You don't have to convince me he was the Son of God, or that he could perform miracles. Even atheists can believe Jesus existed; I'm sure many do.
So, convince me. I am John Doe, and I have seen NO evidence that Jesus ever even existed. Being a rational man, I don't believe Jesus existed due to lack of any evidence , though I admit it is possible... many men have existed, this is not an extraordinary claim.
However, I, John Doe, see no reason to believe he existed at all.
So, give me reason to believe Jesus existed. Simple, right?
I'll give it a shot. :shrug:
How would you go about proving to that degree that any person 2000 years ago existed?
You have none of the pieces of evidence that we drown in today. We have to remind ourselves when we look at things that long ago that the modern information age we live in IS the aberration. Most of human history was not like this.
So, we have no birth certificate for him.
We have no pictures of him.
We have no family home because he came from a poor tradesman family.
What we do have is writings made about the tremendous impact he had on those around him, for good or for ill, from within a generation after his death.
1. Flavius Josephus, for one (37CE - 100CE) mentions him twice, once where he wrote "And now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king, desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a sanhedrin without his consent. Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest' (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 9).
Secondly, also in Antiquities: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day"
2. Eusebius much later (4th century) mentions him.
3. The Roman Senator and historian Tacitus (56CE - 117CE) mentions him, specifically his death at the hands of Pilate, by name, specifically as the founder of the faith that bears his name. "Nero fastened the guilt . . . on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of . . . Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome. . ."
4. Lucian of Samosata (125CE-180CE), 2nd Century Greek satirist, wrote of Christ's crucifixion, and derisively about Christianity itself, but in a rather dry manner when he said "The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day - the distinguised personage who introduced their novel rites - and was crucified on that account...it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers from the moment that they are converted and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage and live after his laws"
5. Pliny the Younger (61CE-112CE) wrote what he had learned about the Christians to Emperor Trajan, in a letter, where he said "They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."
6. Celsus, a great opponent of Christianity wrote a polemic against it in ca. 178 CE, where he wrote that Celsus said that 'Jesus came from a Jewish village in the Holy Land. Jesus' mother was a poor Jewish girl. This girl's husband, who was a carpenter by trade, drove her away because of her adultery with a Roman soldier named Panthera. So, Celsus discounted Jesus' ancestry, birth, childhood, divinity, and ministry, indicating strongly that these elements of the faith were already firmly in place.
7. Seutonius, another opponent of Christianity who lived from 69CE - 130CE, wrote in "The Twelve Caesars" : "As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestos, [Claudius] expelled them from Rome"
These are the best references to Christ and the early Christians, from the earliest extra-biblical sources.
