The Historical Jesus

2006-3-23 05:56:00

NS writes:

"Except there is no evidence Jesus existed. If he did exist as a man back then. There is still no proof that he walked on water or did anything that special."

JJ:

There is actually very powerful evidence that Jesus existed. Not counting spiritual proof available let us list the practical ones.

There are four different accounts seemingly written by four different individuals testifying to his existence, life and teachings. These of course are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Critics complain that we do not have an original manuscript, that the earliest manuscript was created hundreds of years after Jesus lived.

On the other hand, there are many ancient Greek authors for which we also do not have an original manuscript yet scholars have no problem accepting that they were real.

For example, scholars believe that they have an accurate text of seven plays of Sophocles, yet the earliest substantial manuscript upon which it is based was written more than 1,400 years after his death!

The earliest fragment of the Gospels is that of John and was found in Egypt and dated shortly after 100 AD. This was only a few years after it was written just before the turn of the century.

Information on the manuscript may be found at:

http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/text/fragment.htm

Also found in Egypt were the Magdalene Fragments of the gospel of Matthew. Most scholars agree that they date back to the second century, but some argue that date clear back to 70 AD.

More information may be found at:

http://dejnarde.ms11.net//magda.htm

In addition there exists a fragment of there Gospel of Peter (not in the Bible) that dates back to just after the first century.

It is an interesting fact that there exists today approximately 5300 copies of ancient Greek manuscripts which are copies of the gospels. This number greatly exceeds the Greek copies testifying to any other man in history.

There are hundreds of apocryphal works of ancient date testifying to the life of Jesus.
It is a stretch of the imagination to believe that around 2 billion believers today follow an imaginary character. No other religion of any significance has the existence of its founder questioned.
Skeptics claim that around 300 AD a group of writers fabricated the gospels and somehow convinced the entire Roman Empire they were true. This would be comparable to Bush and his advisors convincing the country that some imaginary guy named Oliver Smith is the messiah and appeared in America around 1700 AD. It is just not believable.
The words of Jesus in the Gospels are the most powerful words ever written and are quoted and duplicated more than any other in history. This feat would be virtually impossible to achieve by fraudulent men.

If there is an historical Jesus then is it logical to assume that what is written about him in the gospels is basically true. It is also logical to assume there are errors in what is written, but he had to have been quite a remarkable person to have had such an impact on the world.

"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it."
-- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy