Christians (Religion)

Jesus Existence - Digging out the facts of Christianity

To start off, I’m not here to tell people to become Christians overnight. But rather, I’ll like to list the research collected facts and share it like a story book.

Let’s start off with the most neutral of view. Unsure that Jesus Christ existed, but just heard some of his stories. Since is created the world’s biggest religion group, definitely many scientists, researchers, journalists would be out to study the facts of it. Take note that if any of them can openly and convincingly proved that Jesus is not real, they will be rich, famous, Christianity will fall and won’t even became the strongest religion to date.

For someone with no knowledge of this Religious Founder, we would want to be shown clear facts of his existence and what great things he did.

Let’s start off step by step. Show us:

1. Jesus existed and walked the earth:
1. Written history records by historian outside the bible (Titus Flavius Josephus) and several other historians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus#Testimonium_Flavianum and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus and http://www.y-jesus.com/body_count5.php
2. Enemies of Jesus did not deny his existence. Should what was written in the bible’s new testament was false, the Jews back then would have plenty of opportunities to destroy Jesus credibility. Jesus existence increase drastically because the Jews did not/unable to reject:

(1) Jesus existence. For those who did not know, Christianity originated from Jews through Jesus Christ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_for_Jesus As Jews has extremely long history, during that era when Christ was teaching with recorded historians recording his works, anything written which is false would have been strong debating point. Christians wouldn’t have persevered.

(2) Jesus Death. The Jews recorded that they did not believe he was raised from the death but rather they claimed that his body was stolen. So they had acknowledged this portion that Jesus did die before.

(3) Famous people being included in the Christianity historical life of Jesus (particularly the New Testament of the bible). Some of the important people such as:

i. Joseph of Arimathea from the Sanhedrin Council. In those days in Israel, to be in the council is like a superstar. Many would know them

ii. Caiaphas, one of the High Priests of the Jews who send Jesus for tried.

iii. Herod the Great (Herod I)

iv. Herod Antipas (Grandson of Herod I)

v. John the Baptist (a respected man among the Jews, respectful to Jesus, beheaded by Herod Antipas)

vi. Apostles (Messengers of Jesus) spreading his teachings as far to Asia and Rome.

3. The bible further talked about Apostles (Messengers of Jesus, most had seen Jesus in person) had written teachings of him. Most of the records can be found in the Bible and Muslim Qu’ran (Muslim religion book).

2. Archaeologists proves: Since seeing is believing, bring out some object evidences to prove the Bible creditability:
1. Interestingly, there were several dug up sites and graves to support. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a026.html including records of the high priest who send Jesus for tried. Go to http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/home.html for more main contents.
2. There were many graves which were dug up as well bearing the name ‘Jesus’. But none had convincing prove that those graves were really from “Jesus Christ” who every Christian knew. http://www.jesusfamilytomb.com/evidence/probability/jesus_equation.html linked from http://www.jesusfamilytomb.com/evidence/probability.html talked about one of the more distinguish tomb that has names Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Judah, Yose and Matthew which was discovered in 1980s. http://www.jesusfamilytomb.com/essential_facts/1980_discovery.html
3. Cave of John the Baptist. http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2006/02/The-Cave-of-John-the-Baptist.aspx
4. Interestingly if people think hard enough to the situation back then, many of the Jews did not approve of Christ teaching and ‘if’ under the assumption that Jesus body was secretly stolen and buried, wouldn’t it be silly to be buried in such obvious places with earthly people close to Jesus himself. Should ever the earthly body of Jesus was found, Christianity would have been destroyed from the face of earth due to the teaching that Jesus had risen from the dead. But it hasn’t despite facing many odds.
5. You need more? http://www.biblearchaeology.org/bookstore/product.aspx?id=77 and http://www.biblearchaeology.org/bookstore/product.aspx?id=66

3. Did Jesus did Miracles?
1. Jews that rejected Jesus claimed that he practice a special art of sorcery? A devil himself? (So he did something extraordinary)
2. Wikipedia has the list of miracles listed in the Bible. Note that all the miracles Jesus has done that was said to be recorded is only a small part of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracles_attributed_to_Jesus
3. Qu’ran (Muslim religion book) also talks about miracles done by Jesus.
4. Now for more tricky part, is the Bible credibility enough to justify his miracles? Seems to be too many arguments saying he was a super knowledgeable herbalist, created drugs. (Those can instantly heal? Zzz…)
5. Let’s make it more challenging, how about miracles after Jesus death:

(1) For sure if is from God, it will prosper. If is from man, it will fail. Step by steps, you will see the odds faced by Christianity back then.

