Jesus, Merely a Myth?
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ecause B ...for anyone who’s ever asked, ‘why?’ December 2015 www.because.uk.com Jesus, Merely a Myth? by Joseph Tkach uring the Christmas season it’s common for Flavius Josephus: “Now there arose at this time a Darticles to declare that “Jesus is a myth,” typically source of further trouble in one Jesus, a wise man who noting that the Bible is unreliable as a source of history. performed surprising works, a teacher of men who gladly welcomed strange things. He led away many But these claims overlook the fact that the Bible has Jews, and also many of the Gentiles. He was the so- been around far longer than many “credible” sources. called Christ. When Pilate, acting on information Historians often cite as reliable the writings of historian supplied by the chief men around us, condemned him Herodotus. Yet there are only eight known copies of his to the cross, those who had attached themselves to him writings, with the earliest dated 900 A.D.—some 1,300 at first did not cease to cause trouble, and the tribe of years after Herodotus’ time. Christians, which has taken this name from him is not Contrast that with the “discounted” New Testament, extinct even today”. (Antiquities, 18.3.3) which was written shortly following Jesus’ death and F.F. Bruce, who translated this quote, noted that, “The resurrection. The earliest New Testament manuscript historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased (a fragment from the Gospel of John) is dated A.D. historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar.” 125-130 A.D. There are more than 5,800 complete or fragmented copies of the New Testament in Greek, The second quote is from Roman historian Carius about 10,000 in Latin and 9,300 in other languages. Let Cornelius Tacitus who also wrote in the first century. me share with you three notable quotes that point to the Referring to accusations that Nero burned Rome and authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ then blamed Christians, he wrote this: life. “Nero procured others to be accused, and inflicted The first quote is from first century Jewish historian, exquisite punishment upon those people, who were in Photo:istockphoto.com abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known were nothing of the sort. They had the form and quality by the name of Christians. They had their denomination of recollections concerning the daily life of a real from Christus, who in the reign of Tiberius was put to person. With that recognition, a barrier to faith fell death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate… away. From that point forward, Lewis had no problem At first they were only apprehended who confessed believing in the historical reality of Jesus. themselves of that sect; afterwards a vast multitude discovered by them, all of which were condemned, not Many sceptics assert that Albert Einstein, as an atheist, so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their did not believe in Jesus. Though Einstein did not enmity to mankind”. (Annals, 15, 44) believe in a “personal God,” he refused to combat those who did, because “Such a belief seems to me preferable The third quote is from Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, to the lack of any transcendental outlook” (Einstein official historian of Rome during the reigns of Trajan and Religion: Physics and Theology, by Max Jammer). and Hadrian. In a book written in A.D. 125 concerning Einstein, who grew up a Jew, admitted to being the lives of the first twelve Caesars, Suetonius wrote “enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” this about Claudius (who reigned from A.D. 41 to 54): When asked by an interviewer if he accepted the “He banished the Jews from Rome, who were historical existence of Jesus, Einstein gave this reply: continually making disturbances, Chrestus being their “Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without leader”. (Life of Claudius 25.4, and note his spelling of feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality Christ as “Chrestus”) pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. Suetonius’s statement points to the growth of Christianity How different, for instance, is the impression which we in Rome prior to A.D. 54, only two decades after Jesus’ receive from an account of legendary heroes of antiquity death. Reflecting on this and other evidence, British like Theseus. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall concluded: the authentic vitality of Jesus” (“What Life Means to “It is not possible to explain the rise of the Christian Einstein: An Interview,” by George Sylvester Viereck, church or the writing of the Gospels and the stream of The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929). tradition that lies behind them without accepting the I could go on, but as Roman Catholic scholar Raymond fact that the Founder of Christianity actually existed.” Brown has rightly noted, concentrating on the question Though other scholars doubt the authenticity of the first of Jesus being a myth causes many to miss the real two quotes and a few even claim them to be forgeries by point of the Gospels. In The Birth of the Messiah, Christians, the criterion for validating these references Brown mentions that he is often approached around is solid. I enjoy a comment made by historian Michael Christmas by those wanting to write an article about the Grant in his book, Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the historicity of Jesus’ birth. “With little success I try to Gospels: “If we apply to the New Testament, as we convince them that they could promote understanding should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to of the birth stories by concentrating on the message of other ancient writings containing historical material, those stories instead of an issue that was very far from we can no more reject Jesus’ existence than we can primary [for] the evangelists.” reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages The Bible’s focus and purpose is not to prove the whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.” historical validity of Jesus’ incarnation, but to share Though sceptics are quick to dismiss what they don’t why he came and what his coming means to us. The want to believe, there are exceptions. Noted sceptic and Holy Spirit uses Scripture to put us in actual contact liberal theologian John Shelby Spong wrote in Jesus with the incarnate and risen Lord who draws us to for the Non-Religious, that “Jesus was, first of all, a himself that we might believe in him and worship the human being who actually lived at a particular time Father through him. Jesus came into the world as a in a particular place. The man Jesus was not a myth, demonstration of God’s love for each and every one of but a figure of history from whom enormous energy us (1 John 4:10). flowed—energy that still in our day cries out to be Jesus is more than a historical figure—he is the Son of adequately explained.” God who came to reconcile all to the Father in the Holy In his days as an atheist, C.S. Lewis believed that Spirit. That is why we speak of joy, hope and promise. the New Testament accounts about Jesus were mere legends. But when he read them for himself and compared them with what he knew of actual ancient legends and myths, he saw clearly that these writings Will the world end by Christmas? by James Henderson Marrakesh, Morocco – 19th November, 2015 the Jihad struggle to advance Islam, but it is also about Armageddon. What is happening concerns prophetic s soon as I enter the taxi, the driver begins to talk fulfilment as the ISIS movement sees it. Aabout ISIL, the so called Islamic State. It makes me feel uneasy: he seems so angry. Some Christians and Christian organizations get very excited about the idea of Armageddon. Armageddon is His English is good, better than I thought it would be. mentioned in the Christian Bible, but not specifically in the Qur’an although there are strong similarities “Mohammed would not in how the end times are have approved of what described in both books. happened in Paris. We want In Islam the scenario is stability and tranquillity. that the powerful Muslim We desire peace. That is forces will be victorious the way of Islam”. over all idolatrous religions (including His words bring to mind Trinitarian Christianity), a book I’m reading called over secularism and “Titans of History” by over Judaism. This final Simon Sebag Montefiore. conflagration will take In it there’s a chapter about place somewhere in Syria. Babur, the 16th century In Christianity, according Muslim emperor whose to many interpretations of empire encompassed the book of Revelation and most of the Middle of Old Testament prophecy, East, Afghanistan and the forces of God defeat Hindustan (India). Babur the armies of the world “ruled over a vast array (including Islam), and this of peoples with immense happens in the valley of tolerance and respect. Armageddon, which is in He never forced their modern day Israel. conversion or sought to alter their practices. Preach Amazingly perhaps to Islam ‘by the sword of Muslims and Christians love and affection’, he told alike, the Qur’an describes Humayun (his son), ‘rather how the decisive end- than the sword of tyranny time battle is won when and persecution’”1. Jesus Christ returns. Note this quote from the “It’s about the end of the world”, the taxi driver internet site called Islam Today (http://en.islamtoday.