Why do people think Jesus existed?

Answer 1

If you are looking for external writings that note the life of Jesus then there are ten known non-Christian sources and about four times as many Christian sources which include the Gospels. The 10 are: Josephus, the Jewish historian for the Roman Government; Tacitus, the Roman historian; Pliny the Younger a Roman politician; Phlegon, a freed slave who wrote histories; Thallus, a first century historian; Seutonius, a Roman historian; Lucian of Samosata, a Greek satirist; Celsus, a Roman philosopher; Mara Bar-Serapion, a private citizen who wrote to his son; and lastly, the Jewish Talmud. All of these writings are within a 150 year timeframe of the life and times of Jesus.

Interestingly, compare these 10 writings to only the 9 non-Christian writings (during same 150 year timeframe) for Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus' ministry. Strange how few doubt his existence or writings.

Modern writers Norman Geisler and Frank Turek in their 2004 book "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist', summarizes the 10 non-Christian writers noted above (some very anti-Christian) as follows: 'They attest that Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar, lived a virtuous life, was a wonder-worker, had a brother named James, was acclaimed to be the Messiah and was crucified under Pontius Pilate on the eve of the Jewish Passover, accompanied by darkness and earthquake...The further affirm that His disciples believed He rose from the dead, were willing to die for their belief, spread Christianity rapidly as far as Rome and denied the Roman gods, instead worshipping Jesus as God ' (p. 223).

The above sounds like it could be a summary of the Gospels, Acts and some of the other books in the New Testament.

Answer 2

Historians take the view that if a person was attested in ancient times by contemporaries or near-contemporaries, then he probably did exist unless there is good reason to believe otherwise. With qualifications, Jesus was attested by Paul, a contemporary of Jesus, and some decades later by the author of Mark's Gospel. Until further evidence arises either way, most historians accept that Jesus of Nazareth did exist. Of course, saying that a man called Jesus once lived in Galilee is different to saying that he worked miracles.

John Ashton says in 'History and Theology in New Testament Studies' (The Nature of New Testament Theology,edited by Rowland and Tuckett) that historians (and others) continue to argue with one another whether Jesus was really a homespun Cynic philosopher, a social reformer or an eschatological preacher deeply sympathetic to the Pharasaic culture all around him. He says that not only Jesus’ miracles but also the amazing religious experiences attributed to him in the Gospels, his baptism and transfiguration, are generally dismissed as legendary.

Answer 3

Because He **DID** Exist. He Is an Historical Person, just as much as Christopher Columbus, Julius Ceaser, Confucius, & Shakespeare all were.