What Is Your Definition Of The Word Christian

There are plenty of references to Christ outside of the Bible: Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Tacitus, Josephus, and the Gemera of the Talmud. The problem with all of these sources is that they were not contemporaneous with Jesus, and may be based on second hand information. Of course, there are also the numerous Christian sources that never made it into the Bible or were excluded from it: the gospels of Thomas, Mary, Judas, Phillip, etc. The evidence for the existence of Jesus is thoroughly explored in Bart Ehrman's book, Did Jesus Exist? I think Ehrman makes a compelling case that the avbailable evidence, though not overwhelming, supports a reasonable conclusion that He did. BTW, Ehrman is an agnostic who does not believe Jesus was the divine miracle worker of Christian legend. Ehrman also does a good job of exposing the weaknesses of the various theories that Jesus did not exist. Of course, in the absence of photographs or news accounts by professional journalists there is always room for doubt, but that's the breaks in studying historical figures who did not happen to be monarchs or prominent aristocrats. Did Socrates, the Buddha, etc., exist? As for the sailor, I never heard this before either, and I'm sure that if there were any substance to it it would be ballyhooed by Christian sources.

 

righton! okie :2thumbsup:jesus is smiling at youan so am i