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Originally Posted by newsbone  Very interesting observation indeed!
Does ancient history agree with the Bible?
If the Bible is God's message to us, we should hope its version of history is accurate. It is.
For example, the Bible reports that Jesus of Nazareth performed many miracles, was executed by the Romans, and rose from the dead. Numerous ancient historians corroborate the Bible's account of the life of Jesus and his followers:
Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 55-120), an historian of first-century Rome, is considered one of the most accurate historians of the ancient world.
1- An excerpt from Tacitus tells us that the Roman emperor Nero "inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class...called Christians. ...Christus [Christ], from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus...."
2-Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian (A.D. 38-100+), wrote about Jesus in his Jewish Antiquities. From Josephus, "we learn that Jesus was a wise man who did surprising feats, taught many, won over followers from among Jews and Greeks, was believed to be the Messiah, was accused by the Jewish leaders, was condemned to be crucified by Pilate, and was considered to be resurrected.
3-Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, and Thallus also wrote about Christian worship and persecution that is consistent with New Testament accounts.
Even the Jewish Talmud, certainly not biased toward Jesus, concurs about the major events of his life. From the Talmud, "we learn that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, gathered disciples, made blasphemous claims about himself, and worked miracles, but these miracles are attributed to sorcery and not to God."
4-This is remarkable information considering that most ancient historians focused on political and military leaders, not on obscure rabbis from distant provinces of the Roman Empire. Yet ancient historians (Jews, Greeks and Romans) confirm the major events that are presented in the New Testament, even though they were not believers themselves. Borrowed from everystudent.com( why you can believe the Bible) |
How quickly you brandish your sword of convenient history.
Lets suppose for your sake everything you said above is true. Which I consider to be quite probable. What does that have to do with Jesus being the savior of the world from a place of eternal punishment?
I would say it has nothing to do with it. Countless men performed miracles throughout history. Every culture has their Jesus. What other cultures have you studied, or more importantly traveled to and understood their culture?
Your only frame of reference is from your Christian mountain top, and for fear of eternal damnation from the one you claim to love, you are afraid to question or doubt your beliefs.
Since we are wielding the sword of "history", might I suggest you to look into who financed the translation of the biblical texts from Aramaic and so on. It wont take you long to discover the 40,000 plus significant discrepancies the translated text our modern bibles have, when compared to our oldest surviving records.
Whats more is, our oldest records are nowhere near the originals. We are copying copies of copies, all of which are slightly different from the next.
I encourage you get your hands on this book, and learn about the history of how the bible came to be. Written by world renown bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman.
Amazon.com: Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus): Bart D. Ehrman: Books
Again I thank you for your sharing, and mean this in no way to attack you.