Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say [a myth]. (Mark 8:27–28, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Some will still say that the testimony of the writers of the Gospels and the Apostles are compromised. They cannot be trusted. They are too committed to the myth that they created.
Age of Reason, Thomas Paine – “There is no history written at the time Jesus Christ is said to have lived that speaks of the existence of such a person, even such a man.”
Why I Am Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell – “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if he did, we know nothing about him.”
If only there were some credible historical records from impartial sources. But of course, there are, from the following historians.
Letter to His Son, Mara Bar Sarapion (ca. 73 A.D.) – “What else can we say, when the wise are forcibly dragged off by tyrants, their wisdom is captured by insults, and their minds are oppressed and without defense? What advantage did the Athenians gain by murdering Socrates, for which they were repaid with famine and pestilence? Or the people of Samos by the burning of Pythagoras, because their country was completely covered in sand in just one hour? Or the Jews by killing their wise king, because their kingdom was taken away at that very time?”
Testimonium Flavianum, Josephus (ca. 93 A.D.) – “At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good, and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”
Book 10, Letter 96 to Emperor Trajan, Pliny the Younger (ca. 112 A.D.) – “They declared that the sum of their guilt or their error only amounted to this, that on a stated day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak and to recite a hymn among themselves to Christ, as though he were a god.”
Annals, Tacitus (ca. 116 A.D.) – “Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, 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, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
De vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars), Suetonius (ca. 120 A.D.) – “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus [Christ], he [Emperor Claudius] expelled them from Rome.”
Contra Celsum, Origen (ca. 140 A.D.) – “Now Phlegon, in the thirteenth or fourteenth book, I think, of his Chronicles, not only ascribed to Jesus a knowledge of future events…but also testified that the result corresponded to His predictions.“
The Death of Peregrine, Lucian of Samosata (ca. 166 A.D.) – “The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day, the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.”
My Advice – The historical record is clear. Jesus of Nazareth did in fact exist. Hs is not a myth. Say what you will, but you cannot say He was a myth.
The Brew Is A Musing 