The unique thing about Christianity is that it rises or falls
with Jesus. If Jesus is just a myth, as many skeptics
assert, than Christianity is false. It's that simple! So is
there any evidence that Jesus was a real historical
person? The answer is yes. First, we have the four
Gospels, and Paul's epistles which were
written within 30 to 60 years after Jesus' life
Unfortunately though, skeptics are not likely to accept
this evidence because it's Christian sources.
While it's not fair to rule out Christian sources just
because they're Christian, let's concede to the objection
for argument's sake and provide some non-Christian
sources. Consider the first century Jewish historian
Josephus, who, in his history of the Jewish people
called, "Antiquities of the Jews," refers to Jesus
twice. Book 20 contains a quick, indirect reference, when
Josephus writes about James, the brother of Jesus. In
book 18, however, Josephus names Jesus, describes
him as a wise man, a doer of startling deeds, and a
teacher, and affirms his crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.
Now, while this passage in book 18 contains additions
by Christian copyists, the elements mentioned are
considered historical. Howabout Cornelius Tacitus, a
Roman historian of the first century? In his work
"Annals," he refers to a group of people called "Christians," and
describes their founder and leader as Christus,
who was put to death by Pontius Pilate,
procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius. So with
evidence from both Christian and non-Christian sources
we can be sure Jesus was not a myth, but was
a real historical person. If you want to learn more about
this topic and others like it, visit our website at
catholic.com. For Catholic Answers, I'm Karlo Broussard.
Thanks for watching.
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