A look at Jesus
I and most Christians who are talking about Jesus tend to quote a lot from the Bible. Here written below are the words of men from outside the bible, as well as a few quotes from early believers.
Flavius Josephus, who lived until 98 A.D., was a Romanized Jewish historian. He wrote books on Jewish history for the Rome. In his book, Jewish Antiquities, he made references to Jesus. In one reference he wrote:
“About this time arose Jesus, a wise man, who did good deeds and whose virtues were recognized. And many Jews and people of other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. However, those who became his disciples preached his doctrine. They related that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Perhaps he was the Messiah in connection with whom the prophets foretold wonders.” [Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XVIII 3.2]
Piliny the Younger Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia minor writing to Emperor Trajan wrote,
"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind..."
Note that Piliny states that the Christians sung hymns to Christ as to a God.
Julian the Apostate, Roman Emperor from 361-363 A.D. considered a “gifted ancient adversaries” to Christianity. In his work against Christianity wrote,
“Jesus…has now been celebrated about three hundred years having done nothing in his lifetime worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks it is a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exorcise demoniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany.”
At the end of his life however Julian was forced to say:
“Thou has conquered, O Galilean!”
H. G. Wells, British writer, (1866-1946) wrote.
When asked which person left the most permanent impression on history, he replied that judging a person’s greatness by historical standards:
“By this test, Jesus stands first.”
“I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” H. G. Wells.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, former President of American Historic Society
In A History of Christianity wrote of Jesus,
“It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history and presumably, of the baffling mystery of His being that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many people and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount.”
“As the centuries pass by, the evidence is accumulating that measured by its effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. The influence appears to be mounting.”
“No other life lived on this planet has so widely and deeply affected mankind.”
C.S. Lewis, writing in Mere Christianity states,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
There is no doubt as to who the early church thought Jesus was. The apostle John wrote,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” John 1:1-4,14.
John and those close to Jesus saw Jesus and God incarnate.
John also sees Jesus as the way to heaven quoting Jesus as saying,
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.
John also records that even when faced with being stoned to death Jesus said,
“The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?
“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” John 10:24-33.
The choice however as to who Jesus is, is up to you the reader.
All I would ask is that before you make your decision, is to read with an open mind, the New Testament for yourself. Pray and ask God to show you the truth. You have nothing to loose.
Please think about it.
