Was Jesus even real?

 

Even though there’s no conclusive evidence that Jesus existed

beyond the various writings about his life and words, scholars

widely accept that there was a historical figure named Jesus.

Unfortunately, there’s no empirical evidence that he lived or

was resurrected and was the son of an omnipotent God. (To be

fair, one wouldn’t expect to find archaeological evidence because

there’s no archaeological record of 99.9% of people who lived

in those times.) At the risk of being cynical again, it’s hard to

understand why God wouldn’t want to leave some proof of His

existence!

According to history.com, which references the work of Bart

D. Ehrman (author of Did Jesus Exist?):

Documentary evidence [of Jesus being a real person] outside

of the New Testament is limited. The most detailed record

of the life and death of Jesus comes from the four Gospels and

other New Testament writings. These are all Christian and are

obviously and understandably biased in what they report and

have to be evaluated critically to establish any historically reliable

information, states Ehrman.

But their central claims about Jesus as a historical figurea

Jew, with followers, executed on orders of the Roman governor of

Judea, Pontius Pilate, during the reign of Emperor Tiberiusare

borne out by later sources with a completely different set of biases.

Several Jewish and Roman Historians mentioned Jesus. He

is also mentioned in the Quran many times. Unfortunately, just

because there was a person called Jesus doesn’t mean he was the

son of God or that God exists.

(Extract from 'Dance with Angels' by Warwick Dunnett)

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