Now this man recorded many, many events that we know took place, he recorded the Roman empire and the death of Caligula, the death of Claudius, the rise to power of the cruel Emperor Nero, he recorded many events that had taken place in his day.
He is a credible source of information.
Now! To the people living in the year 2012AD saying Jesus did not exist, lets see what Josephus has to say,
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared."
- Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3 §63
(Based on the translation of Louis H. Feldman, The Loeb Classical Library.)
(Based on the translation of Louis H. Feldman, The Loeb Classical Library.)
That account is from a man, living in the times of the apostles! If he never mentioned Jesus, you would not debate his authenticity, but regardless he tells us "upon the accusation of the principal men among us" - was Jesus not brought before the Roman Pharisee's and wise men? well that lines up, "Pilate condemned him to a cross" - hold on a minute, that's what the bible says happened as well! then he actually describes that Jesus died and returned to life for a day, and walked with people, and God did foretell these things! and the tribe of the Christians has still not disappeared to this day, the book Jewish Antiquities was written by Josephus in the year 93 AD, he was older and a lot wiser, and had seen a lot in his time, his records of history line up perfect in every word, not only with his account of Jesus, but all of his other records of events as well, they are events we know happened!
Remember he was living in the day, and had spoken with people who were eye-witness to the miracles Jesus performed, now if a man brings another man back to life, that's something the people who see that happening will talk about FOR A WHILE, Josephus would here these stories and obviously conclude this man was the messiah, and he did, and he even recorded it for all to see.
That is but one historic recording of Jesus from a highly credible source, who basically gives the same description of Jesus as the bible gives, from eye witness accounts. Josephus even has a record of John the Baptist and also King Herod so now we have another proof the bibles account of Jesus was accurate!
Josephus writes...
"Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: forHerod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness." - Flavius Josephus - Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 5, par. 2
There really is no disputing this historical record, there is a lot more of Josephus works out there available free on the Internet,
Here's a good website about Josephus is you want to learn more about him and all the other things he has documented Josephus Info.
But there are more records of Jesus, who lived in this time period, and performed great things, like the bible says, this time its a different mans writings of Jesus we have to go on.
The second source is the historian known as Tacitus alive in 56AD - 120AD, his most famous and important is his work The Annals of Tacitus, the work is a historic account of Rome year by year, they have discovered 2/3 of the total amount of Annals that were written, we have 40 out of 54, this man recorded events for 50 years, he records the fire of Rome that happened in 64AD and how Nero persecuted Christians to escape the blame, he was responsible for the fire of course. I will now quote his work Annals and see what he has to say and see how it lines up with the bible...
"But not all the relief that could come from man, not all the bounties that the prince could bestow, nor all the atonements which could be presented to the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the conflagration, the fire of Rome. Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind." - Annals 15.44
So to the people arguing that Christ was not a real person, you are wrong, i will listen to the men of the time, before i listen to you saying he did not exist with literally nothing to back it up, we know he was real from historic accounts! For more information of the historian Tacitus try Cornelius Tacitus Info.
He tells us Christus, the founder of the name Christians AKA Jesus. He recognises this man as a real figure, whom the Christians followed, and then confirms he was put to death by Pontius Pilate, wow you would almost think the bible had it right!
Now i was going to finish it with that, because those too accounts alone should be enough to convince you, but for those almost there but not there yet, here is one last account, lets look at a Bible passage first...
"And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." - Luke 23:44-46
The Bible clearly tells us that when Jesus died, there was an Eclipse of the sun, for 3 hours, and then "the veil of the temple was rent in the midst" - basically saying the coverings on the temple were tore in the middle, an earthquake shook the earth at the time of Christs death, and tore the temple, if the story of Christ in the bible was untrue, then there would be no historic account to verify it, but a man called Thallus has an account of such an event.
Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. His writings are only found when they are quoted by another, His work is quoted by a man named Julius Africanus, who wrote in about 221 AD and mentioned the account that Thallus wrote about an eclipse of the sun... LIKE THE BIBLE SPOKE ABOUT AT THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
"On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun."
This is historic proof, historic records of bible accounts being accurate, by people of the time, If you haven't accepted the King James Bible as the word of God yet, and have started praying to Jesus, and asking him to forgive you, then i would be worried, if you die unsaved, you don't get a second chance!
please take notice to these historic references and don't be fooled by the Devils deceit in these end times! he has control of everything don't be deceived its your eternal life on the line and the devil doesn't want you to have it!
So the claims:
2, he existed, but he wasn't special or did what the bible said he did (no evidence)
Well, claim #1 is out the window, Christ definitely existed, and Claim #2, he existed but was not special like the bible teaches? well i ask that if the historic records line up with everything the bible says happened to Jesus, why is he not also special like the bible says?
If you really want to delude yourself Jesus was just another figure, of non-importance, you wont enter Heaven, ever.
Please consider it brothers and sisters! i don't want to see any of you on judgement day say, well i didn't know! YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD !
Here's a link to some other HISTORIC REFERENCES WHICH PROVE THE BIBLE, please think about it and get saved, Jesus died for your sins, if you don't accept him you wont get the gifts of God!
May God Bless you Team
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