Arguably, the most controversial individual in all of recorded history is Jesus who men call “The Christ.” Very few people hold a truly neutral view concerning him; indeed, because of his claims, it would be impossible to do so. He has been loved and worshipped by billions throughout history and hated and reviled by billions more. Hatred towards him has become so great in recent years that his very existence is routinely denied by those who reject his claims.
This is the subject that I wish to deal with in this post – the proof of his existence. This will not be the first such argument on the subject ever written. Many have trod this path of learning before me. To condense the information I have learned into as precise and understandable a form as possible is the goal of this exercise.
The book that contains the most evidence concerning the existence of Jesus is the Bible. Many people disregard this source by saying that it is at best “biased,” at least “full of errors” and at worst “fairytales.” For this cause it is first necessary to deal with the historical accuracy of the Bible before using it as proof of the existence of Jesus.
The Old Testament is the first and largest division of the Bible. Its thirty-nine books were written over a period of roughly 1600 to 2000 years, the last being written approximately 400 years before the birth of Christ during the reign of the Persian Empire (Halley’s Bible Handbook, “Between The Testaments”, page 354). It is then divided into several sections: the Law, Judges, History, Poetry, the Major Prophets, and the Minor Prophets (the titles of “major” and “minor” refer to the size of the books not to their importance). However, it is important to note that the books placed in each section contain elements of the other sections. For example, a great deal of history can be found in the Books of the Law, just as much prophecy can be found in the Books of Poetry.
The New Testament is the second, smaller division of the Bible. It contains twenty-seven books and was written over a period of approximately 30 years by the Apostles and other church leaders (http://carm.org/wasnt-new-testament-written-hundreds-years-after-christ). Like the Old Testament it is divided into several sections: the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles (letters to the churches and individuals), and the Book of Revelation. The New Testament deals primarily with doctrine, history and prophecy.
The “Canon” of the Scriptures is the combination of the Old and New Testaments into one single book. It is commonly held that this canon was set at the Council of Nicaea in 323 AD. However, this was not the purpose of that council.
“The council of Nicea met in A.D. 323 to discuss how Jesus Christ was related to God. There were some in the church, led by Arius of Alexandria, who denied that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity. In order to answer these issues, the church had to make a pronouncement about which books authoritative doctrine could be based on. The council of Nicaea did not meet to discuss which books belonged in the New Testament canon. It only recognized the books that the church had from the beginning considered to be the Word of God.” (http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/canon.cfm#62)
The creation of the world is the first historical and necessarily scientific event mentioned in the Bible. It is also the most hotly contested event of all time. The manner of the coming about of our present universe is the “Great Divide” that separates mankind across all areas of life. The two teams can be summed up as “Random Chance aka – Natural Selection” and “Divine Action aka -- Intelligent Design.” The implications of each assumption are vast and different on an epic scale. Either mankind is the product of an innumerable series of random accidents and therefore responsible to no one but himself, OR mankind is the product of an intentional intelligence and therefore answerable to a Creator. This is a long, drawn out argument with a great deal of mutual misunderstanding.
It is perhaps easiest to view both through the lens of the scientific method. First, the question: How did life begin? Second, the research: study the findings of others. Third, the hypothesis: God created all things OR over billions and trillions of years non-living material slowly changed into living material. Fourth, the experimentation: Is there evidence of intentional creation OR Can non-living material change or be changed into living material? Fifth, analyze results: The universe is a intricately organized and organization indicates intention and intelligence OR the universe arose randomly as non-living material was changed into other non-living material that is the building blocks for proteins – although the non-living materials (amino acids) that were created in the famous Miller-Urey Experiment bond with tar and are toxic to life (http://apologeticspress.org/articles/2097).
The only observations of the beginning of life itself are found in the Bible. The observation of scientific experiments show that a few of the ingredients of the building blocks for life can be intentionally created under controlled, prepared conditions by a group of highly intelligent people. The point should not need further explanation, but the rough idea is that creationists believe that God intelligently designed the universe, and evolutionary scientists have proven that through intelligence, design and by using pre-existing elements other elements found in the universe can be created by man. There is a great deal more that I would like to say on this issue, but it is not the purpose of this post to deal with the Creation vs. Evolution dispute. In short, the creation account cannot be disproven because it was an event observed and recorded, and the overwhelming order in the universe is the residual proof of this act of God.
The historical accuracy of the Bible can be proven on a grand scale in the arena of archaeology. The area of land covered in the Bible is massive, and archaeologists have found that the evidence of the truth of the events that it records is equally massive. Biblical Arcaeology is one of the most solidly founded branches of archaeology. The Bible has come under attack again and again, yet archaeology continues to prove it true on a regular basis. Below is a short list of places mentioned in the New Testament that have been located by archaeologists.
SITE OR ARTIFACT | LOCATION | RELATING SCRIPTURE |
Herod's temple | Jerusalem | |
Herod's winter palace | Jericho | |
The Herodium (possible site of Herod's tomb) | Near Bethlehem | |
Masada | Southwest of Dead Sea | cf. Lk 21:20 |
Capernaum | ||
Pool of Siloam | Jerusalem | |
Jerusalem | ||
Caesarea | ||
Jerusalem | ||
Skeletal remains of crucified man | Jerusalem | |
Capernaum | ||
Jacob's well | Nablus |
Asia Minor
Kerti Huyuk | ||
Antioch in Pisidia | ||
Zeus altar (Satan's throne?) | Pergamum | |
Fourth century BC walls | Assos | |
Ephesus | ||
Ephesus | ||
Silversmith shops | Ephesus | |
Ephesus |
Greece
Corinth | ||
Corinth | ||
Corinth | ||
Corinth | ||
Court (bema) | Corinth | |
Marketplace (bema) | Philippi | |
Starting gate for races | Isthmia | |
Delphi | ||
Egnatian Way | Kavalla (Neapolis), Philippi, Apollonia, Thessalonica | |
Thessalonica |
Italy
Tomb of Augustus | Rome | |
Mamertime Prison | Rome | |
Appian Way | Puteoli to Rome | |
Golden House of Nero | Rome | |
Arch of Titus | Rome |
ttp://www.faithfacts.org/search-for-truth/maps/archaeological-and-external-evidence
http://debate.org.uk/topics/history/bib-qur/bibarch.htm
http://www.baseinstitute.org/
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983854,00.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_archaeological_evidence_for_the_Bible
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/edom.html
With so much evidence to support its repeated accuracy, it can be considered nothing less than fair to recognize the Bible as a trusted source of information concerning Jesus as well as the primary proof of his historical existence. The sources cited so far are relatively few compared to the treasure trove of information readily available to anyone who looks.
If the previously mentioned information is not proof enough – sceptics will always be sceptics – the following post will deal with proof for the historicity of Jesus based on the words of noted historians.
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