Why hasn't Christianity been able to prove the historicity of Jesus?

Question

And don't bother with Josephus Flavius, a Jewish Traitor to his own people who lived in ROme 100 years later and mentions Jesus in a one liner, (interpolation anyone?)

can you please name for me ONE reputable historian who can (with a straight face) claim that there is irrefutable evidence of the historicity of Jesus?

Bobby, do tell,where is this book on display? where can we at least see a picture of the entry online? or in which museum? I call Bunk,,,,

Douga, I hope you are just pulling my leg with the anti-intellectual bit...

Last Ent, sorry, by your (flawed) reasoning, Islam must be the one true religion, if that iss we use your standard of who is willing to die for what they beleive to be truth...

Last Ent, I can go to Wikipedia right now and rewrite that to my liking, wiki isn't as reliable as you think... IN fact I did this yesterday in regards to a posting about Ann Coulter, I edited the Wiki refuting her assertions that cretion science was credible, .. (my edit had to do with "Project Steve" and it's statement)

Creation science**** not cretion

Come on last Ent, even the Wiki shows the controversy.. the fact is there is no CONCLUSIVE Historical record of the Existence of jesus, like for example Pontius Pilate....His historicity can be shown to be at least very very credible...

Answer 1

I can't believe there are people here who don't know that there is NO historical evidence that Jesus existed. NONE!

I don't buy this b.s. that there are relics in obscure churches in Africa or Europe. If the church could produce proof, they'd have done so long ago.

Answer 2

This is going to be a long answer, but I guarantee that none of it is a copy and paste, except where noted. This is ALL ME.

Actually, Josephus was born just a few years after Jesus was crucified. Also, he mentioned Jesus in more than one passage. While one might have been interpolation, the other doesn't appear to have been.
This is a copy and paste from Josephus' Jewish Antiquities:
"The younger Ananus, who had been appointed to the high priesthood, was rash in his temper and unusually daring. He followed the school of the Sadducees, who are indeed more heartless than any of the other Jews, as I have already explained, when they sit in judgment. Possessed of such a character, Ananus thought that he had a favorable opportunity because Festus was dead and Albinas was still on the way. And so he convened the judges of the Sanhedrin, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, the one called Christ, whose name was James, and certain others, and accusing them of having transgressed the law delivered them up to be stoned."
Also, this might interest you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus


Besides, more than one person wrote about Jesus...and I'm talking about extrabiblical sources. Suetonius (though he was far enough removed from the facts that some things he stated were incorrect), Tacitus, Phlegon, Origen, Celsus, and many others.

Funny thing is, as hostile as some of these writers were towards Christianity and Christians, they NEVER tried saying Jesus didn't exist. Why do you think that is?

They tried saying that Christians were guilty of all sorts of other crimes (including but not limited to a form of cannibalism), but they NEVER tried stating that Jesus never existed.

In the 2nd century, Celsus tried claiming that Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier. Curious. Why didn't he say that Jesus was the son of Mary and Joseph? Could it be that he was trying to defile the reputation of Mary, and Jesus? Why else would he have written that?

Also, consider how early the New Testament was written: Between 20 and 60 years after the events they describe (though some scholars are now redating the gospel of John. It was thought to have been written around 95 A.D., but because he speaks of places that were destroyed in 70 A.D. as still existing at the time of the writing, it's possible that the gospel was written prior to 70 A.D.). Why is this important? Because they use actual places that existed, and actual people that lived and were in the positions that the writers named. This isn't just a "once upon a time in a land far, far away" kind of story. They name specific times, places, and people, in a time in which ANYONE could have said it wasn't true. Yet no one did. Why is that?

There is also ample archaeological evidence to support much of the New Testament:
http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/evidence-for-jesus.htm
http://www.ucgstp.org/lit/gn/gn044/proof.html

Most scholars believe that a man called Jesus of Nazareth once lived. The only point of debate is His divinity.

There is plenty of evidence that Jesus lived. He wasn't a king, or an emperor, or a governor, or a judge...He was someone that most people didn't believe in unless they saw Him. He wouldn't have had coins made of His image, He wouldn't have had places named after Him. Plenty of people pointed to the empty tomb, but had no explanation for it. He died a criminal's death, so I can't see Him being known as a hero. The Jews who didn't become followers never said He couldn't perform miracles; they simply said it was "sorcery."

And who knows how many more people wrote about Jesus, whose writings were destroyed during the destruction of Jerusalem?

Answer 3

You are right of course, I'm just surprised that more folk haven't pointed to The New Testament as they do to 'prove' just about everything else?
From everything I have read I am not even convinced , Jesus existed at all! Never mind his history.
What I am willing to consider is that 'possibly' some 2000 years ago there 'may' have been a feller (possibly Essen ) who wanted the Romans out, he and his group tried to follow the tales of The Old Testament ref the coming of the Messiah, he didn't actually do a very good job of that!
The crucifixion bit was no big deal, thousands were crucified around that time, it was thought so little of that the Romans used the bodies by filling them with wax hanging them around the arena to light up the 'games'!
Of course I cant 'prove' that this feller (whatever he was called) didn't exist!
I also cant 'prove' there is no such thing as God! All interesting stuff, but so is Harry Potter, if you are really into that sort of thing?

Answer 4

The majority of scholars agree that some human being did exist with this name. Beyond that there is no consensus about the truth of anything he said or did. "The Search for The Historical Christ" has been going on for centuries!

A minority of scholars do not believe that there was any such historical person.

It's a question between "mostly mythology" to "all mythology".

(P.S. Mythology does not necessarily mean lies; it can mean fiction intended to deliver spiritual truth. This goes for all mythologies, just so you don't think I'm allowing Jesus mythology as some kind of special case!)

Answer 5

Prove it to whom? You? The proof is in the recorded affidavits the same as it is for any historic figure. The weight of proof is massive. Since you would disallow all of the evidence and then ask for the evidence, your own mental health is in question. You have the proof and say it isn't proof. What?!?!?! By your line of reasoning, no historic figure could be proven at all. No written or oral testimony would be good enough for you. You even disallow widely accepted outside testimony. It would then seem that no proof would satisfy you.

Answer 6

He's as well proven as anyone else. Historical documentation, even if you believe it inaccurate, does exist.

Even from an Athiest standpoint, the religion couldn't have existed if it's central figure hadn't existed to rally around; the apostle's would have been quickly revealed as fakes if they had tried to fictionalize him.
And there's no reason to doubt Jesus' existence; a man claimed to be the Messiah and was executed by Rome in the traditional fashion.


Happened all the time.

Answer 7

Because they changed the 'story'.

http://www.tjresearch.info/overview.htm

See also comments by Acharya S in her book "Suns of God" who went searching for anything historically within 'his' time for evidence for Jesus - and found none... [Note - she did not look into the Jesus in India stories, at the time of writing of her book...]

Answer 8

josephus flavius was just one of many people to mention Jesus. there is even documentation on the earth getting dark at the time Jesus was crucified. the roman govt was trying to explain it away as a total eclipse.

Answer 9

The Romans kept a log of everyone they sentenced to death. And in that book written by Pontius Pilate in Isreal, is the date of the execution and the name Jesus of Nazarus.

Answer 10

While I am not a Christian or any sort of monotheist, I do think that most reputable scholars believe Jesus existed. That's not really the question; the question is whether he is part of the holy trinity or part of a failed attempt to transform Judaism.