The town of Nazareth didn't exist in the era when Jesus supposedly lived did it?

Question

At that time it was a burial ground with many natural as well as man-made burial caves cut into the rock.

Answer 1

Nope, Nazareth didn't exist 2000 years ago.

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/nazareth.html

It DID exist, however, the catholic cult was formed in the fourth century CE (1600+ years ago), thus the ignorant godbots assumed it was there when they invented their myths (as well as ripping off other myths).


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Answer 2

The existence of Nazareth, at the time of Jesus, in its present location, or at all, is a matter of debate.

The term 'nazerene' could either mean to describe someone from Nazareth or, more likely, one who took a nazirite vow. The nazirite vow involved not cutting one's hair, avoiding contact with the dead, and not consuming wine or grape products. Normally, such a vow is taken for a period of 30 days....but other forms of the vow can be longer or lifetime (see Samson). If Jesus had taken a vow of the nazirite, he either completed it before he began his ministry (as part of the completion ritual is shave all hair from the head and body) or he failed in keeping his vows having contact with the dead and drinking wine.

Therefore, whether its a description of his hometown heritage or a claim to a vow, it is a problematic description.

Answer 3

There occurs not a shred of evidence for a city named Nazareth at the time of the alleged Jesus.

Nazareth does not appear in the Old Testament, nor does it appear in the volumes of Josephus's writings (even though he provides a detailed list of the cities of Galilee).

Oddly, none of the New Testament epistle writers ever mentions Nazareth or a Jesus of Nazareth even though most of the epistles got written before the gospels. In fact no one mentions Nazareth until the Gospels, where the first one got written at least 40 years after the hypothetical death of Jesus.

Apologists attempt to dismiss this by claiming that Nazareth existed as an insignificant and easily missed village (how would they know?), thus no one recorded it. However, whenever the Gospels speak of Nazareth, they always refer to it as a city, never a village, and a historian of that period would surely have noticed a city. (Note the New Testament uses the terms village, town, and city.) Nor can apologists fall on archeological evidence of preexisting artifacts for the simple reason that many cities get built on ancient sites.

If a city named Nazareth existed during the 1st century, then we need at least one contemporary piece of evidence for the name, otherwise we cannot refer to it as historical.

Answer 4

actually... it did exist and there are ROman records in Caesarea
".......... The existence of Nazareth in Jesus’ day had been doubted by critics—until its name showed up in a first-century synagogue inscription at Caesarea. Augustus’ census edicts (in connection with the Nativity) are borne out by an inscription at Ankara, Turkey, his famous Res Gestae ("Things Accomplished"), in which the Roman emperor proudly claims to have taken a census three times. That husbands had to register their families for the Roman census was mandated in census papyri discovered in Egypt. ......." see Paul Meier http://www.issuesetc.org/resource/archives/maier3.htm

in the end... the things we can prove validate the things we cannot... we can validate many things Luke said for example and this validates the things he did not and Luke says Jesus was from Nazareth

and it was in fullfillment of the prophesy "He shall be called a Nazarene" from Isaiah
Being from Nazareth was kinda an inult them "can anything good come out of Narareth?" John

and fullfillment of the prophesy "the people who lived in darkness will see a great light and I will make it glorious in Gallilee of the gentiles" Isaiah

welcome to Nazareth
http://www.nazarethvillage.com/village.php

Answer 5

I heard that claim somewhere. I cannot remember where. There was a claim that Jesus wasn't Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus the Nazarene. I haven't been able to find much to support this.

Answer 6

Samson was a Nazarene. Look in the Old Testament book of Judges.

Answer 7

Look... there is no dispute among educated scientists and historians that Jesus was an actual person that spoke a taught throughout the known world of his time... the Leading roman officials even mention him in private converstion...


the only question to debate on is if he is God's son and a great leader... or a liar and a nut case...

I believe he was and is God's son....

Answer 8

Actually, yes it did exist. It was very small (perhaps a few hundred people lived there), but archaeologists recently discovered that yes, it did indeed exist.
http://www.ourfatherlutheran.net/biblehomelands/galilee/nazareth/nazareth.htm

Answer 9

Yes it did - even Roman history supports this.

Answer 10

No it did not, I have a book called the book your church doesnt want you to read by tim leedon and he touches on this subject