Did Jesus Really Live on the Earth?
Did Jesus Really Live on the Earth?
R.L. Wilson
In his book Know What You Believe, Dr. Paul Little says, “Buddha is not essential to the teaching of Buddhism, or Muhammad to Islam, but everything about Christianity is determined by the person and work of Jesus Christ” (p. 54).
All the teachings of Christianity (found in the Bible) are based on Jesus—who He is and what He has done. But can we know that He really lived here on the earth? If He didn’t, then everything we have learned about Christianity is a lie.
Most of what we know about Jesus can be found in the Bible. Many of the Old Testament prophets gave information about what He would be like and what He would do. The first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are biographies written about Him by people who knew Him.
But some people say the people who wrote the Bible were friendly to Jesus, so it cannot be trusted as accurate history. They claim that at best the Bible gives a distorted picture of Jesus, and at worst it is simply myth or legend, and not true at all.
However, Jesus is mentioned in other historical writings of the time. A website called Cold-Case Christianity lists nearly a dozen writings from around the time of Jesus that mention various things about Jesus and about His followers. The website’s author says when all the information is combined, we can learn the following things about Jesus from these non-Christian sources:
Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.[1]
So, yes. Jesus did really exist. He really lived on the earth, and even those who did not believe He was anything special noticed things about Him.
To learn more about Jesus, please see the following resources:
[1] http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/is-there-any-evidence-for-jesus-outside-the-bible/
