Historical Claims Against Jesus Christ's Existence?
score:2
Actions speak louder than words, they say.
In the years following Jesus' death, the persecution against Christians came primarily from the Jews as chronicled in the book of Acts (4:3-22, 5:17-42, 6:8-8:1, 8:3, 9:2, 9:23-24, 20:19, 23:12-14, 12:1-5, 13:44-51, 14:5-6, 14:19-20, 16:16-24, 17:1-15, 18:12-17, 19:23-41, 19:27-28:30). The interesting thing about this time period (from AD33 to AD60-ish) is there is no record of claims against the existence of Jesus. There are numerous arguments against claims made by Gnostic cults (1 John, 1 Peter, and others) and one possible argument made in defense of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12-19). However, nowhere in the New Testament is the existence of Jesus defended.
By AD64, only 30-ish years after the crucifixion of Jesus, Nero began wide-spread persecution of Christians. During this time, countless hirtory books and ancient documents record Christians being imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith and their refusal to declare the emperor as god (and any other charges that could be trumped up against them such as setting Rome on fire). If, as some scholars believe, John wrote Revelation during the time of Domitian it could be a chronicling of the persecution of Christians by Rome. Polycarp, Irenaeus and other early Second Century church fathers also document the persecution during those times.
My point about the period of Roman persecution is this: There are not records of attempts to prove the Christians wrong. Rather than just killing them and thereby solidifying their faith, how much easier would it have been to issue proclamations that Jesus did not rise from the dead, or that He was living in Gaul with his prostitute wife, or that He never existed? This persecution began a whole generation after the death of Jesus and establishment of the church. Even a campaign of disinformation would have made sense. But even during this time that the eradication of Christianity became a priority of State we have no indicators that denials of any of the claims made by Christians concerning Jesus were false.
To me, this silence on the part of Rome and, before that, the Jewish authorities, is strong evidence.
More post
- 📝 How was Napoleon's military funded just a decade after the French Revolution ostensibly because of bankruptcy/mismanagement of funds?
- 📝 Why didn't the Black Death made the peasants more desperate and more accepting of exploitation?
- 📝 Do revisionist historiographies come closer to "unbiased truth"?
- 📝 What were Aurangzeb Alamgir's motives for reversing much of the religious tolerance in the Mughal Empire?
- 📝 Is there a historical reason for a pattern of worse technological standards beating out better ones?
- 📝 How much money did the participating nations spend in the Napoleonic Wars?
- 📝 Why did the Sykes-Picot agreement divided the middle east into more than 10 countries?
- 📝 Would newspapers in 1890 London have printing presses in their offices?
- 📝 Was Nikolai Bukharin told at trial his job was “to confess and repent, not to argue”?
- 📝 Henry I. (the Fowler): What kind of contact to hostages was seen as appropriate?
- 📝 Why was Basel, Switzerland chosen for the First Zionist Congress?
- 📝 In the Nuremberg Laws, What did "Approved for Citizenship" is half Jewish mean in practice?
- 📝 How did people in the desert stay cool in the past?
- 📝 Was a direct telegraph line between America and Australia ever created?
- 📝 Which tall building was completed in 1940 in Europe?
- 📝 What is the longest effective range artillery weapon ever built?
- 📝 What other countries besides the US participated in keeping African slaves?
- 📝 Does anyone know of any examples of the Magnus effect in a real battle?
- 📝 Why was uranium mined in the 1500s, but only "discovered" in 1789?
- 📝 In WWII, how were all pilots/soldiers able to identify enemy vehicles?
- 📝 How, where and when did Lily Pettigrew die?
- 📝 Are the Dacians and the Getae the same people?
- 📝 Why was Columbus not aware of the existence of America?
- 📝 Interpretation of a WWII badge of rank(?) / medal
- 📝 Could Margaret Beaufort have been responsible for killing of the Princes in the Tower?
- 📝 What did the Baltic Fleet do in Reval in 1904 and when was it there?
- 📝 Did they use flying drones around 1925 for warfare?
- 📝 What factors permitted Buddhism to be successful in Japan but Christianity less so?
- 📝 Hitler And Nazism - Did Hitler ever express remorse over killing?
- 📝 WW1: What would happen if an aerial bomb was dropped from too high an altitude?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Historical Claims Against Jesus Christ's Existence?
- 📝 What historical evidence is there for the existence of Jesus Christ? What do we know about him?
- 📝 What is the state of the art historical analysis of claims that Carthaginians discovered America?
- 📝 What historical evidence do we have for the existence of Mohammed?
- 📝 Does Historiography have a usual technical term for historical writing which makes factual claims without giving references for them?
- 📝 Confirmation of existence of a historical document about French revolution and Lyon?
- 📝 Is there any historical evidence to support the existence of the Patriarchs outside of the Old Testament?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
- 📝 What is a major historical event historians are deeply divided over?
- 📝 Were Medieval Britons aware of the existence of the Roman Empire?
- 📝 ‘Avoid sleeping on your back’ & ‘breathe in toilet smells’ were seen as precautions against the Black Death. Why did doctors think these would work?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the Exodus?
- 📝 Did anyone in Europe predict the existence of the Americas?
- 📝 Is there a historical explanation as to why the USA people are so litigious compared to the French?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Is there a historical precedent to the vaccine scare?
- 📝 Who, if any, in JFK's inner circle argued against the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion?
- 📝 Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
- 📝 Is this medieval picture of hanging 5 royals showing an historical event?
- 📝 Was World War I a war of liberals against authoritarians?
- 📝 Did Germany's role in WW2 affect the historical perception of its role in WW1?
- 📝 Are there historical instances of the capital of a colonising country being temporarily or permanently shifted to one of its colonies?
- 📝 Was there an assassination attempt against Xerxes in the battle of Thermopylae?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the claim that "Taiwan has always been part of China"?
- 📝 What are good online sources for historical maps?
- 📝 Has any U.S. Vice President cast a tie-breaking vote against their own administration?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?