Jesus

[Believer69]

Ive researched and googled somethings and havnt found any answers. I was wondering if any christians know. Is there any evidence from the time of jesus of his existance? Thankyou.

 

[drich0150]

Ive researched and googled somethings and havnt found any answers. I was wondering if any christians know. Is there any evidence from the time of jesus of his existence? Thankyou.

yes. There is more documentation for Christ than any other historical figure of his day. To question the existence of Christ automatically has the serious scholar question everyone else with less provenance.

 

[hedrick]

I assume the question means outside the NT. Obviously there's evidence in the NT.

The answer seems to be no. There are a few references, but it appears that they are all reporting what Christians say. I don't believe any of them are completely independent reports.

This shouldn't be a big surprise. As far as I know, no daily reports of activities in Judea were preserved, whether governmental or religious. The NT collects pretty much all 1st Cent evidence. That's what it is for. I don't think you'll find many neutral historians in that time period, and if there were, Jesus wouldn't be a likely topic for them. Unfortunately nothing like the New York Times archives existed.

 

[joey_downunder]

Look at secular sources (non-christian writers from 1st and 2nd century) : http://www.tektonics.org/jesusexisthub.html.

 

[razeontherock]

Ive researched and googled somethings and havnt found any answers. I was wondering if any christians know. Is there any evidence from the time of jesus of his existance? Thankyou.

The Gospels. The Church.

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

Ive researched and googled somethings and havnt found any answers. I was wondering if any christians know. Is there any evidence from the time of jesus of his existance? Thankyou.

I'm assuming you're asking if there's any written records that are around from the time when Jesus was actually living on Earth. As in, you're wondering if there are any written records about Jesus that are dated to the time from when he was born until the time he was crucified.

Short answer: no, there isn't. And there probably never will be for several reasons:

1) Writing was rare. No newspapers reporting on the daily miracles.
2) The movement centred on Jesus developed after his death and so no major historian, philosopher or Roman writer of the time would have been inclined to write about someone that nobody knew of.
3) Even if writings did exist, the chances of them surviving are slim because most historical records have been lost through time simply due to breakdown of the material they were written on.

However, you don't need evidence as an event happens in order to know it happened. No one was sitting around recording the formation of the Earth, but other corroborating evidence is used to learn about how the Earth was formed. In the case of Jesus, the amount of texts concerning him is large; larger than most (if any) historical figure of the time, even if those texts were written a few decades after his death.

 

[salida]

This is the tip of the iceberg.The bible has certain characteristics to conclude it could only be written by God. No other religious book does this.
Visit: www.TheBibleProofBook.com, (you will need acrobat reader for this), read The Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell a former agnostic- and Examine the Evidence by Muncaster a former athiest/The Case for Christ and The Real Jesus by Lee Strobel a former athiest.

100 fulfilled Bible prophecies
Reasons To Believe : Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible (science website)
Eyewitnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Apologetics Study - Evidence For The Christian Faith
Bible Reliability: M-A-P-S to Guide You through Bible Reliability

Historical Accuracy(bible is the most accurate history book)
The bible is loaded with historical statements concerning events hundreds of years ago and has not
been proven incorrect in any.
(Bible compared to other ancient documents):
New Testament starts - at 25 years between original and first surviving copies
Homer - starts at 500 years
Demosthenes - at 1400 years
Plato - at 1200 years

Number of Manuscript Copies-New Testament - 5,686/Homer - 643/Demosthenes - 200/
Plato - 7/Caesar -10

 

[salida]

Hope that helps.

 

[Believer69]

Ok thanks for all your help. But yeah as i guessed their isnt any evidence from the time of jesus. Just the new testament written century later. And other writing's written after jesus. Im not disputing that the man jesus existed just highlighting that all sources refering to his life and miracles were written after him.

 

[Living in the Light]

The Dead Sea Scrolls

 

[razeontherock]

Ok thanks for all your help. But yeah as i guessed their isnt any evidence from the time of jesus. Just the new testament written century later.

Sorry but no. Paul died before 65AD, so all his writings were before that. That leaves precious little of the NT, and the Gospels were recited daily in the Temple beginning with the Day of Pentecost, 33AD, making when they were written of no importance.

 

[Publius]

Ok thanks for all your help. But yeah as i guessed their isnt any evidence from the time of jesus. Just the new testament written century later.

You know "century" means 100 years, right?

I'm sure you're also aware, as atheists are always telling us how much more they know about our religion than we do, that the New Testament is actually a collection of books and letters written at different times, by different people, and in different places, right?

And other writing's written after jesus. Im not disputing that the man jesus existed just highlighting that all sources refering to his life and miracles were written after him.

All historical accounts are written after the people and events they record. There is no "furture history" section at the library.

 

[Publius]

Sorry but no. Paul died before 65AD, so all his writings were before that. That leaves precious little of the NT, and the Gospels were recited daily in the Temple beginning with the Day of Pentecost, 33AD, making when they were written of no importance.

I just finished reading a book about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Fifty-one years after he left office and more than sixty-five years after the end of WWII.

That's an even longer period of time than between the death and resurrection of Christ and yet, atheists don't start threads doubting the existence of Eisenhower.

 

[hedrick]

Ok thanks for all your help. But yeah as i guessed their isnt any evidence from the time of jesus. Just the new testament written century later. And other writing's written after jesus. Im not disputing that the man jesus existed just highlighting that all sources refering to his life and miracles were written after him.

What centuries later? Paul's letters start 30-40 years later, the Gospels 35- 70. The earliest Gospel is probably Mark. Early tradition says he was associated with Peter. The implication is that he wrote it down around Peter's death, to preserve his teachings. Even many critical scholars seem to see that as plausible.

Daniel Wallace says he's got an actual fragment from Mark from the 1st Cent. It will probably be a couple of years before others have a chance to check it, but Wallace seems like a fairly solid guy.

 

[razeontherock]

I just finished reading a book about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Fifty-one years after he left office and more than sixty-five years after the end of WWII.

That's an even longer period of time than between the death and resurrection of Christ and yet, atheists don't start threads doubting the existence of Eisenhower.

Eisenhower is a myth, started by peoples pre-dating the Phoenicians