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Writer Michael Paulkovich has claimed that there is little evidence for a person known as Jesus existing in history
Jesus is thought to have lived from about 7BC to 33AD in the Roman Empire
However Paulkovich says he found little to no mention of the supposed messiah in 126 texts written in the first to third centuries
Only one mention of Jesus was present, in a book by Roman historian Josephus Flavius, but he says this was added by later editors
He says this is surprising despite the ‘alleged worldwide fame’ of Jesus
And this has led him to believe that Jesus was a 'mythical character'
The 126 texts he studied were all written in the period during or soon after the supposed existence of Jesus, when Paulkovich says they would surely have heard of someone as famous as Jesus - but none mention him.
'When I consider those 126 writers, all of whom should have heard of Jesus but did not - and Paul and Marcion and Athenagoras and Matthew with a tetralogy of opposing Christs, the silence from Qumram and Nazareth and Bethlehem, conflicting Bible stories, and so many other mysteries and omissions - I must conclude that Christ is a mythical character,’ he writes.
‘"Jesus of Nazareth" was nothing more than urban (or desert) legend, likely an agglomeration of several evangelic and deluded rabbis who might have existed.’
www.dailymail.co.uk... cal-character.html
1. It is written that both Horus and Jesus existed before their incarnations.
2. Horus was born of the virgin Isis on December 25th in a cave/manger.
3. Horus' birth was announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.
4. The infant Horus was carried out of Egypt to escape the wrath of Typhon. The infant Jesus was carried into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. Concerning the infant Jesus, the New Testament states the following prophecy: "Out of Egypt have I called my son." (Matthew 2:15)
5. He was a child teacher in the temple and was baptized by Anup the Baptizer when he was thirty years old.
6. He had twelve disciples and performed miracles such as feeding bread to the multitude and walking on water.
7. He raised one man, El-Azar-us, from the dead.
8. He transfigured on a mount.
9. He also had titles such as the "way, the truth, the light, the Messiah, God's anointed Son, the Son of Man, the good shepherd, the lamb of God, the Word, the Morning Star, the light of the world.
10. He was "the Fisher," and was associated with the lamb, lion and fish ("Ichthys").
11. Horus's personal epithet was "Iusa," the "ever-becoming son" of "Ptah," the "Father."
12. Horus was called "KRST," or "Anointed One.
13. He was crucified, buried in a tomb and resurrected.
Continued...
A second mention of Jesus by Josephus is seldom disputed by scholars. It concerns the martyrdom of James, His half brother: "Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrin of the judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others [or some of his companions;] and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned ..." ( Antiquities, 20:9:1). Another prominent figure from the Gospels mentioned by Josephus is John the Baptizer: "Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion,...thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause...Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus,...and was there put to death" ( Antiquities, 18:5:2). Although Josephus was never a Christian, in his works we find mention of many other figures from the Gospels and other New Testament books. These include the family of the Herods; the Judean procurators and members of the high priestly families. His books, like the writings of the Roman historians and officials, provide powerful independent corroboration of the historical accuracy of the Gospels and the existence of Jesus Christ.
Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56-120) was a Roman senator, consul and governor of the Roman province of Anatolia (covering most of modern-day Turkey) as well as one of ancient Rome's greatest historians. Late in his life he wrote a 16-volume history of the Roman emperors, the Annals. No friend to either Nero or Christians, Tacitus writes that Nero blamed "a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace." He goes on to explain that "Christus [Christ], from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty [crucifixion] during the reign of Tiberius at the hand of one of our procurators, 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 ..." ( Annals, 15:44, quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ, 1998, p. 82). A contemporary of Tacitus, Caius Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 69-140), overseer of Rome's libraries and court official to several emperors, writes that the emperor Claudius "banished the Jews from Rome, who were continually making disturbances, Chrestus [Christ] being their leader" ( Lives of the First Twelve Caesars: Life of Claudius, quoted by Grant Jeffrey, Jesus: The Great Debate, 1999, p. 163). This banishment of Jews from Rome is mentioned in Acts:18:2. Also, "Pliny the younger, the Roman legate of Bithynia-Pontus (what is now north-central Turkey) in the early second century, wrote to the emperor Trajan, requesting advice on how to deal with Christians who refused to reverence Caesar's image. Pliny noted that these Christians met regularly and sang hymns 'to Christ as if to a god' ( Letters 10:96.7). The phrase 'as if to a God' suggests that Pliny knew Jesus had been a person who had lived on earth but was reluctant to call him divine" (Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, 1987, p. 196).
