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Jesus of Nazareth - Not a Mythological Person (continued) Church of Christ site GahannaJeffersonChurchOfChrist.org links to an online bible New Site at TheGJCOC.com!
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This Page Has Moved!
Have you heard that people reject the existence of Jesus in spite of the abundance of evidence by friends and foes?
While there is evidence for his existence from Jesus’ foes,
The New Testament is the best evidence for the existence of Jesus. So many events surrounding the life of Christ are revealed in New Testament to validate its testimony of Jesus. For example, the circumstance of making people return to their birthplace for registration at the time of Christ (Luke 2:1-7) was attacked as inaccurate until further research showed that all the details around this registration were indeed accurate. Some may be astonished to learn that the New Testament is the most validated historical text in history. We have over 24,000 ancient copies of either a portion or entire New Testament. The Iliad by Homer is the distant second most frequently copied text from antiquity at 643 copies. So one cannot dismiss the evidence presented in the New Testament by attacking the validity of the text.
Writers from the centuries immediately following the New Testament produced volumes important to understanding the changes occurring in the Christian religion and testify profusely to the historical Christ. For example, Polycarp (69-155 AD) is believed to have known some of the apostles and was appointed bishop by the apostle John.
Additional evidence that testifies of the existence of Jesus is the Roman Catacombs, tombs created during 2-5th centuries. The catacombs are some six hundred miles of underground passages containing an estimated 1.175-4.0 million graves. This was one of the secret worshiping places of Christians. The artwork in these catacombs is tremendous testimony of the existence of Jesus Christ. The survival of Christianity alone is testimony of existence of Christ. No other movement is in a class with Christian movement. Multiple of thousands of people were put to death for their faith, not in the existence of the man Jesus, but that this man Jesus was the Son of God.
Did millions, living in the shadows of the first century, die for a “myth”? Such a theory makes no sense.
David R. Kenney - 02/09/2003
"Have You Heard" articles posted with permission. For free tapes or CD’s of sermons, call the Streetsboro Church of Christ at: (330) 626-4282 or listen to sermons online at StreetsboroChurch.org 1386 Russell Dr., Streetsboro, Ohio 44241
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