I would like to know more about Jesus without reading the bible (which i believe is fiction mostly) or the Qu'ran (which I don't know much about). Is this even possible?
2007-06-22 09:44:22 · 24 answers · asked by NONAME 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Interested in books from the time of Jesus - not recent books. Thanks.
2007-06-22 09:51:37 · update #1
The answer is a resounding, "NO"!
2007-06-22 09:48:11 · answer #1 · answered by Kidd! 6 · 3⤊ 4⤋
You should read a good book about the life of Jesus by a reputable historian. You'll learn more than you would from reading any single ancient source, since not everything in any source is reliable, and historians are trained to distinguish between the two. Such a book will also make reference to Josephus, Tacitus, and other relevant sources outside the Gospels.
I'd recommend E. P. Sanders' _The Historical Figure Of Jesus_. It is relatively short, to the point, balanced and fair. A wonderful example of critical historical scholarship at its best!
2007-06-22 16:48:56 · answer #2 · answered by jamesfrankmcgrath 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Bible is not a book that was written all at once. The Qu'ran contradicts the Bible.
The Bible is God's written Word to us.
It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit.
“Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21. (New International Version)
Breakdown of the Bible
36 human authors inspired entirely by God over 1600 years.
66 separate books
39 Old Testament
Genesis- The creation of the world, sin, flood and birth of Israel
Exodus to Esther- History of the nation of Israel
Job to Proverbs- the books of poetry and wisdom
Isaiah to Malachi- Prophecy or foretelling of the future events to come.
27 New Testament
Matthew to John - Four Gospels representing the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ now with all authority in Heaven and earth.
Acts- Birth of the Church (The Bride of Christ)
Romans to Jude - Letters to the Churches
Revelations - The ultimate future plans for: The Church, Heaven, Hell, a New Heaven and a New Earth.
Here are some Bible Study Resources for anything you may want to look up:
http://www.Biblegateway.com
http://www.Ntgateway.com
http://www.Bible.org
http://www.bible-history.com
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
2007-06-22 17:16:51 · answer #3 · answered by 4HIM- Christians love 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Responsible scholarship (which excludes "Christian" "scholarship") has very little to say about Jesus, because there is absolutely no evidence that he ever existed. The gospels were written decades after the fact by partisan cultists (almost certainly NOT the disciples to whom they are attributed). To draw conclusions about the man from these writings is like drawing conclusions about Antinuous (the homosexual lover of the Emperor Hadrian who was drowned in the Nile and deified posthumously) from the eulogies of his cult. The "Jesus passage" in Josephus is a notorious late forgery. There are no authentic relics - not even a corpse! There is no external evidence even for such incidents as Herod's "massacre of the innocents," which one would assume would've provoked comment. It's not unfeasible that there was an actual historical man (or men) upon whom the legendary figure in the gospel accounts was based; but he is as remote and inextricable as the personage behind King Arthur.
NONE of the writings cited by Paul V below are contemporary with Jesus. They refer to the legend, not the man. If you take them seriously as proof "that Christ did walk the earth, performed miracles, was crucified, and rose again in three days," then you're also required to accept all the legends that have clustered around the figures of Mohammed and the Buddha, etc, merely to be consistent!
2007-06-22 16:54:30 · answer #4 · answered by jonjon418 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Bible is NOT fiction.
The Bible is proven accurate and true historical recordings of God Almighty and of Jesus Christ & the history of the Hebrew nation & the Middle East.
The Quran says that Jesus was just a good man, a simple prophet of Allah. The Quran written by Mohammed, who was a mortal man, not a perfect immortal, who lived and died and has not returned, did read The Bible, then plagarized it and/or recreates events from the Bible in an attempt to validate his own personal doctrines as proof of himself and Allah, which also is a false god an idol.
Allah of the Quran calls himself: The Most Proud One, The Greatest of All Deceivers. The Lord of The Air. All three of those names are ALSO names that Satan calls himself and/or was given.
If you reject The Bible as fiction then there are no other resources I know to give you that do not spring from the certain knowledge of Jesus Christ found in the Bible.
2007-06-22 17:07:25 · answer #5 · answered by faith 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Try "The Jesus Papers" by Michael Baigent. Great historical work, without the added BS. He is one of the co-authors on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" - which is also an excellent work.
Josephus was a "shitorian" who no historian worth his salt would pay any attention to. It is known that he was not an eyewitness of much of the history that he claims he did witness, and he was also biased towards his Roman captors.
2007-06-22 16:50:09 · answer #6 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Twinsma: There is no better book about Jesus in the world than THE DESIRE OF AGES. In fact, when someone wrote the Library of Congress asking for three of the best, the curator said there is only one, and you can probably order it online somewhere the author is EGWhite.
If I wasn't out of the U.S. right now, I'd mail you one free.
Blessings, Balaam
2007-06-22 19:10:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should be more clear on your question.
Do you mean books from the time of Jesus, or recent (within the last 1000 years) of books written about Jesus?
2007-06-22 16:49:11 · answer #8 · answered by Magus 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bloodline of the Holy Grail touches a bit on the life of Jesus of Nazareth, among other topics. It's a pretty interesting book actually.
2007-06-22 16:49:49 · answer #9 · answered by genaddt 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well i wouldve highly recommended the quran but since u dont want 2...go 2 the websites..darrussalam.com or albasheer.com..and search for the book life of the prophets..its an amazing book about all the prophets mentioned in the quran.
2007-06-22 16:53:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try EarlyChristianWritings.com, they have all the Apocrypha and deleted texts omitted from the Bible on account of the fact that the church didn't like them. Try Valentinus and The Gospel Of Truth.
(Hey I'm a twin!)
2007-06-22 17:55:27 · answer #11 · answered by Charles E 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