Any historical proof for Jesus existence?

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orangelight

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Since most members of these forums are christians, that means you believe in Jesus for some reasons, do you place the historical evidences as top 1 reason? Do you even KNOW any historical facts that he ever existed? To base an entire belief on a being, you must have at least few facts about his historical existence, do you?
 

SalvationAtYourFingertips

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We don't place the historical evidence on top as the number one reason, we place Him on top as the number one reason. Imagine your best friend right now. Why do you believe he exists? Is it because you have his birth certificate? His old pictures? A piece of his shoelace? It is the same with Jesus, you know He is real because you know Him.

Now, if you are curious about historical evidence, The Case For Christ is a great book/movie written by an atheist who became a Christian trying to disprove Jesus's existence.
 
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orangelight

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Thanks, I'll try to get that book.

It isn't about wether Jesus is a god or not, I'm just looking for Christian responses about his historical existence, if he was real, it wouldn't be a proof that he was a god. His historical existence and divine nature would be two seperated things.
As for a best friend I may not have his birth papers but the physical proof of his existence is available. Some writers claim to be ex- atheists, but not all of them are honest, let's take CS Lewis who claimed to be an ex-atheist, he expressed how he used to hate god and how he was angry at him, obviously he wasn't able to see the difference between an atheist, maltheist and irreligious.
 
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Lovely Jar

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That book would be authored by Lee Strobel. Who used the Bible to prove Jesus existed. It's like using the Bible to prove the Bible is true. It isn't affording a fair impartial perspective in seeking out the unbiased historical record.

Lee Strobel's wife was Christian while he was an atheist. And it was her influence, and that of her church, that applied pressure to LS's resistance as well. As he's noted in his writings.

Historic perspective for Christs existence is out there. It may not support all that is in the NT about him, but few Biblical scholars or religious scholars for that matter, apologists, etc... ,deny there is some evidence that a radical rabbi named Yeshua ben Joseph (Joshua son of Joseph) did exist.
 
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RDKirk

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Historic perspective for Christs existence is out there. It may not support all that is in the NT about him, but few Biblical scholars or religious scholars for that matter, apologists, etc... ,deny there is some evidence that a radical rabbi named Yeshua ben Joseph (Joshua son of Joseph) did exist.

Let me clarify that: No bona fide professional historian--including secular historians--doubts that a radical rabbi named Yesha ben Joseph did exist.

That's because professional historians depend on certain tools and techniques to validate the evidence of the existence of any historical figure...and such evidence exists in abundance for Jesus compared to nearly any other ancient figure.

To put it bluntly, if they did not consider the historical evidence for Jesus valid, then they would have to discount the existence of practically every ancient figure except maybe some Roman emperors. If Jesus did not exist, then figures like Aristotle and Plato certainly did not exist. Professional historians realize this, so like it or not, they support the existence of Jesus.
 
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mandelduke

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Since most members of these forums are christians, that means you believe in Jesus for some reasons, do you place the historical evidences as top 1 reason? Do you even KNOW any historical facts that he ever existed? To base an entire belief on a being, you must have at least few facts about his historical existence, do you?
There are all kinds of historical proof for Jesus existence, a good place to start with is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
I hope this helps.
http://vimeo.com/17960119
 
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bhsmte

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Since most members of these forums are christians, that means you believe in Jesus for some reasons, do you place the historical evidences as top 1 reason? Do you even KNOW any historical facts that he ever existed? To base an entire belief on a being, you must have at least few facts about his historical existence, do you?

It is highly likely that Jesus was a real person and indeed did exist. Bart Ehrman, who is a well respected new testament scholar (who was a baptist minister who turned agnostic) wrote a book about the history of Jesus recently.

Most historians and biblical scholars agree that Jesus did exist, where they disagree (Ehrman does not believe Jesus was God, nor did he rise from the dead or was born of a virgin) is on the miracles, being God, rising from the dead etc and there is no evidence of the same, the historians can point to that is considered reliable or credible.
 
