[This debate will apparently never end because of the writings of “unorthodox” researchers and scholars like Richard Carrier or Acharya S. But it should be over, because the argument is largely a waste of time.]
A friend once wrote me to say, “I can truly respect the teachings and philosophy of Jesus (whether he was a real person or not) of love, forgiveness, and loving your enemy.”
At the time I wondered why my friend doubted that Jesus had been a real person, but that was before I’d become familiar with movies like Zeitgeist, or historians such as Richard Carrier, who claims that Jesus was merely a mythological figure, not a real human being, nor God.
Of course, I once had my own doubts about the exact same question…but that’s another story, my road to faith. To dispel any beliefs that Jesus never existed, it is only necessary to understand what I currently know.
The Roman scribe Tacitus once wrote,
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 center 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.
Some critics have suggested that Christians forged the above entry into the writings of Tacitus, but there are two problems with that theory: the account is hardly flattering to Christianity (Tacitus calls it a “superstition”) and it fails to assert the divinity of Christ. The passage mentions crucifixion and describes gruesome persecution of Christians, but doesn’t say a word about redemption or salvation. In other words, the only reason to believe that Christians forged this passage into the original text would be if one is convinced that Jesus never existed and felt compelled to convince others. The same criticisms are routinely offered when the works of the Jewish historian Josephus are mentioned.
A different question from a new perspective comes to mind: what about the historicity of the Apostle Paul? It seems no one ever suggests that Paul was a mythical character or expresses doubt about the historical truth of his life and death. Perhaps that’s because Paul left so much evidence behind in the form of his writing. And what do we know about him?
From his own words, Paul entered the picture shortly after Jesus’ crucifixion….As Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Pharisee who routinely persecuted the first Christians. He presided over the stoning of Stephen, guarding the cloaks of the participants. Saul attributed a life-changing personal encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus as the impetus for the dramatic change he underwent – a change so profound that he adopted a new name, Paul.
The disciple Peter and apostle Paul were primarily responsible for creating the foundation on which Christianity was built by protecting the legacy of Christ.
Both men were martyred and died because of their professed belief in the risen Christ.
Were they both insane? Or had each man experienced something so profound that it galvanized their faith to the point where neither feared intense suffering or mortal death?
Peter’s continuation of Jesus’ ministry to fulfill his designation as the cornerstone on which the church would be built is understandable, to some degree. He knew and followed Jesus in life. But there is no record or account to suggest Saul of Tarsus ever met Jesus in person.
So this question remains valid: why would either of these men [or anyone, for that matter] knowingly sacrifice their life for a lie? Please don’t try to compare this sort of altruistic personal sacrifice to a suicide bomber who gives up his or her life in exchange for the opportunity to kill other people.
Paul’s conversion after Jesus’ death is truly inexplicable. He was a radical terrorist until his life-changing experience on the road to Damascus. Unless he suffered a total loss of sanity that left him appearing to function normally so that he could evangelize his new faith…or else he had a real experience which completely and permanently altered his persona, there’s no other good reason to explain why Saul changed, and became Paul. Before judging Paul insane, remember his words found in I Corinthians, Chapter 13:
If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Those are some of the most beautiful words ever written because they reflect a wisdom that literally transcends human nature — to love your enemies as well as your friends. Few people question the historicity of Paul simply because a rather significant body of evidence indicates that he was indeed a real person.
We have his letters and writings that form much of the New Testament, as well as external references to Paul in Polycarp’s letter to the Phillipians, Ignatius’ letter to the Romans, and Clement’s letter to the Corinthians. Even more important, we have the lasting evidence of the Christian religion itself. We know Christianity has only been around for the last two thousand years or so because the religion’s origin coincides with the crucifixion of Jesus, as well as the ministries of Peter and Paul in its aftermath.
Jesus was not the first Catholic. He was an Israeli Jew.
But why would two men of such diverse backgrounds come under the same spell to proselytize this new religion until their executions, if the risen Christ had not been real to them? Can we judge these men to have been insane, based on existing evidence?
No one ever suggests that Muhammad never existed. The founder of Islam also acknowledged Jesus was a real person and a prophet. Muhammad may have questioned the divine nature of Jesus or his being the Christ, but not his mortal existence. These people who lived and died in closer proximity to Jesus’s era did not doubt the reality of his person, so why should we? Some may still question what really happened after his death, but that’s a different issue.
In other words, billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims all believe that Jesus was a real person who preached in Israel for three years before being crucified. We all believe in his death on a cross because the historicity of a physical Jesus appears to have been well documented, remarkably so for such a lowly figure from antiquity — a poor Jewish boy born in a manger, who thought he was God.
Many humans in both past and present times have suffered from a similar God delusion. But only one man appears to have fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophesies of a Jewish Messiah, like those foretold in Isaiah Chapter 53 and Micah Chapter 5, just to name two examples. This is what Christians and Messianic Jews believe.
However, the reality of the resurrection and divine nature of Jesus will always be a matter of faith.
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