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Regarding the importance of Jesus, Historian Jaroslav Pelikan says this:
Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries .... it is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that 22 millions curse and in his name that millions pray.{22}
There is no more important issue than the identity and work of Jesus for Christians. He isn't just the "founder" of Christianity; he is the center of it. If it can be proved that he is not the divine Son of God who "takes away the, sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29), Christianity is dead.
Since no reason has surfaced to doubt the testimony of Scripture generally, we are justified in believing it's testimony about Jesus. However, objections have been made, so we should respond to them as best we can,. As, in other sections, we will not offer a full defense against all the accusations made against Jesus. Instead, what follows are responses to a few of the more significant objections.
That Jesus actually lived has been challenged on occasion in modem times, although this isn't as great an issue now. Nonetheless, it is good to give some thought to this question.
As noted earlier, Christianity is rooted in history. Christ's birth was counted in a Roman census; the genealogy of his parents and the names and places given in connection with his birth show that he wasn't some mythological figure invented for religious reasons. What do we know about Him? We are solely dependent upon the accuracy and the validity of the sources handed down to us.
Ignoring for the moment the reliability of the biblical documents concerning Jesus, we will examine other sources from antiquity which verify that Jesus actually lived in the first century.
From the annals of history, we know that this man, Yeshua, underwent trial and persecution by the reigning religious and Roman authorities (including the name of the Procurator [Pilate] who pronounced sentence upon him), was executed by crucifixion, and that his teachings became the foundation for a "cult" of religious worshipers called Christians.
These sources. corroborate, rather than contradict, the Jesus portrayed in the biblical documents. Having established above the overwhelming historical reliability of the extra-biblical and biblical source documents concerning His life, only dishonest scholarship would lead one to the conclusion that Jesus never lived.
According to the earlier Rabbis whose opinions are recorded in these writings, Jesus of Nazareth was a transgressor in Israel, who practiced magic, scorned the words of the wise, led the people astray, and, said he had not come to destroy the law but to add to it. He was hanged on Passover Eve for heresy and misleading the people. His disciples, of whom five are named, healed the sick in his name.{24}
Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius... (Annals, XV.44).{25}
"Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men addicted to a novel and mischievous superstition." In his Life of Claudius, another possible reference to Christianity is found: "As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome."{26}
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang an anthem to Christ as God, and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to commit any wicked deed, but to abstain from all fraud, theft and adultery, never to break their word, or deny a trust when called upon to honor it; after which it was their custom to separate, and then meet again to partake of food, but food of an ordinary and innocent kind. {27}
©1998
Probe Ministries
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