Why is this?

Question

Why do people believe the historical records based on hear-say about Alexander the Great written 400 years after his death but discount the historical writing about the life of Jesus written some 60 years after his "death"?

Answer 1

There is no evidence for a historical Jesus.

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Did a historical Jesus exist?
http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm
[Excerpt]

ALL CLAIMS OF JESUS DERIVE FROM HEARSAY ACCOUNTS

No one has the slightest physical evidence to support a historical Jesus; no artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. All claims about Jesus derive from writings of other people. There occurs no contemporary Roman record that shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. Devastating to historians, there occurs not a single contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus got written well after the life of the alleged Jesus from either: unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings. Although one can argue that many of these writings come from fraud or interpolations, I will use the information and dates to show that even if these sources did not come from interpolations, they could still not serve as reliable evidence for a historical Jesus, simply because all sources derive from hearsay accounts.

Hearsay means information derived from other people rather than on a witness' own knowledge.

Courts of law do not generally allow hearsay as testimony, and nor does honest modern scholarship. Hearsay provides no proof or good evidence, and therefore, we should dismiss it.

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The Myth of the Historical Jesus
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html

Pagan origins of Jesus:
http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index.html
http://geocities.com/christprise/
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html
http://www.rationalresponders.com/a_silence_that_screams_no_contemporary_historical_accounts_for_jesus
http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pcc/pcc09.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa3.htm
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/lecture.html
http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/virgin.html
http://www.harrington-sites.com/motif.htm
http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa052902a.htm

Answer 2

the battle of gaugamela and the fact that the macedonians were led by alexander was recorded at the time in the babylonian astronomical diaries written at the time of the battle, not 400 years later. also he had the historian callisthenes of olynthus with and all later existing works were based on those texts. as they come from diverse sources and acknowledge the fact that they are sourced from callisthenes means their authenticity is almost beyond reproach. also the historical records come from numerous and diverse sources; india, persia and central asia. cities were established and built by alexander for macedonian colonists and those cities still exist today.
there are no reliable extra biblical sources that directly mention as an existing person. the passage in the antiquities of the jews by josephus is often quoted, but this is not a reliable source for a number of reasons. read it and ask yourself if a Pharisee who was not a christian would have wrote this. all other texts just mention christians, they do not refer to jesus himself.
as to the roman emperor thing, only a couple, during the crisis of the 3rd century are not too well documented. all of the others are covered by numerous and diverse sources.

Answer 3

Because Alexander the Great wasn't said to have performed "miracles" or done anything else particularly unnatural or impossible for that matter.

Answer 4

If one is refering to the Bible as the "historical writings" then that is why... The Bible is questoinible with it being translated as many times as it has and things omitted and remitted in it, one has unfirm ground to stand on.

Answer 5

I don't personally believe that the stories of the bible are"historical writing"

Answer 6

because Alexander the Great dosent control the thinking of 2 billion people...

Answer 7

Exactly, there is actually more written evidence for the life of Jesus than there is for most of the Roman Emperors, and yet people dismiss this evidence because it suits them to remain blind.

Answer 8

Because people are blinded and have so much hate for God.
When your heart has been hardened and hate has blinded you, even logic isn't seen as logic.