Bible scholar Wilbur Smith remarked about Jesus:

“When he said that He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the devotion of any disciples—unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that.

(2) Jesus has mainly 12 disciples, known to be ORDINARY MEN of fisherman and tax collectors. They were all taught to believe he was the Son of God and had power over death.

(3) When Jesus was captured and being tried, all of them flied and his followers dispersed.

(4) After Jesus crucified and died on the Cross, what obviously would his followers react? http://www.y-jesus.com/body_count3.php - Meanwhile, Jesus' disciples were in shock. Dr. J. P. Moreland explains how devastated and confused they were after Jesus’ death on the cross. “They no longer had confidence that Jesus had been sent by God. They also had been taught that God would not let his Messiah suffer death. So they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks.”

(5) http://www.y-jesus.com/body_count4.php - Shortly after Jesus was executed, his followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled and cowering group into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened. … But exactly what? http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t012.html http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t008.html

The Islamic martyrs on September 11 proved that some will die for a false cause they believe in. Yet to be a willing martyr for a known lie is insanity. As Paul Little wrote, “Men will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie.”

Jesus’ disciples behaved in a manner consistent with a genuine belief that their leader was alive.

No one has adequately explained why the disciples would have been willing to die for a known lie. But even if they all conspired to lie about Jesus’ resurrection, how could they have kept the conspiracy going for decades without at least one of them selling out for money or position? Moreland wrote, “Those who lie for personal gain do not stick together very long, especially when hardship decreases the benefits.”

Former “hatchet man” of the Nixon administration, Chuck Colson, implicated in the Watergate scandal, pointed out the difficulty of several people maintaining a lie for an extended period of time.

"I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.^"

(6) All above taken from http://www.y-jesus.com/body_count8.php - Be mindful that Jesus followers where beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true.

(7) One of the great apostles (Saul/Paul) back then was initially against Christianity and worked with the Jew’s Chief Priests to persecute them. Something happened and within 3 days, he started speak boldly proclaiming Jesus is the Christ (ACTS 8:9 onwards). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul - Being the only apostles who did not physically saw Jesus, the person who attempted to persecute the Christians, 1 single miracle encountered eventually turned into someone who preaches about Jesus as Christ despite risking his life to near death on several occasions. He continued to stand true to his belief, preaching about Christ until his own death. He was also part of the biggest portions of the Bible New Testament.

4. Any researchers who convincingly tried to proved Christ wrong but got converted themselves? Many years ago during my Primary-Secondary School days, I heard there had been an intensive research engaged aiming to produce a book to proved that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God nor has he risen from the dead. In the end, the researchers became Christians themselves and wrote the book which got famous but for reasons other than the original intent. The book title is “Who moved the stone” by Dr. Frank Morrison.http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-Stone-Frank-Morison/dp/0310295610 and http://www.y-jesus.com/body_count6.php

5. Does the teaching of Christ matched by his actions? Christ verses the rest of the religions, how can you be so sure Christ words are credential: In this link, Christ shows you the way of life in his words (Bible) although other philosophers and religious leaders have offered their answers to the meaning of life, only Jesus Christ proved his credentials by rising from the dead!
1. If he died before and then risen, witness by over 500 people, his words of after life is most credential. http://www.y-jesus.com/why_jesus1r.php
2. Only Christ can forgive Sins and Wrongdoings. Why? http://www.y-jesus.com/why_jesus7.php

6. If is from God, it will grow? Has Christianity grown?
1. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Religion_distribution.png
2. Despite many odds in the history of Christianity, it still continued to grow. There are convincingly clear evidences that Jesus existed with the hundreds to thousands researches done on this extraordinary person ever lived on earth.

There has been hundreds to thousands of research done to look for the true origin of Christianity. None of them can convincingly prove Christ was false, legend or myth. But rather many of the researches written about the truth of Jesus had convincing evidences.

But have you seen any research convincingly proved that Jesus was false? Very close convincing stories from:

1. Da Vinci Code
2. Jesus Family Tomb Movie
3. The Lost Tomb of Jesus
4. Bible Astrology

All of them are without fully convincing proves with history, logic, nor archeologist data collection with expert opinion. They did not shake the strong foundation of Christians but unfortunately has shaken many weak faiths. I hope these short summaries of collected data can strengthen the faith of those who seek or believe Jesus Christ existence.

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