Jesus Christ (-6? to +33?) was a Jewish teacher who founded Christianity, the religion of a third of mankind. Christians believe he is the Son of God, that he is God who lived among us as a man.
What early non-Christian writings say:
- He was a Jewish teacher.
- Many believed he healed the sick and cast out demons.
- Jewish leaders opposed him.
- By +36 he had died on the cross by order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, in the reign of the emperor Tiberius.
- By +64 there were already many followers of his in Rome who believed he rose from the dead.
- By +100 he was worshipped as a god.
See: Josephus (+93), Pliny the Younger (+112), Tacitus (+116), Suetonius (+121), and the Talmud.
What the earliest Christian writings say:
- He was born in Bethlehem, a town near Jerusalem, to a virgin named Mary. He was a descendant of King David, a great Jewish king.
- He worked miracles and taught about the coming Kingdom of God. He called himself the Son of Man and was called the Son of God. He gathered thousands of followers. His top followers were the Twelve Apostles.
- He said he will return in the future on Judgement Day to morally judge the living and the dead. The bad will go away into everlasting punishment, but the good into eternal life.
- He was a threat to the power of both the Jewish priests and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate had him nailed to a cross, a common punishment in those days for revolutionaries (think Spartacus). He died and was buried.
- Two days later he rose from the dead. Over 500 people saw him alive again. After 50 days he went up to heaven.
- He gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins, to help us get right with God.
See Paul (by +60), Q Gospel (by +80), Mark (by +80), Signs Gospel (by +90) and Matthew (by +100).
What others say:
- Jews of the time said Jesus got his powers from the devil and used them to lead Jews away from their faith. They say that the Messiah will come some day, but Jesus was not him.
- Gnostics in the 100s and 200s said Jesus came not to die for our sins but to tell us a secret way to heaven. He only told the deserving few. Everyone else was fed a lie.
- Arians in the 300s said Jesus is neither God nor man but something in between. He was a divine creature higher than the angels but lower than God.
- Muslims since the 600s say Jesus was a great prophet, like Moses or Isaiah. He was born of a virgin and worked miracles, but was only a man. He only seemed to die on the cross. Christians rewrote the Bible to make him into God.
- Western intellectuals since the 1700s say Jesus was merely a wise and holy man. Since miracles are impossible, the ones in the Bible are pure fiction, including the virgin birth and rising from the dead.
Holidays: His birthday is Christmas (December 25th). Easter is when he rose from the dead (the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring).
See also:
Jesus is either The Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. There is no other way of looking at it. To claim that he was just a wise person or teacher requires ignorance of His teachings. Personally it is easy for me to rule out liar or lunatic.
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…Then there is thought he may not have even existed at all…So therefore none of the above categories…
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@ J LOL, that’s actually not an option. His existence is not debatable. Well, I take that back. I guess you could debate the existence of Jesus as much as you could debate the existence of Josephus. You just wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. 🙂 You don’t have to believe He is Lord, but you really can’t say He didn’t exist unless you don’t believe in history.
Just FYI, it takes a lot more knowledge to prove something doesn’t exist than it takes to prove something does exist.
J, if you would like to debate the existence of Jesus, I’d be happy to.
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Thanks!!
I was only joking here…he he he
However, can I just clarify that when some say Jesus did not exist. They are specifically saying the life of the man as told in the bible ie 3 wise men, the deaths of new born in Bethelem as ordered by King Herod etc are to do with teh realms of mythology.
I think this sums up the position that he did not exist (even if it is a bit long):
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/marshall_gauvin/did_jesus_really_live.html
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Thanks for the clarification J. I read the link provided and there are many false statements and assumptions in the article. However, I can comprehend that some don’t believe Jesus is Lord as the Gospels state. I just can’t understand their thought process.
Not to give much credit to circular reasoning, but when put through the test of authenticity as any literature should, the Bible passes with flying colors. The history in the Bible is hardly mythological.
I’m not a biblical scholar or an apologist, but if you have any examples of anything in the Bible being incorrect, please provide the verses as I would love to make it a personal study. Thanks
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Thanks!!
There are many examples of things in the bible that do not add up logically, or does not fit the required data of ‘history’, or even if you study ‘compararive religion’ and see motifs like the flood, and so on.
…but I don’t think it is my position and it would be inappropriate for me to do so with something that is very personal.
I am sure you will understand…
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[…] 3, 2010 by rememberseptember Inspired by this posting about […]
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Jesus is the Anointed of Elohim and fullfilled what is written about Him in Isaiah 53 and Genesis 3:15 and is testified about in the Scripture.
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18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Luke 10:18
Victory belongs to Lord Almighty.
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I did a post on how the New Testament canon was formed:
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George Ryder
Thank you for the source, but the issue is not how the canon was formed as much as it is the removing/changing of scriptures. In your second source it mentions that validity of a scriptures is determined by a few factors and one is inspiration though it also sates.:
“Jews and conservative Christians alike have recognized the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament as inspired. Evangelical Protestants have recognized the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as inspired. Roman Catholics have a total of eighty books because they recognize the Apocrypha as semicanonical.”
So the inspiration of said book is basically determined by religion. So if one religion is willing to use said book then I am sure the useless test fails here. A say so is not a good reason to remove or change anything (and this only includes the found books).
The unfortunate truth of religion is that rulers used the church to their advantage all the time and if they did not agree with something they could and would change it. Nothing in your sources disputes that.
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George Ryder
Manuscripts existing elsewhere does not really stop a king from changing something. A king can change a manuscript or alter it in any manner and then distribute it to his people. If a person found these copies and compared them does that some how solidify that it was not altered? Not really. He could just as easily order that all original copies be burned/destroyed. If a king in another region liked or agreed with said text then he would follow suit and use it as he sees fit. That does not include rulers need to manipulate text to suite them and their rule.
The scriptures (like anything else) can be manipulated by man. Though one will not be held accountable for what others chose to remove and what the man that has faith does not know because of this.
P.S. your source only speaks of the new testament. I am speaking of the scriptures as a whole.
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If you believe the bible is unaltered then that is your business, but I suggest you do a search on the bibles throughout the centuries. I will try to find the webpage but there is a good one that shows books that have been added and removed depending on the century. There is also a great discussion on other blogs about KJV and NIV. That a woman found in comparing them that things were removed from the verse itself (NIV).
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I thought ” Christos” was a Greek word meaning “Light”. Christ being a title for an “Enlightened” one.
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One thing that Yeshua said, that I felt was compelling but most people overlook is: “The things that I do, ye shall do also. Even greater things shall ye do..” Most Christians think that we can’t. I bet if we tried a little harder and dug a little deeper, we would have a lot more happier folks.
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