what hard evidence is there other than the bible that jesus rose form the dead?

Question

What other documentation is there from the exact time of jesus that would say for sure tha jesus did infact rise from the dead

and this documents can not be any older then 5 years after his death and it has to be validated by carbon dating that these documents have in fact been written no later 5 years after jesus death

Answer 1

You've got quite an arbitrary standard of proof there.

Even so, take a look at the apostles. When Jesus was crucified, they were running for the hills, denying they knew him, hiding out in a room where people wouldn't come looking for them.

But after his alleged resurrection, these same people are suddenly so emboldened that they're giving their lives to preaching Jesus' message and willing to die to do it. How can you account for that dramatic change?

Scholars acknowledge the certainty of Jesus' resurrection. Even Gert Lüdemann, the leading German critic of the resurrection, himself admits, “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ."

Please check out this web page, as it goes far more into detail than this answer possibly can: http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth22.html

Answer 2

Yes, there is evidence.

The gospels contain eye-witness accounts of the people who saw him, and the book of Acts names others who didn't write gospels.

(As I said in answer to your first question, you don't have the authority to discount evidence. You are alive in the wrong century to be an authority on what is and is not evidence.)

There are ways of testing the theory, though. Resurrection is quite a trick, and Jesus would have to have had some kind of power to pull it off. Jesus once offered his own evidence in that he promised the Comforter (the Holy Spirit). I would suggest that if you could access this Spirit, you would have first hand knowledge of the power that can resurrect you as it did him.

You can also see the impact of Jesus' life in the history of the Roman empire. Jews were considered by the Romans one of the most troublesome ethnicities in their empire, and there was a series of events from about 63-72 AD that lead to the slaughter of a greater proportion of Jews than the Holocaust (at least 2 million died of the 7-8 million alive at the time).

Jesus, a member of this religion, was able to turn the empire on its head in 200 years, making it so powerful in numbers of believers that it became the official religion. This is an indication of something in the religion that is very compelling, considering the considerable changes required to turn from Roman, Greek and Persian pantheons to the God of the wretched Jews. No other religion in history (in fact, no other political or interest movement in history) has ever accomplished a feat like this without superior firepower.

By the way, I have evidence that the gospels were written during and/or soon after Jesus' death, within a few years, though precision is impossible.

(I would also point out that historians don't use carbon dating any more. The margin of error itself is not consistent, and it so large that your narrow gap of 5 years could never be acheived.)

Answer 3

I'm not going to get into the whole shroud Jesus or not thing, but science has proved the carbon dating is flawed greatly and there was a total lack of the technology needed to reproduce the image as it was. The only technology proven effective to produce the image as it was would be low intensity lasers. The pseudo intellectual arguments of forgery do not stand up to hard science.

It may be Jesus or it may be like any of the million sightings of Mary. Forgery it aint.

Answer 4

You quite obviously no nothing of the science of textual criticism. In regard to documents of the ancient world, the evidence supporting the Bible is without peer in ancient history.

In fact the level of evidence is exponentially better for the Bible than any other ancient document.

Just one small example. There were only two writers of history about Alexander the Great and both wrote approximately 500 years after his death. Yet we believe he existed...

Tell you what, get some education in textual criticism and I will debate this with you.

Answer 5

No, it is a youtube hyperlink. there is definitely not extra-biblical information for a historic Jesus. The few strains in Josephus, Pliny the extra youthful and Tacitus have all been discovered to be later additions by making use of a scribe (contained in terms of Josephus) or hearsay (in the different 2 examples).

Answer 6

Zip. Zero. Nada. The earliest documents about Jesus' life and death were written more than four decades after the fact...if there was any fact at all. Plenty of time to get distorted by the permeutations of oral transmission.

Answer 7

That's a problem for people who literally believe in the Bible. In the Bible, not only Jesus rose from the dead, but so did many others who made themselves seen in the same days, in the same place.

But no secular records report it, and the Romans kept good records then. They surely would have reported a colony town where the dead were coming back to life!

Answer 8

What other proof is there supposed to be after 2000 years of wear and tear from the elements, war, persecutions, floods, fires and all of those other things that have a way of destroying dried out bits of parchment until they turn to dust or mush?

