Template:Jesus real

Was Jesus real? Is there extra Biblical evidence of an historical Christ?

Historical Jesus

There are a lot of people that leap at the idea that Jesus was completely made up and never existed. The scholar Bart Ehrman who has written a number of critical books on modern christian ideas and biblical interpretations into a scholarly context of history says people who suggest that Jesus never existed "Just make themselves look silly." But then he also said he is the same guy who said “The Christians did not invent Jesus. They invented the idea that the messiah had to be crucified.”

He wrote the book "Did Jesus Exist?" in which he wrote:

“The problem then with Jesus is that he cannot be removed from his time and transplanted into our own without simply creating him anew.”

The real problem is the more doctrines Christians invent the less they seem to know about the real Jesus and the less they know about the real Jesus the more they give the real Jesus a bad name.

Religious movements with no grounding in reality whatsoever are almost none existent. Yet thousands of people are dying and being persecuted, having their property seize and their bodies dismembered and even set on fire. That is a lot to expect from followers who had no Bible, no Churches and a supposedly made up founder.

Did any independent historian talk about Jesus?

Of course, Paul has two brief meetings with Jesus’ brother James. Since James’ existence could have been verified to the readers of Paul it would have been foolish to make him up.

Josephus was a Roman-Jewish historian who supposedly wrote the Testimonium Flavianum—an ‘early’ reference to Christ. Some, however, think it is fake. But Josephus’s works also include a much less known passage that is not disputed.

In Book 20 of his Antiquities of the Jews there is a clear reference to the execution of “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James”.

Tacitus

Tacitus' published Annals and the Histories examines the reigns of the emperors from the death of Augustus through Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and the First Jewish–Roman War(70 AD.). This period would include the changes in the roman culture that would bring its decline and the time in which Jesus appointed His kingdom to the early Church, the rise of the Christian conflict with Rome and much of the persecution early Christians endured.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire.

The Great Fire of Rome was talked about extensively by Tacitus clearly mentions Christ and His movement that was hated by the masses.

Tacitus wrote of his suspicions that the fire was set and then blamed on a "class hated for their abominations, called Christians". He also mentions the name of the man they followed identified as "Christus". He even makes reference to this Christus' death by torture during the "reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus”.

Tacitus at the risk of his own life wrote of a government coverup in his Annals 15.44 :

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.”

Why would someone the suggest there is no evidence that Jesus the Christ was real?

Why did the masses hate Him and His followers and would the masses today hate real Christian if they were actually doing what the early Church did?

Archaeological evidence

Was there archaeological evidence that Christ existed?

What is the meaning of archaeological evidence?

The archaeological record is the body of physical (i.e. not written) evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record.

What we usually call archaeological record are usually found in the ground.

What would you expect to find as an archaeological record of Jesus?

We know that James was Jesus brother and that he lived and we appear to have found his bone box. The Ossuary or bone box immediately came into question and the Israeli police arrested the collector who found Ossuary on the suspicion of forgery.

But the case was thrown out because those experts who were making these accusations were evidently lying and the inscriptions appear to be authentic.

The Ossuary or bone box of Caiaphas the high priest was also found containing bones and for some unknown reason also contained three spikes that could have been used in a crucifixion.

There are apparent discrepancies in the book we call the Bible but these do not affect the message of the Gospel. The ancient prophecy saying the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem begs why was he from Nazareth in Mark and only later from Bethlehem in Luke and Matthew.

Jesus's Mother having stayed in Bethlehem during the birth may make Jesus a prophetic anchor baby but he would still be from the polis of Nazareth. Even Herod Antipas' Mother went to Bethlehem to give birth to little Herod just so he could improve his claim to the throne.