Did Jesus really exist?

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Did Jesus really exist? Is there any historical evidence of Jesus Christ?

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We're going to answer those questions. Typically, when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies this question with outside the

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Bible. We do not grant this idea that the Bible cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus.

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The vast majority of scholars, both Christian and non -Christian, will grant that the epistles of Paul were in fact written less than 40 years after Jesus' death.

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In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof. If you'd like to find more information on the accuracy of the

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Bible or see our cited references, please visit GotQuestions .org. It is also important to recognize that in AD 70, the

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Romans invaded and destroyed most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Despite this and the geographical limitation of his ministry, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources.

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Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious

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Christians who suffered under Pontius Pilate. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named

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Crestus who lived during the first century. Flavius Josephus, the most famous Jewish historian, refers to James, the brother of Jesus, who was called

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Christ. Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ.

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Pliny the Younger recorded early Christian worship practices, including worshipping Jesus as God, noting they were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and the

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Lord's Supper. The Babylonian Talmud confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging

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Jewish apostasy. Lucian of Samosata was a second -century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshipped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them.

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He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods.

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Marabar Serpion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, and was put to death by the

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Jews and lived on in the teachings of his followers. Then we have the Gnostic writings that all mention

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Jesus. In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early, non -Christian sources.

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Jesus was called the Christ, did magic, led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them in Judea, but claimed to be

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God and would return, which his followers believed, worshipping him as God. There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history.

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Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century

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AD, including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ.

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People will die for what they believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.

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That answers the question, did Jesus really exist? Research this question further on our website,

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