BTW, can they even carbon date that close to an actual year? I thought they could get it within 100 years or so, but not down to the very year.

Also, Jesus' resurrection was witnessed by those who loved him and those that he wished to see. I believe the Romans did their best to eradicate anyone who associated themselves with him and the Pharisees wanted all proof of his existence destroyed.

If you want proof that God is real and that he exists, you're going to have to do that by looking deeper inside yourself instead of looking to history to provide proof. If it were that easy, 99% of the world would be christian by now. Since it's not, we each have to seek God before he'll show us he's there and no two people can do it in the same way.

Anyway, good luck with your search. Maybe Archeology should be your career goal? You might find physical proof after all.

Good luck.

EDIT: I just saw your profile and read that you're wiccan/witch, so maybe you don't need to soul search to find your faith. Wicca is fine. I think all of them are from God, but you don't have to believe that for it to matter to you. To each his own, friend. No one can walk two paths, so it's good that you walk your own.

Take care.

Answer 9

Jesus' resurrection is a matter of faith. Matters of faith defy many forms of logic and lack "hard evidence". If you have faith you don't need evidence, if you have evidence you may not need faith.

There is quite a bit of evidence to suggest that Jesus didn't die on the cross. Here are parts of one such argument:

1. Crucifixion is a very long, intentionally drawn out form of torture and death taking two and even three days. Jesus, a man in his prime died in THREE hours.

2. Everyone was whipped before being crucified and subjected to basically the same process we associate with JC so that doesn't excuse part 1.

3. when you die on a cross you die of (ever think to ask?...) asphyxiation yet Jesus cries out (according to most of the gospels) something like "it is done!
You have to be able to breath to cry out loudly a victim of crucifixion wouldn't be able to manage a whisper. If he could cry out then he could breath and would not therefor be dead.

4. Jesus got a sip of spiked wine from a soldier that later became a Bishop. This is the same guy that didn't break the legs, only pricking him with a spear to confirm death and did confirm death to the Romans (Pilate).

5. the Jews of the age were well aware of the narcotic qualities of many plants that grew locally and DID use them as narcotics, analgesics etc. Many would be capable of allowing someone to fake death if ingested.

6. There are many accounts of Jesus from the religions of the east (i.e. Buddhism) and stories about him in the Koran and other religious traditions about JC's life AFTER the crucifixion.

7. "resurrection" is a mistranslation of a verb that means "risen" - as in "got up"

8. Jesus personally and intentionally shows himself to the disciples, tells them he's not a ghost, puts their fingers in the wounds in his hands and on his sides.

9. The vicarious sacrifice of life and resurrection ideas are introduced by Paul in letters (selling the faith) to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians... Jesus never says anything about this (but does mention reincarnation a concept removed (anathematized) by Justinian.

Jesus (Well known as Issa to the Buddhists, Yuz Assef to Hindu Indians and Muslims) is buried in Kashmir India in a grave tended by a family that has guarded it generation after generation since his death (and who know his name), in India where they only bury "saints" and cremate everyone else, with his sarcophagus pointing east-west (custom for the Jews) in a country that is mostly Muslim (Muslim's graves are arranged differently) in a marked grave where the stone carver carved footprints into the building as per custom, with these carvings bearing clear signs of half moon scars on the feet possibly from crucifixion.

Okay one more... the Shroud of Turin shows blood trails running mostly from top to bottom as with blood running down a body pulled by gravity - consistent with being on a cross. But it also shows blood trails that run (and pool) in places/ways that could only happen if the body were to continue to bleed after it was laid down (as in a tomb). Corpses don't bleed only bodies with a circulatory system that is still pumping blood could do such a thing. Assuming the shroud is in fact Jesus' burial shroud.

Sorry if my opinion and the evidence I refer to stirs anyone up. If you believe in Jesus congratulations and it shouldn't matter what my opinion is... and if you're a Christian and I've offended you, you should do what the church says and forgive me.

Answer 10

I'm pretty sure the documentation you're asking for does not exist.

Something else I find interesting....if Jesus' disciples witnessed the crucifixion...and did in fact write about it in their respective gospels...why are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all inconsistent on exactly what Jesus's last words were????