Is there any evidence that Jesus didn't exist?

Question

I was disturbed when I ran a crossed a google add for a movie called The God That Didn't Exist. So I googled it and what I found was a website saying that there is no Roman record of them putting a man named Jesus to death. I think that if this is true then it's just because they put him to death illeagly so they covered it up. Or maybe because it was pass over and it slipped their minds. What do you think?

Answer 1

The Myth of the Historical Jesus

http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html

It is rather unfortunate that many well-meaning Jewish Studies teachers have unwittingly aided missionaries by teaching Jewish pupils incorrect information about the origins of Christianity. I can recall being taught the following story about Jesus at the Jewish day school I attended:

"Jesus was a famous first century rabbi whose Hebrew name was Rabbi Yehoshua. His father was a carpenter named Joseph and his mother's name was Mary. Mary became pregnant before she married Joseph. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem during a Roman census. Jesus grew up in Nazareth and became a learned rabbi. He traveled all over Israel preaching that people should love one another. Some people thought that he was the Messiah and he did not deny this, which made the other rabbis very angry. He caused so much controversy that the Roman governor Pontius Pilate had him crucified. He was buried in a tomb and later his body was found to be missing since it had probably been stolen by his disciples."

A few years after being taught this seemingly innocent story, I became interested in the origins of Christianity and decided to do some further reading on the "famous Rabbi Yehoshua." Much to my dismay, I discovered that there was no historical evidence of this Rabbi Yehoshua. The claim that Jesus was a rabbi named Yehoshua and the claim that his body was probably stolen both turned out to be pure conjecture. The rest of the story was nothing more than a watered down version of the story which Christians believe as part of the Christian religion but which is not supported by any legitimate historical source.

There was absolutely no historical evidence that Jesus, Joseph or Mary ever existed, let alone that Joseph was a carpenter or that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

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http://www.atheist-community.org/library/articles/read.php?id=700

Creation of Christianity: At the same time this popular street story of Jesus, son of Joseph Pandira or Panthera, was spreading in Rome in the first century BCE, the cult of Mithra was introduced into the Roman empire and attracted the military and mercantile classes. This cultural influx of a Persian religion meshed with ancient Hebrew traditions to form what became the cult of Christianity. Anyone who doubts that the popular story of the Jewish Jesus was written into the worship of Mithra to become Christianity should look at Mithraic worship point by point. (See the link above for a summary by David of that religion).

Jesus acquired a biography in the so-called gospels just as Paul Bunyan would if four Americans separately tried to write down all of his history and wonder-working activities, in order to consolidate that aspect of American culture.

Final verdict: There is no historical evidence whatever that the Jesus of Christianity was an historical person.

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http://www.rationalresponders.com/a_silence_that_screams_no_contemporary_ historical_accounts_for_jesus

It may surprise Christians to learn that there are no contemporary historical documents for 'Jesus, the Christ'. The writings of Paul are not comptemporary accounts: they do not appear until years after the purported time of Jesus and they include a concession that Paul never actually met Jesus. The Gospels come much later (as evidenced by the fact that Paul never cites them) and there is good reason that all four of the surviving, accepted Gospels are based on Mark, which in turn is likely to be midrash, not historical documentation: (See: http://www.rationalresponders.com/the_gospels_are_midrash)).

While some apologists attempt to wave this problem away by claiming that "Jesus"would not have been a noteworthy figure, this apologetic tactic contradicts what the Gospels say about Jesus. One cannot hold, at the same time, that the Gospels are true eyewitness accounts of actual events, AND that the Jesus figure in those works would not attract the attention of men like Philo, Pliny or Seneca. It's an absurd contradiction.

Even the relatively sober account of Jesus found in the first gospel, The Gospel of 'Mark', presents us with a Jesus who garnered quite a bit of attention. Consider for example, Mark 2:1-12, where the crowd coming to see Jesus is so great, that a paralytic has to be lowered through the roof of a building Jesus is in, in order for Jesus to see him. Elsewhere Mark tells us that the crowds that Jesus drew were so overflowing that he has to lecture from a boat on the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus travels from Bethany to Jerusalem, throngs of people line the roads to welcome him. Mark also tells us of how Jesus performed miracles before thousands: on two different occasions Jesus feeds thousands through miracles (see for example, Mark 8:1).

