WAS JESUS A "REAL" PERSON?? SHOCKING REVELATIONS....?
Did Jesus Christ really exist, or is Christianity built upon a legend? Few scholars question Jesus' existence, but some enemies of Christianity are attempting to prove otherwise. In a lawsuit against the Vatican, the Church was accused of inventing the story of Jesus' existence. Although the case was thrown out of court in February, 2006, the plaintiff, Luigi Cascioli, appealed, but ultimately his case was closed. Johnson and a blue-ribbon panel of religious leaders were discussing the question, “What happens after we die?†on a Larry King Live CNN broadcast. The usually unflappable King paused reflectively and then replied, “So you don’t believe there was a Jesus Christ?†With an air of certainty, Johnson responded, “There was not. It is not what I believe; there is no secular evidence that JC, Jesus Christ, ever existded." So, how can we know for sure that this man, whom many worship and others curse, was real? Is Johnson right when she asserts that Jesus Christ is a “compilation from other godsâ€? And is Russell right when he says that Jesus’ existence is “quite doubtfulâ€? Early Non-Christian Accounts So, which first-century historians who wrote of Jesus did not have a Christian agenda? First of all, let’s look to Jesus’ enemies. His Jewish opponents had the most to gain by denying Jesus’ existence. But the evidence points in the opposite direction. “Several Jewish writings also tell of His flesh-and-blood existence. Both Gemaras of the Jewish Talmud refer to Jesus. Although these consist of only a few brief, bitter passages intended to discount Jesus’ deity, these very early Jewish writings don’t begin to hint that he was not a historical person.â€5 Flavius Josephus was a noted Jewish historian who began writing under Roman authority in a.d. 67. Josephus, who was born just a few years after Jesus died, would have been keenly aware of Jesus’ reputation among both Romans and Jews. In his famous Antiquities of the Jews (a.d. 93), Josephus wrote of Jesus as a real person. “At that time lived Jesus, a holy man, if man he may be called, for he performed wonderful works, and taught men, and joyfully received the truth. And he was followed by many Jews and many Greeks. He was the Messiah.â€6 Although there is dispute about some of the wording in the account, especially the reference to Jesus being the Messiah (scholars are skeptical, thinking that Christians inserted this phrase), certainly Josephus confirmed his existence. What about secular historians—those who lived in ancient times but weren’t religiously motivated? There is current confirmation of at least 19 early secular writers who made references to Jesus as a real person.7 One of antiquity’s greatest historians, Cornelius Tacitus, affirmed that Jesus had suffered under Pilate. Tacitus was born around 25 years after Jesus died, and he had seen the spread of Christianity begin to impact Rome. The Roman historian wrote negatively of Christ and Christians, identifying them in a.d. 115 as “a race of men detested for their evil practices, and commonly called Chrestiani. The name was derived from Chrestus, who, in the reign of Tiberius, suffered under Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea.†The following facts about Jesus were written by early non-Christian sources: •Jesus was from Nazareth. •Jesus lived a wise and virtuous life. •Jesus was crucified in Judea under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish king. •Jesus was believed by his disciples to have died and risen from the dead three days later. •Jesus’ enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats they called “sorcery.†•Jesus’ small band of disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading as far as Rome. •Jesus’ disciples denied polytheism, lived moral lives, and worshiped Christ as God. Theologian Norman Geisler remarked: “This general outline is perfectly congruent with that of the New Testament.â€9 All of these independent accounts, religious and secular, speak of a real man who matches up well with the Jesus in the Gospels. Encyclopedia Britannica cites these various secular accounts of Jesus’ life as convincing proof of his existence. It states: “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus.†The historian Thomas Carlyle said, “No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.†As Carlyle notes, it is real people, not myths, who impact history. Yet how is Jesus remembered today? What is his enduring influence? •More books have been written about Jesus than about any other person in history. •Nations have used his words as the bedrock of their governments. According to Durant, “The triumph of Christ was the beginning of democracy.â€12 •His Sermon on the Mount established a new paradigm in ethics and morals. •Schools, hospitals, and humanitarian works have be •Schools, hospitals, and humanitarian works have been founded in his name. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford are but a few universities that have Christians to thank for their beginning. •The elevated role of women in Western culture traces its roots back to Jesus. (Women in Jesus’ day were considered inferior and virtual nonpersons until his teaching was followed.) •Slavery was abolished in Britain and America due to Jesus’ teaching that each human life is valuable. •Former drug and alcohol dependents, prostitutes, and others seeking purpose in life claim him as the explanation for their changed lives. •Two billion people call themselves Christians. While some are Christian in name only, others continue to impact our culture by teaching Jesus’ principles that all life is valuable and we are to love one another. Remarkably, Jesus made all of this impact as a result of just a three-year period of public ministry. If Jesus didn’t exist, one must wonder how a myth could so alter hist
Religion & Spirituality - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Link? And atheists will still insult..
2 :
it doesn't matter if he was real or not. As long as theists do not step on my rights or try to change me, its cool.
3 :
Jesus was a radical person who said the god thing was for everybody. People just take things to the extreme & try to cram modern science into something written for people centuries ago.
4 :
He was real, Urz: In fact, many believed in Him so strongly that they died rather than deny Him. The disciples were Jesus witness, and Polycarp says he learned at John's feet--he was martyred, too. But for skeptics, God sealed and closed up one part of the Bible until "the end of the days." Among other things, it proves Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world: http://revelado.org/thetimeoftheend.pdf Blessings, and thanks for the information, Messiah
5 :
Whoever Johnson is, he's a moron. Here are a couple more historical notations: Lucian of Samosata, a Greek satirist of the latter half of the second century, was hostile to Christianity and openly mocked it. He particularly objected to the fact that Christians worshiped a man. Suetonius, a Roman historian and a court official in Emperor Hadrian’s government, referred in his writing "Life of Claudius" to Claudius expelling Jews from Rome on account of their activities on behalf of a man Suetonius calls Chrestus [a common misspelling of Christus or Christ]. Ancient historians Thallus and Phlegon both confirmed the fact that the land went dark when Jesus was crucified.
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