Who is Jesus? Randall Niles goes to the core question regarding Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has been called many things by many people, including a great man, a great teacher, and a great prophet....
Who is Jesus? Randall Niles goes to the core question regarding Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has been called many things by many people, including a great man, a great teacher, and a great prophet. Theres really no legitimate scholar today that denies that Jesus of Nazareth is a historic figure that walked on this earth about 2,000 years ago, performed remarkable acts of charity, and died a horrible death on a Roman cross just outside Jerusalem.
However, theres a growing non-academic movement that totally rejects Jesus as an historic figure. They staunchly defend various myth and conspiracy theories, and get airtime in the popular media because of their controversial ideas. As credible as they may appear under the television lights, their arguments are tremendously weak.
Nobody can deny that every leader of every major world religion has confronted the historic person of Jesus. Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet, while Jews either see him as a blaspheming rebel or an exceptional rabbi elevated to deity by idolatrous Gentiles. Many Buddhists regard Jesus as a bodhisattva (a perfectly enlightened being who vows to help others), while theres a Hindu tradition that Jesus was actually a guru who learned yogic meditation in India.
All major accounts of world history, including all reputable encyclopedias and text books, deal with Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, the entire English-speaking world divides history into two principle periods: BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini -- Latin for Year of Our Lord). Whether one subscribes to the BC/AD labels or the new politically correct BCE/CE (Common Era) labels, the birth of Jesus Christ is considered the dividing line in history.
When it comes to the Jesus of history, its interesting how many progressive scholars immediately discount the Bible as a reliable source. Without the biblical texts, Jesus just becomes another profound religious leader in history, similar to Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster or Muhammad.
However, if we look at the Bible simply as a historic document, it should be among the most reliable on record compared with others. For instance, historians routinely cite Herodotus as a key source of information. He wrote from 488 BC to 428 BC and the earliest copy of his work comes from 900 AD (1,300 years after he wrote the original). In addition, there are only eight known copies of his work.
By contrast, the New Testament of the Bible (with all its information about Jesus) was written between 40 AD and 95 AD. The earliest known copy is from 130 AD and there are over 5,600 known copies in Greek, 10,000 in Latin, and 9,300 in other languages. Therefore, as a credible historical document, the biblical texts far surpass the others.
Still, to put to rest the notion that there is no historic proof for Jesus outside the Bible, we can look to a number of mainstream historians. For instance, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus are both well known and accepted.
So the person known as Jesus of Nazareth was an historic figure. Again, no real scholars dispute this reality. The questions and disputes surround his life and death as recorded in the biblical accounts. Further, what about all those Old Testament prophecies of a coming Messiah (Christ in Greek)?
Was Jesus merely a man of religious significance or was Jesus the long-awaited Christ?
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jesus' name doesn't cause me any agitation, usually when people mention jesus they are trying to convert others. it has nothing to do with him claiming to be god we just dont want you trying to convert us
Jesus was a guy who may or may not have existed, during his time there were many people who claimed to be a god. I think it's silly to believe in any higher power or deity in general, if Jesus existed he was a good guy with slightly advanced morals for his time. That's all.
If Jesus were a liar then don't you think when the persecution and death threats started he would have ran for it (this is what Muhammad did), but he didn't, in fact, he walked straight to his death to complete his purpose. If Jesus were a crazy person then would he have been able to speak the way he did, everyone around him wondered how in the world a carpenter was as intelligent as he was. That only leaves one with the option that he was telling the truth...
jesus was not a carpenter, he was of the bloodline of david. joseph had a famous and socialite family. the most backed up translations show joseph as a schollar or learned man of some sort.
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If Jesus were a crazy person then would he have been able to speak the way he did, everyone around him wondered how in the world a carpenter was as intelligent as he was.
That only leaves one with the option that he was telling the truth...
extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
1 JOHN 5:5