The Christian season of Lent is always a trigger for anti-God forces, and 2024 will be no different, with spotlight-seeking atheists preparing for Holy Week by repeating the well-worn refrain that “Jesus never existed”. He is promoting a theory that
Professional provocateur Gavin Evans is leading a group of god-slayers in a speech on February 15th, writes Aeon. articleentitled “Jesus Never Existed,” revisiting the old argument that Jesus was the invention of a group of unscrupulous fraudsters who wanted to create a religion based on a myth of their own making.
The gist of Evans’ 4,100-word ramblings is that “a cult leader who gathered crowds, inspired zealous followers, and was executed on the orders of a Roman governor” should have left a deeper mark on modern records. That is.
Evans’ screed apes the arguments of people like richard dawkinsHe writes, echoing the musings of Christopher Hitchens, that “it is possible to make a significant historical case, although not widely held, that Jesus never lived at all.” claimed The existence of Jesus is “highly doubtful.”
But as Biblical scholar Stephen K. Ray pointed out on Breitbart News, there was no internet or social media in the first century, much less newscasters and chroniclers. Furthermore, Jesus grew up in a remote village, and for only three short years, he left the big cities to preach as secretly as possible.
His trial was hastily held in part at night to pre-empt the Jewish Passover festival, and Jesus was one of the thousands executed as ungodly criminals, with no secret followers. would have been buried in the tomb of
Despite all this, there is more documentary evidence for the existence of Jesus and the historicity of the four Gospels than for any other ancient historical figure. For the first few centuries, no one doubted his existence, much less his ministry.
As long as we know historical facts, we “know” that Jesus really existed. That is, no one was on Earth 2000 years ago to empirically prove the existence of Jesus, so we have to rely on the historical record.
But the historical record is as conclusive as we could hope for.Theodore Dalrymple I got it. inside city journal“If you wonder whether George Washington died in 1799, after spending a lifetime trying to prove it, you have to take a leap of faith, perhaps several, to believe it.” ”That’s the rather mundane fact I was trying to prove. ”
In other words, what you believe depends on what you want to believe.
Many scholars are working to collect all the ancient historical material about Jesus, and the material is surprisingly rich. They include the famous Roman historian Tacitus. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian. Julius Africanus quoted the historian Talos in discussing the darkness that followed the crucifixion of Christ. Pliny the Younger recorded the ritual practices of early Christianity in his letters. Lucian of Samosata said that Jesus was crucified for introducing a new faith.
Records of Jewish history include the most famous ancient Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, who in his book Antiquities wrote about James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ,” and Refers to Jesus’ death under Pontius Pilate.
The Babylonian Talmud confirms that Jesus was crucified on the eve of Passover and that Christ was accused of practicing witchcraft and encouraging Jewish apostasy.
The text of the New Testament itself, containing historical claims about Jesus, was written many years after Jesus’ death, while many of his contemporaries were still alive. However, there is no record of any modern person refuting these claims or claiming that Jesus never lived.
The clearest evidence of Jesus’ historical presence is the witness of literally thousands of Christians in the first century AD, including the Twelve Apostles, who were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ.
They could have avoided death by denying Christ or coming forward and saying it was all a hoax. That didn’t happen. Some people die for what they believe to be true. No one would die over something they know is a lie.
But as Stephen Rea observed, there are many people today who try to make a name for themselves by spouting about things they can’t prove, or harboring hatred for things they want to vehemently disprove.
