Gospel Hymn Lyrics- A B C D E F G H I J K L M O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Would This Be Considerable Secular Evidence For The Existence Of Jesus?
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(besides the fact that nearly every historian agrees with His historicity):
1. Flavius Josephus (37 A.D – 101 AD, Jewish Historian) mentions John the Baptist and Herod – Book of Antiquities book 18 chapter 5 paragraph 2
- “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: for Herod 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.”
2. Flavius Josephus (37 A.D – 101 AD, Jewish Historian) mentions Jesus – Book of Antiquities book 18 chapter 3 paragraph 3
- “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9) those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; (10) as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. ”
3. Flavius Josephus (37 A.D – 101 AD, Jewish Historian) mentions James, the brother of Jesus, Book of Antiquities book 20 chapter 9
- “Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done.”
4. Flavius Josephus (37 A.D – 101 AD, Jewish Historian) mentions Ananias the High priest who was mentioned on Acts 23:2
- “Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this by destroying many of the Sicarii. But as for the high priest, Ananias (25) he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money”
5. Tacitus (55 AD – 117 AD, Roman historian) mentions “Christus” who is Jesus – 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, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
6. Lucian ( AD 120 – 180 AD) mentions Jesus
- “The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . . . You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.”
7. Pliny the Younger mentions Jesus
- “They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”
8. Thallus mentions an eclipse of the sun
-”On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Jud
14 Comments so far
The fact of the existence of Christianity is enough. The fulfilment of Old testament prophecy tells me of his existence apart from the writings of the New Testament. The fulfilment of New Testament prophecies also are evidence that Christ is alive and well and soon to return to this earth. It requires faith seeing that doubters are more likely to want to keep proving that he did not exist because if they do, then they do not have to follow any of his teachings. Read the whole Bible and see the God Guided message it contains. Profane history is not an exact science and revisionists ply a lively trade.
There is overwhelming proof in all sorts of literature that Jesus lived. Josephus is considered a very reliable historian. Ironically, some of the most convincing proof that Jesus lived are the Roman historians and especially the Jewish leaders and historians who sought to discredit him.
“10. Every Christian who has prayed.”
OMFG are you KIDDING ME? HAHA The other arguments are good, but I think this one was just used to have two are so you can have 10.
I think most atheists would agree that a Jesus who claimed to be a Messiah existed. But that proves nothing.
EDIT: UM no. All of this written YEARS after Jesus’s death. Plenty of time for legend to kick in.
Plus his existence DOES NOT prove his divinity.
Sorry, no. Start with the Josephus passage. Current Scholars consider the bit about ‘jesus’ to be a forgery inserted by a scribe years after the death of Josephus. How about Tacitus? Writing about christians, not about ‘jesus’. Lucian writing about christians, not about ‘jesus’. Pliny writing about christians, not about ‘jesus’. Bottom line: Not even the gospels are primary sources written by contemporary scholars. There might be some truth there, but most of what you have is fiction.
When contemporary or later authors mention the same persons or events as the Scriptures, it only proves that these authors were familiar with the original story. Repetition is not evidence of truth.
Cool shades.
very good research
Well, no. By your own dates they were all born decades after. They aren’t eyewitnesses. They are primary sources for early Christians, but not Jesus.
Look, those aren’t real prophecies. They are self-furfilling prophecies.
How many people have come along and claimed to be a prophet of God?
Jesus, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, that guy who founded the Druze religion.
His existence is neither here nor there. His authority is what matters.
No. Flavius was born after Jesus and John the Baptist were dead. He was writing from hearsay.
The others were written even longer after the events. The Babylonian Talmud, if it is referring to the same Jesus, directly contradicts the Gospels’ account and is more consistent with the Jewish legal proceedings and rights, i.e. they did not need, nor would they have wanted to, the Romans to execute one of their criminals.
Edit:
Look at #7 from an objective viewpoint, does that mention Jesus? No, it talks about Christians singing about Christ. This is similar to someone writing about Mormons talking about the golden tablets or Greeks revering Hercules.
Sure, considerable evidence for the existence of Jesus.
Zero evidence for the existence of Christ.
That we have evidence for Julius Caesar, doesn’t mean we have to buy his PR that he was descended from Venus.
That Heinrich Schliemann found Troy using only the Iliad as guide, proves the historicity of Homer’s account, geographically, but provides no solid evidence for Zeus or Hera or a big wooden horsie.
Everything about Jesus in Josephus has been shown to be a forgery. (1)
Tacitus and Pliny are talking about what Christians believe, not Jesus as such, so they are little more than hearsay.
Nope, none of that is evidence.
edit: The writing style of the passages was shown to be different than that of Josephus, and thus a forgery. Try to keep up.
It is very sad that some, so intent on ‘evidence’ overlook the knowledge and opinions of historians to listen to others, out of their field, who wish to slander something/someone, so long as it adds to their argument.
1) The reference to Jesus being called “the Christ” in Flavius was proven a forgery decades ago.
2) The rest of the references are extremely vague and mostly concern Christians, not Jesus himself. This is much the same as referring to Krishna when writing of Jains…
3) …With the exception of the Christian writers. Big surprise. Would you expect a Moslem historian writing with 200 years of Muhammed not to write as though Muhammed really ascended to heaven?
4) Also note that none of these sources are contemporary. All are written at least 20, and up to 200, years after the fact.
5) No reference to Jesus as a real person exists in the contemporary Roman record, despite the fact that they recorded the existence of other would-be Messiahs (such as Apollonius of Tyana).
Your evidence is vague at best, untrustworthy at worst.