In short, 'Mark' gives us a 'Jesus' who is bigger than the Beatles, and I believe the Beatles analogy is a good one: we even have a nice parallel between the story of Jesus' lecture from a ship at Galilee, and the Beatles famous 'rooftop' audition, where they were forced to play an impromptu concert on a rooftop, lest the crowds that would rush to see them cause a riot. In both cases, the crowds had reached, hysterical, historically noteworthy, proportions. Yet, John E. Remsberg, in 'The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidence of His Existence' (The Truth Seeker Company, NY, no date, pp. 24-25) makes the curious observation that no one from this era wrote a single word about the Jesus Hysteria. Remsberg notes: "(While) Enough of the writings of the authors named in the foregoing list remains to form a library, (no where)... in this mass of Jewish and Pagan literature, aside from two forged brief passages in the works of a Jewish author (Josephus), and two disputed passages in the works of Roman writers, there is to be found no mention of Jesus Christ."

Answer 2

I'm glad you brought it up, but it's pretty pointless trying to convince any Christians that they don't have sufficient evidence supporting their belief that Jesus Christ existed. It seems that whenever strong contradictory evidence is discovered, the defending party almost always finds some miracle evidence that helps their case. If you don't believe me, try having a fundie tell a Mormon that the Book of Mormon is a load of crap, and point out which portions are fake, and they'll have supporting evidence or some sort of excuse for anything the fundie can throw at at em'. The Gospels don't even agree on many portions of the life of Jesus. Then the Christians just fabricate some story of weak *** logic to conclude that they were actually all telling the same story. Somehow, telling someone there were two angels, is the same as telling them that there was one man. No sense trying to tell them otherwise, they want to believe too desperately that if they live life a certain way they'll get a cookie at the end.

Answer 3

For Starters... how exactly do you prove that something doesn't exist? The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

Secondly, there is a lot of historical evidence that suggests a carpenter named Joseph who had a child that may have helped to inspire some of the stories. However, Jesus is actually a Greek name and would not have been used for that man. So of course there is no record of a man named Jesus on the census... it wasn't his name.

Secondly, he was not born in Bethlehem, he was born in Bethel. A much smaller unheard of town. It was changed to Bethlehem later to create a level of familiarity as no one knew where Bethel was.

Yes, the stories of Jesus, and modern Christianity as a whole, were strongly inspired by Mithraism. It was also strongly inspired by the Dionysian Mysteries, a number of Pagan faiths, and many other religions. The stories of Jesus are common to deities from a vast array of religions. Religion fulfills certain psychological needs, and because those needs are similar in all humans many of the stories themselves are quite similar. That's how one theory goes anyway, there are a couple of theories on the origins of religious thought.

Most importantly, don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Don't forget that anyone can write anything and you're prone to believe it. Everyone is an expert, everyone has their own opinion blah blah blah. If you really want to know then do your own research, both for an against and make up your own mind.

Answer 4

The Roman culture was incredibly detailed in its record keeping. The reason that there are no records is the most obvious...it didn't happen.

Rather than cut and paste a large chunk of information that details the lack of evidence to support the existence of Jesus, I'll just post a link with a concise explanation.

http://nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

Read it with an open mind, you may be surprised.

Go beyond the bible with your research. Look at things such as the modern calendar (here's a hint: the term BC was applied sometime during the 6th century, with a widespread adoption during the 9th). Read up on other messiah myths from the time period, specifically Appolonius and Mithras (whose tale is almost a point by point account of the Christ legend). Archeological evidence will disprove most of the bible stories. Ask questions such as 'why did no scholar, historian, rabbi, teacher, or follower' document, even once in passing, a man who was having so profound an impact on the region at the time?' Look into the people who sponsored those that wrote about Christ historically, such as Josephus, and you'll discover motives for the tales origins.

Answer 5

Despite revisionist views, there is plenty of contemporary historical and bibliographical evidence for the existence of Jesus. The usual rebuttals:

1. Until a few years ago, the normal reason for the "non-existence" of Jesus of Nazareth was that there was no mention of Ponitus Pilate in the writings of Josephus, Pliny and others, though the crucifixion of Jesus is specifically mentioned. Archaeological evidence was subsequently uncovered mentioning Pontius Pilate, and further evidence was uncovered in Bethesda, various sites in Galilee and writings uncovered in the Dag Hammadi (Dead Sea Scrolls) sites.

2. John Remsburg is an oft-quoted scholar in the debate, and his legitimacy as a historian is as oft-debated. His work usually sources non-historians, if his references are correct and he gets his page numbers right.

3. No autograph exists for any of the NT books, yet the consistency of the accounts of the life of Jesus as reflected in the 4 gospels is uncanny, considering the timeframes and distance between the authors (the earliest being Mark ca. 37-42 AD, the latest John ca. 88-95 AD and was written on an island in the middle of the Mediterrean.) Even in the earliest copies, there remains a consistency and harmony that hearsay couldn't have produced.