There are some independent, non-biblical books that mention the historical Jesus. Historian Edwin Yamauchi calls attention to the most important reference to Jesus outside the New Testament. This proof comes from Tacitus, a Roman, who wrote that the Christians were responsible for the fire that destroyed Rome in A.D. 64. He believed that Christ had died under extreme execution during the reign of Pontius Pilatus. Yet, he stated that Christ's death briefly checked "a most mischievous superstition," which arose, not only in Judea, but also in Rome. He is bearing indirect testimony to the conviction of the early church that Christ who had been crucified had risen from the grave. This would explain the bizarre occurrence of a rapidly growing religion based on the worship of a man who had been crucified as a criminal. How do you explain that? Another source of evidence about Jesus is found in the letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan. Pliny was the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor. He asks Emperor Trajan about various ways to conduct legal proceedings against those accused of being Christians. He did some research regarding these Christians and this is what he came up with: They met on a certain fixed day before it was light and sang hymns to Christ, as to a god. Unlike other gods who were worshipped, Christ was a person who had lived on earth. They bound themselves by a solemn oath to not participate in any wicked deeds, and never to commit fraud, theft, adultery, falsify their word, or deny a trust. These early Christians believed he was a real person and they held his teachings in the highest esteem. They also bound themselves to a higher oath to not violate various moral standards which is the source of the ethical teachings of Jesus. The writings of Josephus points out in his reference called, "Testimonium Flavianum, that "About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he wrought surprising feats. He was the Christ. When Pilate condemned him to be crucified, those who had come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared restored to life. And the tribe of Christians has not disappeared." Josephus was not a Christian. Therefore many believe that he could not have written anything such as the above statements. But, even so, we are left with details of a picture which tells us that the "biblical Jesus" and the "historical Jesus" are one and the same. There is also a collection of Jewish rabbinical writings that give a few clear references to Jesus called the Babylonian Talmud written approximately A.D. 70-500. The most significant reference from this period states, "On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald. . .cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy.'" The name, Yeshu, is actually the name, Jesus, in Hebrew. However, upon reading the passage, we know for a fact that Jesus was not hanged, but that He was crucified, but the word, "hanged" serves as a synonym for "crucified." And what about the statement that Jesus was to be stoned? This could indicate that the Jewish leaders were planning to do just that, but the Roman Government intervened on those plans. Another source of writings comes from Lucian of Samosata who was a second century Greek satirist. In one of his writings, he notes as follows: "The Christians…worship a man to this day - the distinguished 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." We know the man Lucian is writing of, and that man is Jesus. What did Jesus do to arouse such wrath? He taught men are brothers from the moment of conversion which means denying Greek gods, worshipping Jesus, and living according to His teachings. As we can see, these writings corroborate our knowledge of Jesus from the gospels. - See more at: www.allaboutjesuschrist.org...
originally posted by: Tedgoat
Saw a lot of info about Jesus not existing and to be honest it all makes sense. Jesus and God being the Sun I have no problem with.
I watched some videos with Santos Boracci. He's a clever guy and all the Roman books he has read in which he quotes they all say Jesus never existed and he was just made up fictional character to help with the controlling mechanism of Christianity!
But what' the point of saying it? Christians are so deluded by their indoctrinated religion that they will never accept anyone saying their saviour has never existed. It's like saying to a kid that Santa Claus is not real. You'll never get anywhere! All you'll get is crying, screaming and tantrums!
I'm an ex Christian by the way! I know what it was like when I was shoved into Church ever SUNday by my parents.
, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know
en.wikipedia.org...
originally posted by: sheepslayer247
Now, I am no biblical scholar, but it is my understanding that there is plenty of evidence that is accepted by historians that a man named Jesus did exist, and was crucified by the Romans.
Extra-biblical writers such as Tacitus and Jospehus validated some of the things written in the NT, and I believe the Egyptians even wrote about Jesus.
Now whether or not he was the son of god or is irrellevant.
originally posted by: Spider879
'Jesus NEVER existed': Writer finds no mention of Christ in 126 historical texts and says he was a 'mythical character'
Writer Michael Paulkovich has claimed that there is little evidence for a person known as Jesus existing in history
Jesus is thought to have lived from about 7BC to 33AD in the Roman Empire
However Paulkovich says he found little to no mention of the supposed messiah in 126 texts written in the first to third centuries
Only one mention of Jesus was present, in a book by Roman historian Josephus Flavius, but he says this was added by later editors
He says this is surprising despite the ‘alleged worldwide fame’ of Jesus
And this has led him to believe that Jesus was a 'mythical character'
The 126 texts he studied were all written in the period during or soon after the supposed existence of Jesus, when Paulkovich says they would surely have heard of someone as famous as Jesus - but none mention him.
'When I consider those 126 writers, all of whom should have heard of Jesus but did not - and Paul and Marcion and Athenagoras and Matthew with a tetralogy of opposing Christs, the silence from Qumram and Nazareth and Bethlehem, conflicting Bible stories, and so many other mysteries and omissions - I must conclude that Christ is a mythical character,’ he writes.
‘"Jesus of Nazareth" was nothing more than urban (or desert) legend, likely an agglomeration of several evangelic and deluded rabbis who might have existed.’
www.dailymail.co.uk... cal-character.html
Now this is not the first time I have heard such argument however I don’t quite remember seeing such in a news publication,and while I am too cowardly edging my bets being a fence sitter agnostic I have to wonder why now what changed that a news organization would put that out there.