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bhsmte

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There are all kinds of historical proof for Jesus existence, a good place to start with is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
I hope this helps.
http://vimeo.com/17960119

Lee Strobel's work is full of holes and he is not considered on the level of biblical scholars or historians by any means. He is a reporter (who happens to be an attorney) that performed a personal study of whether God existed with very one sided methods.

With this said, Jesus was likely a real person.
 
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BlandOatmeal

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Since most members of these forums are christians, that means you believe in Jesus for some reasons, do you place the historical evidences as top 1 reason? Do you even KNOW any historical facts that he ever existed? To base an entire belief on a being, you must have at least few facts about his historical existence, do you?
Orangelight,

I believed in Jesus long before knowing anything about history, so it's a moot point what historical evidence there is. My top reason for trusting in Jesus, is that God answered my prayers whenever I prayed in his name. If that is a mystery to you, then it probably is not the case in your life. YOUR life, however, is not the subject of this thread, so I won't go there.

Shalom shalom :wave:
 
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bhsmte

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Orangelight,

I believed in Jesus long before knowing anything about history, so it's a moot point what historical evidence there is. My top reason for trusting in Jesus, is that God answered my prayers whenever I prayed in his name. If that is a mystery to you, then it probably is not the case in your life. YOUR life, however, is not the subject of this thread, so I won't go there.

Shalom shalom :wave:

So you are saying that God answered everyone one of your prayers?
 
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AlexBP

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Since most members of these forums are christians, that means you believe in Jesus for some reasons, do you place the historical evidences as top 1 reason? Do you even KNOW any historical facts that he ever existed? To base an entire belief on a being, you must have at least few facts about his historical existence, do you?
I place the fact that Jesus has saved my soul as the top 1 reason. However, the historical evidence for Jesus' existence is very strong, perhaps stronger than for any other figure in ancient history. The followers of Jesus wrote four historical biographies about Him. In addition, the book of Acts and the Epistles give us further information about what Jesus did, and about what the followers who were inspired by him did. On top of this, there are short mentions of Jesus in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus and other ancient historians.
bhsmte said:
Lee Strobel's work is full of holes and he is not considered on the level of biblical scholars or historians by any means.
I agree that Strobel's work is not academically rigorous. I usually recommend these two books:

Lord of Legend, by Greg Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy

The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
, by Craig Blomberg
 
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bhsmte

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I place the fact that Jesus has saved my soul as the top 1 reason. However, the historical evidence for Jesus' existence is very strong, perhaps stronger than for any other figure in ancient history. The followers of Jesus wrote four historical biographies about Him. In addition, the book of Acts and the Epistles give us further information about what Jesus did, and about what the followers who were inspired by him did. On top of this, there are short mentions of Jesus in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus and other ancient historians.

I agree that Strobel's work is not academically rigorous. I usually recommend these two books:

Lord of Legend, by Greg Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy

The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
, by Craig Blomberg

I am in agreement with you, that it is highly likely that Jesus was a real person and did indeed exist and the vast majority of legit historians agree on this.

Beyond his simple existence, is where the significant debate begins with historians and scholars.
 
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orangelight

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There are all kinds of historical proof for Jesus existence, a good place to start with is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
I hope this helps.


The description in this video talks about Jesus resurrection, I don't know how much this would be considered as proof specially when there is a lot of pagan gods who share a similar story, I'll watch the video but what I'm asking for is an independent reading that shows that Jesus existed without any study concerning his divinity.
 
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raykevic

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I am in agreement with you, that it is highly likely that Jesus was a real person and did indeed exist and the vast majority of legit historians agree on this.

Beyond his simple existence, is where the significant debate begins with historians and scholars.

Who cares whether one agrees or disagrees?

Try to resurrect and then claim to be of relevence.

:)
 
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