This is a start. Rather than read research that quotes scholars with agendas (Dennis McKinsey, Bishop Warburton, Bart Ehrman, et al.), look at the actual documents, read the cites and sources (check out those sources, too) and make up your own mind.

Myself, I find myself persuaded that Jesus did exist, was around during the first century, and, by anecdotal evidence and the archaeological accuracy of the Bible, enough truth can be found to support the assertion that Jesus Christ lived on this planet and is, indeed, the Son of God.

Answer 6

First of all, the romans crucified millions of people. I don't know if there ever was a record of all the people they crucified but if there was it certainly did not survive to the present day. I'm sure every province had there own record of those who were crucified. Since the romans ruled much of the world at that time, there were a lot of provinces and therefore a lot of records.
Also, the church fathers and early scholars of the church all testified that he died on a cross. Even extra biblical historians such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the younger, Josephus, Thallus and other historians who lived during that time period have testified that Jesus died on a cross.
Josephus was a historian who lived from 37 A.D. to about 100 A.D. He was a member of the priestly aristocracy of the Jews, and was taken hostage by the Roman Empire in the great Jewish revolt of 66-70 A.D. Josephus spent the rest of his life in or around Rome as an advisor and historian to three emperors, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. For centuries, the works of Josephus were more widely read in Europe than any book other than the Bible. They are invaluable sources of eyewitness testimony to the development of Western civilization, including the foundation and growth of Christianity in the 1st Century.
Josephus mentions Jesus in Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as 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 thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
What is history? History is written records about the past. Therefore the bible is history. Archeology is the best thing that ever happened to the christian faith. It has proven the bible to be 100% accurate in it's reporting of events that happened in the past. William Ramsey was one of the greatest archeologists that ever lived. He was a critic of the bible. He spent 15 years of his life doing research write a book that would prove the bible wrong. He visited 33 cities, 9 countries and 3 islands in order to do this research. He eventually wrote a book in favor of the bible saying that he had never dug up anything that contradicted the bible records and he eventually became a christian.
Finally, all you have to do is look up Jesus Christ in the encyclopedia brittanica or some of the classic outlines of history like the ones by Will Durant, Arnold Toynebee, H.G. Wells and even Winston Churchill and see how much space they spend on Jesus Christ. They spend more space on Him than on any other character in history. It seems rather strange that these brilliant men would spend so much space on someone who never existed.

Answer 7

Jesus might exist and that is possibility.

However, Historical with Miracle Jesus is not probably. As there was no historical record. Historical Jesus had feed 5 thousand people at one time with a few loaf of bread, that is really miracle. If it is happened today, that would be world top news, I believe it might happened at that time. However, where is the proof ?

Since extraordinary claim required extraordinary proof rather than Faith.


Anyway, I'd asked question here, you might want to look.

Are there any other EYEWITNESS and WRITTEN about Jesus?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ald1ygUmAHsG_YwfWQVu4Nbty6IX?qid=20070613174605AA710DM

Answer 8

Well, the Dark Ages happened, so we're hooped. The church I'm sure has some record of the census that was taken at the time when Jesus was born.

The evidence of the unicorn lies in the skeletal remains of the Narwhal that washed up on the beach upon occasion.

Answer 9

Dear Melissa Y,

i think James Cameron was trying to make a film questioning whether Jesus was really placed in the tomb- but i believe the project is being abandoned because his research was found to be faulty.

There are non-biblical sources (Hisorians like: Josepheus, Tacitian, etc.) who talk about Jesus (not necessarily in a good light- that matches the Bible time line wise).

In much of the gospels we are told about different reactions to Jesus - and some where he rebuked the Pharisees. There are non-biblical sources (historical) sources that talked about a man named Jesus who caused a "disturbance". There are too many eye-witnesses and accounts of Jesus to deny his existence historically.

Hope that helps. Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 10

No credible scholars actually claim that Jesus did not exist. There is extensive debate over whether it is possible to reconstruct any accurate account of Jesus' life, but it requires a completely incredible speculative conspiracy to suggest that the leader of the Jesus movement simply didn't exist. Of course Paul did not meet Jesus corporeally, but he did meet many of the disciples who did. Why do people constantly assume ancients were idiots unable to distinguish between reality and fiction? Modern hubris gets old.

Answer 11

The Romans didn't observe passover. And the Romans didn't put Jesus to death--His own people, the Jews, did. So naturally the Romans wouldn't have a record of it.