How can anyone not believe in Jesus when even complete outside sources testify of his existence? Do you deny he lived or that he was God?
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote concerning the Great Fire of Rome, in book 15, chapter 44 of his Annals (c. 116):
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, ....
2007-10-26 09:18:45 · 7 answers · asked by Adopted 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
These writings have been proved Authentic and untampered by historians. Oddly it appears that they were unknown of by First century Christians even.
Josephus on the other hand may have had his writings tampered with, but still spoke of "James' brother Jesus, the so-called Christ".
2007-10-26 09:20:11 · update #1
If an Atheist, how do you explain the Sorcery claims of Ancient writings that refer to him?
2007-10-26 09:26:07 · update #2
Note: We also have historical documents of the Gospel of John (The Number 52 Manuscript) dated 66AD. That is 33 years after his death, we should see tons of articles disputing it at this point.
2007-10-26 09:35:23 · update #3
Jesus taught that there would be others claiming to be from God that would come, so if Jesus was true and right then Mohammad was wrong.
2007-10-26 09:41:40 · update #4
LodiTX, what are you talking about?
"How presumptuous of you"??? This is not a presumption, but a historical record that I was questioning about.
2007-10-26 10:37:43 · update #5
There are athesists who believe in Jesus's existence, just not his divinity. But yeah, it's ridiculous to completely doubt his existence as a human.
2007-10-26 09:22:35 · answer #1 · answered by Michael Skarn 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You could make the same points about Mohammad. Historically he probably did exist, and there are many writings claiming his divinity. If that's all the proof you require, then you are obliged to be a muslim as well as a christian.
Of course, this means you would have to stone yourself to death for being a heretic. But hey, true faith has its sacrifices. ;)
The point here is that whether Jesus existed is irrelevant to the question of whether he was what christians say he is, and ancient writings claiming sorcery with no proof don't deserve consideration above the level of fairy stories.
2007-10-26 09:31:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its one thing to prove Christians existed, its another to say Christ existed. Most of these Roman officials wrote about how problematic the Christians were, but that does not amount to an actual testimony about Jesus existing.
2007-10-26 09:59:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
How presumptuous of you. I don't have to explain anything. I deny the existence of any god, not just the christian one; certainly any of the extremely flawed gods as visualized and created by men.
If I was going to create a god and then torture and kill people and wage wars to force people to believe; I would make up a much better god than any of the ones I've read about.
Anyway, I'm not a nonbeliever. I believe that there are no gods.
2007-10-26 10:29:23 · answer #4 · answered by LodiTX 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
listen yes jesus existed and he had to do something to live up 2008 years but theres no proof he was the son of god what about the other gospels that werent included in the bible and were destroyd in constatinople by constantin and the secret paper that the vaticans are holding in the vatican
crhistianyty and catholicism were invented to controll mases at the year 325
2007-10-26 09:25:40 · answer #5 · answered by Panama 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The existence of a man named Jesus in the right time frame is hardly proof that he was in fact the son of god and rose from dead and all that stuff. I find it amazing how people will latch onto the flimsiest "evidence" as proof of their faith.
Faith cannot be proven, that's why it's faith instead of knowledge. The existence of the man, and the historical fact of the growth of the religion do not make it true by itself. After all, Mohammed existed too. And both faiths can't be true, because they are both monotheistic and spurn other religions.
I'm glad you have found your faith, but don't make the mistake of spreading faith and religion through logic.
2007-10-27 06:56:25 · answer #6 · answered by rohak1212 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Shouldn't you ask that in Religion? That has nothing to do with history.
2007-10-26 09:29:33 · answer #7 · answered by Cabal 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