Can you direct me to nonbiblical historical accounts?

Question

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God

I googled a lot last night and could not find 1 reference that was not biblical to back up the biblical account of the crucifixition. That is--if people got out of their graves and walked into Jerusalem, even Rome would have known about this--and yet no references to "Dead Men Walking". Can't find any records of any earthquakes strong enough to rend stone--and if they were strong enough to rend stone-then Jerusalem itself would have been damaged. There is no record of any.

I asked a jewish friend of mine-if there were any references in any of the Jewish history to the temple curtain being torn--surely if this happened in the holy of holies for the Jewish faith, there would have been some record?

Answer 1

The action of the torn curtain involves -
1) The Jewish economy (the Law of Moses or the Old Covenant) has been done away with.
2) Our high priest (Jesus) has the right to enter the heavenly tabernacle.
3) We approach God through Jesus and the Christian economy rather than through the Jewish or Mosaic economy.
4) That heaven has now been opened to receive the saints, who were previously kept at Abraham's bosom.

As such, why would they have recorded this?
You might do better to check roman records - though I doubt they would have cared or noticed sufficently to record such either.

Answer 2

you are asking the wrong question.
the crucifiction was/is not a historical event
It is a dramatized version (by the apostle Paul) of one mans merging his conciousness and will with that of the universe
The temple curtain being rent is a veiled reference (no pun intended) to the revelation of the holy of holies to all the masses, priests/rabbis are no longer neccessary for sacrafices or intermediaries between man and god.
te ressurection of the saints is a reference to the revelation of masses that these people (the saints) lived a life of harmony with the divine but did not achieve union with the divine until JC showed them.....

Jesus taught the masses in parables, doesn't it make sense they would write his story as a parable to confuse the feeble minded? this is powerful stuff if understood properly. we're talking nothing less then absolute ecstasy with divine union, which is a very powerful threat to earthly material authority

Answer 3

Gibbons. Try the Sources he uses for 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

Answer 4

There are some interesting events described in Josephus and the Talmud.
http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/mysteriousevents.html

Answer 5

Josephus?

Answer 6

Any fundie will tell you -- you don't NEED non-biblical records! The bible says it's always right, so it MUST be right!