We'll get you there unless we don't.
This is a simple over view of the Christian faith and why I believe Jesus is who He said He is.
Here you will find what I consider the most important topic you will ever deal with. The eternal status of your soul. I will summarize what I believe, lay forth the reasons and then you can decide what you will do with it. My prayer is that God will speak to your heart.
I believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son my Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. On the third day He rose again and ascended into heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand. I believe He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Christian Church, the communion of saints, the foregiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen
Some will question whether Jesus actually existed. This is a specious argument at best as there is to much historical evidence to the contrary.
Pliny the Younger writes to emperor Trajan (circa. 111A.D.) concerning the trials of Christians. He mentions their gathering and singing hymns to Christ as God. Pliny
The Annals of Tacitus refer to Jesus and His followers and not in a favorable way. He does show sympathy for their treatment under Nero but calls their practices abominable.Tacitus
The Jewish historian Josephus makes two references to Jesus in his Antiquities of the Jews. Josephus
All of these writers wrote independantly and were notably non-Christians. Tacitus and Pliny following the cult of emperor worship and Josephus a devout orthodox Jew.
If you look at the manuscript evidences you will find that there is much more documentation concerning Jesus dated closer to His time than any other person of the Greco-Roman era. The following list taken from The New Evidence Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell lists some of the ancient writings, date they were written, earliest copies we have, the gap between them, and the number of copies we have.These are hand written copies that pre-date the printing press which was invented in the mid 1400's.
Author | Book | Date written | Earliest Copy | Gap | # of Copies |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Homer | Iliad | 800 B.C. | 400 B.C. | 400 Yrs. | 643 |
Herodotus | History | 480-425 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1,350yrs | 8 |
Thuycydides | History | 460-400 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1,300yrs | 8 |
Plato | 400 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1,300yrs | 7 | |
Demothenes | 300 B.C. | 1100 A.D. | 1,400yrs | 200 | |
Caesar | Gaullic wars | 100-44 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1,000yrs | 10 |
Tacitus | Annals | 100 A.D. | 1100 A.D. | 1000yrs | 20 |
Pliny Secondus | Natural History | 61-113 A.D. | 850 A.D. | 750yrs | 7 |
New Testament | Fragments | 50-100 A.D. | c.114 A.D. | +50yrs | 5366 |
Complete books | c.200 A.D. | 100yrs | total | ||
Most of N.T. | c.250 A.D. | 150yrs | copies | ||
Complete N.T. | c.325 A.D. | 225yrs | as of 1999. |