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Originally posted by ushomefree
Was Jesus was a real man, and could He (quite possibly) be alive today?

Typically when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies the question with "outside of the Bible." We do not grant this idea that the Bible cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus. The New Testament contains hundreds of references to Jesus Christ. There are those who date the writing of the Gospels in the second century A.D., 100+ years after Jesus' death. Even if this were the case (which we strongly dispute), in terms of ancient evidences, writings less than 200 years after events took place are considered very reliable evidences.

Further, the vast majority of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them) were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years after Jesus' death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.

It is also important to recognize that in 70 A.D., the Romans invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally burned to the ground! We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus' existence was destroyed. Many of the eye-witnesses of Jesus would have been killed. These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.

Considering the fact that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant backwater area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following:

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious "Christians " ("named after Christus" which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44 ).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats. . . . He was [the] Christ . . . he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him."

One version reads, "At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders."

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover, and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of his followers.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.

In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources: Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus), but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed - worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).

In conclusion, there is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and Biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the 12 apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.

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Originally posted by Deano
fair enought, not everything can be 100% accurate. but u get the idea imsure

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Originally posted by Capt_Fantastic
The three Magi , or "Wise men", weren't really wise men. Magi were pagan seers. This is another propoganda tool of the time. Anyone who heard or was told this part would have seen this as a metaphore for all other religions bowing before the Christ.

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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
Character?

Jesus quoted Scripture when He was in the willderness to be tempted by the devil. Everytime that satan tried to get Jesus to sin, Jesus quoted the Word of God, Scripture, the Book.

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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
So.

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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
That is exactly what I do. I teach then I give Scripture to support what I have written. However, the Word of God is powerful that people get offended at me for quoting in support of my explanation and teaching.

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Originally posted by Regret
Your cartoons are nothing but offensive typically, that is my opinion.

As far as the scripture goes, you present your statement and then throw out a long list of scripture. I personally don't read them all, and I doubt many do. Especially since I believe the Bible and many here do not.

I hope this isn't taken as an offense, it is merely constructive criticism of your posting style. I have at times been offended by your manner of posting, not always by the content. These short posts are more persuasive in my opinion, unless you are in a long winded debate with an interested party (I've had a few of those.)

edit: Short posts are not referring to posts like this:



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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
Don't be so sensitive. If I can take being called names you can surely take reading a gospel tract telling you the Truth about Jesus in short story form.

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Originally posted by Regret
I am not being sensitive. But I am probably much less likely to be offended by your posts than others on the forum. Christ wasn't an ass, he was a decent person that many people liked, even when they didn't agree with him. I can't say the same about you.

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Originally posted by Regret
I am not being sensitive. But I am probably much less likely to be offended by your posts than others on the forum. Christ wasn't an ass, he was a decent person that many people liked, even when they didn't agree with him. I can't say the same about you.

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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
Let's hear the what Jesus has to say from His own lips:

John 15:18-19
If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Originally posted by Regret
What "world" hated Christ? It was those in power. It was the Roman Government because he claimed to be King of the Jews, and this meant possible rebellion. It was the religious leaders because he denied their pride, their claims at superior religious knowledge. Show me an example other than these.

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Originally posted by JesusIsAlive
God's will is revealed in His Word--the holy Bible.