Why do christans use the work of the historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-101) to back their claims about Jesus ?

Question

...................despite the fact that he was born 4 years after jesus' supposed death and if any of them had ever actually bothered to read his work, all references to jesus come from second hand sources who were all supporters of the jesus cult and were therefore hardy neutral "external sources" as they are often claimed to be.

It was as if the only neutral document on nazi Germany was written based on information given by a nazi party supporter.

It would of course not be reliable nor balanced.

Even so many researchers such as Edwin Yamauchi and John P. Meier have stated

"The problem with the copies of Antiquities is that they appear to have been rewritten in favor of Jesus as they are very favorable, some say too favorable to have been written by a Jew. Add to this that the Christians were the ones who kept and made the copies of the Josephus documents throughout history and you have a shadow of doubt cast upon the quotes. "

djmantx, you say "Your facts are pretty screwed up " and then don't even try to point out where exactly.

Answer 1

Your facts are pretty screwed up but none the less Christians believe in faith it is the world that seeks to prove Jesus historicly but while we are on the subject Josephus is not the only historical evidence of Christ although his is historical...none the less always will be doubters even when Christ was with us he had doubters so nothing new....I know Jesus by revalation of the spirit and you cant possibly know anyone better than that.

Answer 2

Your opening statements indicate you have read neither of his works, so, since I have read both in their entirety, there is little reason for me to offer debate.

I will say that you last statement is true, but the additions are obvious and when cleansed of all but the original, the section still verifies his existence and his end with enough minor detail to make his identity inescapable. Sorry to cause you further frustration.

This is the actual original text and there is nothing at all in the rest of the wotk which could be used to render this "hearsay":

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man , for he was a doer of wonders, He drew many after him . When Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, , and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day (Antiquities 18:63-64).

By the way you just said you doubt every history book used in every high school and university in the whole world because most were written by people born after the events of which they wrote. Or were you only attacking the veracity of Josephus on that basis?

Answer 3

He is still much more reliable than you, who are born couple thousand years after Jesus was born.

Josephus was a Pharasee of the priestly line and a Jewish historian, though working under Roman authority and with some care as to not offend the Romans. In addition to his autobiography, he wrote two major works, Jewish War (A.D. 77-78 and Antiqites of the Jews ( C.A.D 94). He makes many statements that verify, either generally or in spesigic detail, the historical nature of the Old Testament and New Testaments of the Bible.

Testimony of canon
Josephus supprts the Protestants view of the canon of the Old Testament against Roman Catholic view, which venerates the Old Testament Apocrypha. He even lists the names of the books, which are identical with the thirty-nine books of the Protestant Old Testament.

Josephus's reference to Daniel the Prophet as a sixth-century B.C. writer (Josephus, AJ,10-12) confirms, as Geisler points out, "the supernatural nature of Daniel's amazing predictions about the course of history after time. Josephus obviously lists Daniel among prophets.

Testimony to the New Testament
Josephus refers to Jesus as the brother of James who was martyred. referring to the high priest Ananias, he writes: " He assembled the Sanhedrin of the judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered to them to be stoned" (Josephus, AJ,20.9.1)

This , written in A.D 93, confirms the New Testament reports that Jesus was a real person in the first century, that he was identified by others as the Christ, and that he had a brother named James who died a marty's death at the hands of the high priest Ananias and his Sanhedrin

Josephus also confirmed the existense and martyrdom of John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus (Ant, XVIII.5.2).Because of the manner in which this passage is written, there is no ground for suspecting Christian interpolation.
"Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and very justly, as punishment of what did against John, who was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness toward one another and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism."(Josephus, AJ,18,5.2)

In disputed text, Josephus gives a brief description of Jesus and his mission:
"Now there was about this time, Jesus a wise man, if be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men 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, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten ten thousand other other wonderful things conserning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to this day." ( Josephus, AJ,18.3.3.)

I hope I gave you enough of answer to this question.

There is a lot of evidence of the existense of Jesus. We do not even need a Bible for that purpose. Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and I accept his free gift of eternal life. It is offered to you too. Keep seeking if you are not sure. As we have many options here in the earth, what comes to the eternity, we have only to choices, hell or heaven. Use your free will wisely. God bless.

Answer 4

according to your analogy; no one born after 1949 would be able to verify that the nazis killed millions of jews. Yet we are able to check the facts and see that they did. Ocassionally we hear some foolish neo-nazis who claim that the holocaust never happened. There are always plenty of people who counter this.

If Jesus was a hoax, as atheist seem to think, why are there no documents that would support that theory?

Answer 5

I've never heard of the guy.....so I've never used him to back up claims.
Have you ever read:
"The Case for Christ" or "Evidence that Requires a Verdict"?

Answer 6

josephus was a jewish historian that records that many thought of Jesus as the Messiah and that he was crucified... it is called 'extrabiblical evidence'.