Wednesday, April 30, 2014

"Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?" - Evidence for Existence of Christ Jesus



Tokyo in Rain


Evidence for Existence of Christ Jesus

Nobody thinks today that Christ Jesus did not exist but His story was fabricated.

However there are not so many authentic or proven documents about the life of Christ Jesus:
The sources for the historicity of Jesus are mainly Christian sources, but there are some mentions also in a few non-Christian Jewish and Greco-Roman sources, which have been used in historical analyses of the existence of Jesus.[33] These include the works of 1st-century Roman historians Josephus and Tacitus.[33][34] Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, written around 93–94 AD, includes two references to the biblical Jesus Christ in Books 18 and 20. The general scholarly view is that while the longer passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it is broadly agreed upon that it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus, which was then subject to Christian interpolation or forgery.[35][36] Josephus scholar Louis H. Feldman has stated that "few have doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20, 9, 1 and it is only disputed by a small number of scholars.[37][38][39][40] Roman historian Tacitus referred to Christus and his execution by Pontius Pilate in his Annals (written ca. AD 116), book 15, chapter 44.[41] The very negative tone of Tacitus' comments on Christians make the passage extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe [42] and the Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an independent confirmation of Christ's crucifixion.[43]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus

"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... 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.[26]" 
In the Antiquities of the Jews (Book 20, Chapter 9, 1) Josephus refers to the stoning of "James the brother of Jesus" by order of Ananus ben Ananus, a Herodian-era High Priest.[27][16]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus

The Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus
Book XVIII
Chapter 3

3. 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,[9] those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day;[10] 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.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Antiquities_of_the_Jews/Book_XVIII#Chapter_3

The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 15
44

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures 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 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, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#44
In addition, from the beginning Judaists who believed Christ Jesus were not so large in number.
Jewish Christian 
It has been argued that few Jews joined the Christian movement in the first century and that the movement probably never exceeding 1,000 Jewish members at any one time during the first century. Furthermore the size and importance of the Christian movement in general during the first century tends to be exaggerated by most scholars. By the end of the first century the total Christian population is estimated to have been only 7,530.[9] The term "Jewish Christians" in the 3rd and 4th centuries can refer to groups such as Ebionites, Nazarenes and other groups, and related to these groups are quotation fragments of non-canonical gospels referred to as the "Jewish-Christian Gospels". 
Three events would greatly affect the fortunes of early Jewish Christianity. The first was the Conversion of Paul in the early 30's (and the possible conversion of his teacher Gamaliel), the second was the Council of Jerusalem c.50, and the third was the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, which according to Josephus was one of the most significant events of the First Jewish–Roman War. Nonetheless, according to the Church History of Eusebius,[31] the line of Jewish Christian bishops of Jerusalem continued until the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136) when Hadrian renamed the city "Aelia Capitolina" and barred all Jews except for the day of Tisha B'Av.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Christians
Despite all those efforts and miracles Christ Jesus performed in about three years in ancient Palestine or Judea, a majority or most of Judaists or Israelites at the time did not accept the teaching of Christ Jesus according to studies such as one above quoted.

Conversely, Roman and Judaist authorities at the time made their best to suppress this new spiritual movement originated by Christ Jesus.  They must have applied severe punishment and persecution to those who listened to Apostles and disciples of Christ Jesus who resumed their preaching and mission after the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Even in the Acts of the Apostles, there are no descriptions about successful mission of Apostles and disciples of Christ Jesus in the Judaist community in Jerusalem and other parts of ancient Palestine.  They never made openly a speech or presented widely a sermon to the public in Jerusalem to acquire many followers.  Rather even St. Paul was arrested to be sent to Rome.

Therefore, it is very likely that thousands or more of Israelites who directly saw and heard Christ Jesus preaching the gospel during the three years of His mission gradually forgot Him without handing down orally the teaching of Christ Jesus to their children.  And Roman and Judaist authorities tried to eradicate and uproot influences of Christ Jesus.  

As a result, nobody among Romans and Isrealites mentioned Christ Jesus in documents, letters, or other records produced after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, except Josephus and Tacitus.

Like there are almost no Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and there are no believers in ancient Egyptian religion in Egypt today, the number of believers in Christ Jesus in ancient Palestine must have been small even before the First Jewish–Roman War on which Josephus wrote a great book, however, without mentioning Judaist Christians almost at all.

The scarcity of documentary material and evidence about the life and mission of Christ Jesus means an extremely strong degree of persecutions of Israelites who believed Christ Jesus after the crucifixion.  For 30 years before the First Jewish–Roman War, Roman and Jewish authorities seem to have almost completely destroyed the Christian movement, which was symbolized by the execution of the brother of Christ Jesus James.  

Therefore, it was really a miracle that Christianity prevailed eventually and overwhelmingly in the Roman Empire in a few centuries without sufficient documents to support the mission, which was in stark contrast to other religions such as Islam and Buddhism or even the Old Testament-based Judaism.

However if you think it is impossible to regard Christ Jesus as God, you might not mind this issue so much.  But in that event, you might be fatally on the side of Satan in the worst case.


The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70
Artist: David Roberts, 1850; Oil on canvas painting / 1356 x 1965 mmhttp://www.preteristarchive.com/ARTchive/Exhibits/1850_roberts_destruction-jerusalem.html


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Mar 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
Mar 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
Mar 4:32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.