Outside of the Bible, is there any proof that Jesus lived?

Question

What hard, documentary evidence is there, outside of the Bible?

Answer 1

Quran
Since Quran came centuries after Jesus,and prophet Muhammed on whom it was inspired is of a different ethnicity than the Jews,then Quran can be considered a documentary evidence here.
Quran states that there had been a pious man named jesus who was sent by God to carry the same message carried by Moses and Muhammed;that he was not son of god as God cannot have sons.

Answer 2

Yes, many Jewish scholars wrote about him, and they had no reason to be dishonest because the never believed He was the Son of God. Islam talks of Jesus, there is all kinds of proof that Jesus was here, and the Bible says he arose from the Grave, having been crucified on that cross. He is the only way to Heaven, thats why when you see a cross it reminds you of Him. Jesus has His ways of showing you that in order to get to Heaven you must be born again. You must believe in the heart, not just the head as so many do, its a very personal relationship that gets you to Heaven. Narrow is the gate the Bible says, But the evidence is there. Read the Bible, seek and ye shall find.

Answer 3

you're splendid. there is truthfully NO historic info that the biblical Jesus ever existed. Archaeological info shows that even Nazareth replaced right into a Roman militia camp interior the early first century and not a small Jewish village. the 1st century Jewish historians Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria traveled in the process Palestine and wrote approximately many miracle workers and fake messiahs alongside with John the Baptist and James the in basic terms, yet they never reported the biblical Jesus. the 1st writing a pair of Jesus style character replaced into the Isu Chrestos determine interior the Euangelion e book written with the help of Marcion of Sinope in one hundred forty CE. That character replaced into an immortal son of the Gnostic god who another writers later changed with the help of including greater textual content cloth and became Isu Chrestos right into a mortal Jewish character. in addition they renamed Marcion's Euangelion e book into the gospel called Luke.

Answer 4

There are other writings outside the Bible that mention Jesus; but why do you need that as proof? The Bible should be proof enough that Jesus existed. Why? Because the Bible isn't just one book by one author. It was written by over 40 authors over a timespan of 1,600 years on three different continents and three different languages. If that's not enough proof, I don't know what is.

The Old testament consists of several different books (and authors) who foretold about a Messiah. The New Testament (several books from yet more authors) shows that Jesus is the man who fulfilled the prophesies in the Old Testament proving that he's the Messiah.

Disregarding the Bible as proof is disregarding not one book but SEVERAL historical books by SEVERAL authors; so what would one or two more "sources" be to you?

Answer 5

there is a reference in josephus that may well be genuine to a recently dead religious leader called chrestos (though josephus spoils it slightly by also supplying evidence which suggests that there was no such place as nazareth).

there is also a reference in tacitus which is almost certainly a fake. (most of tacitus' books spent several hundred years in monastery libraries until the late middle-ages; they may have been improved).

the roman letter writer pliny has left quite a long letter about the christian problem, but pliny knows about christians, not about christ.

all in all, there isn't very much.

Answer 6

In addition to corroborating historical accounts referred to by an earlier poster:

"First it was the name of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate found in a monument in Caesarea, Israel, in 1961.

Then came the discovery in 1990 in Jerusalem of an ossuary, a burial box for bones, bearing the name of Caiaphas, the high priest who condemned Jesus. Just recently it appears the most spectacular of all archaeological finds relating to Jesus has surfaced.

Another ossuary has come to light, this one bearing the names of Jesus, James and Joseph, three of the most prominent people in the New Testament. The ancient Aramaic words inscribed on the limestone box state that it belonged to "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." ..."

http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn44/existence.htm

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/historical-and-scientific-proof-of-jesus-faq.htm

and about the Bible as an historical source:

<"...we know from sources outside the Bible that the Apostle Paul died during Nero’s persecution in 64 A.D. We also know that Paul was still alive at the close of Acts, so Acts must have been written sometime before 64 A.D. Since Acts was a continuation of Luke's Gospel, we know that Gospel must have been written even earlier still. Any scholar, including those in the “Historical Jesus” movement, will tell you that the Gospel of Mark predates the Gospel of Luke. This supports the writing of Mark in the 50s A.D., only about two decades after the crucifixion of Jesus. Outside the Gospels, no legitimate scholar will dispute that Paul wrote Romans in the mid-50s. Why is this important? Because Paul declares that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God in the opening lines of that New Testament letter. Galatians is another undisputed letter of Paul written in the mid-50s. Why is this important? Because Paul discusses his interaction with Peter and James, two of Jesus’ primary disciples, at least 14 years earlier in Galatians 1:18 and 2:1. Finally, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul proclaims the earliest record of the Christian creed, in which Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead three days later. Why is this early creed so important? Because scholars, using the historical records of Paul and his early travels to Damascus and Jerusalem, place the above creed at about 35 A.D., just 3 to 5 years after the death of Jesus Christ...">

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/historical-jesus.htm

However, I find it compelling that none of the disciples renounced their account of what they'd witnessed despite harrassment, torture or execution. There is further corroborating material of each of the first followers:

THE TWELVE APOSTLES:
1. Andrew - crucified
2. Bartholomew - beaten then crucified
3. James, son of Alphaeus - stoned to death
4. James, son of Zebedee - beheaded
5. John - exiled for his faith; died of old age
6. Judas (not Iscariot) - stoned to death
7. Matthew - speared to death
8. Peter - crucifed upside down
9. Philip - crucified
10. Simon - crucified
11. Thomas - speared to death
12. Matthias - stoned to death
(source: Fox's Book of Martyrs)

Btw: It's not surprising that myths existed before Jesus appeared. His coming had been foretold long beforehand.

Answer 7

You ask if there is any proof that Jesus lived. It should say " Jesus lives". He is alive and running things from heaven from which he will soon return to take His people ( believers of Him ) to heaven with Him forever.

Answer 8

There is no primary historical evidence of Yshua bar-Ysef having even existed. There is not a single writing dated to a time when a personal witness of Yshua bar-Ysef lived.

All the available evidence is secondary historical evidence, from Tacitus, Pliney, et al.

Without primary historical evidence, the secondary historical evidence is suspect.

Answer 9

The gospel of Thomas, believed to be Jesus' twin brother, contains 104 quotations of Jesus. Unfortunately, the council of Necean chose to leave Thomas out of the Bible with the argument that his views were Gnostic, which was not necessarily bad except in their view.

Answer 10

For what it's worth, Jesus is mentioned in the Qur'an, but only as a prophet, who physically ascended to Heaven.