XPost: alt.news.macedonia, alt.paranormal.reincarnation, soc.culture.greek   
   XPost: alt.culture.macedonia   
   From: ssake@goldthread.com   
      
   Excellent job--if it gets posted on a website I'd like to link to it.   
   Steve S.   
      
      
   "Dorian West"  wrote in message   
   news:406ec92a$0$20347$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...   
   > Jesus of Nazareth and Did He Exist:  A Historical Interview   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Chris Foster   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > 10/01/03   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Advanced Composition   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > What would interviewing somebody with authority and credibility regarding   
   > Jesus of Nazareth do?  Why am I doing this interview?  I hear claims by   
   > people, not historians, but people in general that Jesus didn't exist.   
   > These people talk about a so-called Christ-myth.  You can argue as it   
   seems   
   > to me forever about whether or not Jesus was God, but to doubt his   
   existence   
   > seems unimaginable.  I'm performing this interview from a credible source   
   to   
   > get the truth out in the open from a historical perspective.  From this I   
   > hope to gain more knowledge about Jesus and further proof that he is a man   
   > of history.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > When selecting a source, I chose someone who has researched the person of   
   > Jesus previously and knows how to differentiate historical knowledge from   
   > non-historical knowledge.  Dave Herbst, a Fort Lewis College senior   
   history   
   > major, has taken numerous classes on how to evaluate history, on what's   
   > historical knowledge and what's not.  He has taken many classes including   
   a   
   > historical Jesus class that gives him knowledge on this subject.   
   Herbst,   
   > a tall, slender man in his early 20's humbly and patiently answered each   
   > question very carefully as I asked about the historicity and existence of   
   > Jesus.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > CF:  Some people doubt that Jesus ever existed?  Do you agree with that?   
   > What do you say to something like that?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > DH:  I would say that most of those claims can only be rooted in   
   ignorance.   
   > I think that there's a new trend of idea to question everything.  I really   
   > don't know why anyone would question this.  If someone would really look   
   > into whether Jesus existed, there's more than enough evidence to prove he   
   > did exist.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > CF:  Can you give me examples?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > DH:  Some of the best sources are obviously the gospels that were written   
   by   
   > Jesus' followers but if one were to question that, there's also at least 6   
   > extra-biblical sources all the way from Roman historians, some not even   
   > historians, some were working for the government of Rome and would write   
   > back and ask questions on how to deal with these Christians, who are   
   > followers of "Chrestus" leaves no room for ambiguity.  Other sources like   
   > Pliny the Younger who was writing for the Roman government, Josephus, a   
   Jew,   
   > and Tacitus who says that Jesus was put to death by Pontius Pilate all   
   > mention Jesus specifically and there's many other extra-biblical sources   
   > that talk about his followers as well that claim that that man, Jesus of   
   > Nazareth, founder, that started the movement did exist.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > CF:  You mention the Bible as a reference?  Is it historically reliable?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > DH:  Many of the (bibles) extra-textual, reliability, and collaborating   
   > evidences all line up and give the authors more and more credibility as   
   that   
   > they did live during Jesus' time and that they were writing about a   
   specific   
   > person of history.  So many different rulers, provinces and states, the   
   > geography and knowledge are impeccable.  Some of the gospel writers, some   
   of   
   > them have been great historians like Luke.  He mentions different rulers,   
   > over 50 odd provinces and states that have been discovered.  The village   
   of   
   > Capernaum, which some skeptics didn't even believe existed, was found   
   > recently and they believe it is in or very close to the city where his   
   > (Jesus) followers were in.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > CF:  You talk about Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Josephus.  Did they   
   > actually live during Jesus' time?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > DH:  I don't think they were actually eyewitnesses.  I know some of them   
   > lived right after Jesus' time.  Its kind of like this:  if you were to com   
   e   
   > into a community and tell a story even a little bit later about something,   
   > for example the airplanes that flew into the twin towers in New York and   
   say   
   > that those things didn't really happen, people there would've known the   
   > facts and would've been able to say whether it happened or not.  So it's   
   > kind of the same way with these historians.  It was common knowledge for   
   > most of them and they were just recording what happened, writing to the   
   > people that would've known whether or not it was true.  There would've   
   been   
   > hostile witnesses, a lot of Jews were trying to disprove and quiet down   
   this   
   > movement.  They would've jumped over at any evidence to the contrary that   
   > Jesus Christ did not exist.  As we can see, none of that ever happened.   
   In   
   > fact some of the Jewish sources like The Talmud, writings by rabbis who   
   were   
   > dedicated to proving that Jesus wasn't God, tried to quiet the movement of   
   > the Christians.  They started trying to disprove that Jesus was God, but   
   > they never once interestingly enough tried to say that Jesus never   
   existed.   
   > The Talmud didn't even say he didn't do miracles, it said that he   
   performed   
   > magic.  That (Jesus existence) was common knowledge and they knew they   
   could   
   > not disprove that.  If Jesus existed, it would've been very easy to   
   > disprove.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > CF:  Some people question some of Josephus writings about Jesus.  What do   
   > you have to say about that?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > DH:  I can definitely see that some of the things written in Josephus   
   could'   
   > ve been added in by Christians, but when you take away the things that are   
   > pretty obvious and blatant, you realize you still have a description of   
   who   
   > Jesus is, that he did exist.  It talks about later the martyrdom and death   
   > of Jesus' brother, James.  No scholar believes that was interpolated at   
   all.   
   > And that still gives reference to Jesus of Nazareth.  There are many other   
   > non-canonical gospels that talk about the life of Jesus.  I think we have   
   > more than enough evidence on the life of Jesus including the gospels, the   
   > extra-biblical sources, and the movement that was started by him.  So many   
   > writings, so much common knowledge that no one has been able to refute   
   about   
   > Jesus Christ.  I think it would be absurd for one to say Jesus did not   
   exist   
   > and to deny all the historical evidences.   They would then have to deny   
   > most characters of history even as far back as George Washington.  The   
   fact   
   > is that Encyclopedia Britannica gives more room to Jesus of Nazareth and   
   > that's based on evidence we have for him.   One would have to deny that   
   > Pontius Pilate, Tiberius, any of those other people even existed if they   
   > were to deny Christ's existence.   Most of ancient history as we know it   
      
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