Aside from the History of the Church which was founded by the very Apostles who accompanied Jesus and witnessed His ministry, here is additional information to follow;
Even though early secular reports on Jesus may have been rare, there are still a few surviving references to Him. Not too surprisingly, the earliest non-Christian reports were made by the Jews. Flavius Josephus, who lived until 98 A.D., was a romanized Jewish historian. He wrote books on Jewish history for the Roman people. 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]
Even though several different forms of this particular text have survived through the twenty centuries, they all agree with the above cited version. This version is considered to be the closest to the original - the least suspected of Christian text-tampering. Elsewhere in this book, Josephus also reported the execution of St. John the Baptist [XVIII 5.2] and St. James the Just [XX 9.1], even referring to James as
“the brother of Jesus who was called Christ.” It should be noted that the past tense in the clause,
“Jesus who was called Christ,” argues against Christian text-tampering since a Christian would prefer to write instead, “Jesus who is called Christ.”
Another Jewish source, the
Talmud, makes several historical references to Jesus. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the
Talmud is
"the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings consisting of the Mishnah and the
Gemara, constituting the basis of religious authority for traditional Judaism." Although not explicitly referred to by name, later rabbis identify the person as Jesus. These references to Jesus are neither sympathetic to Him or His Church. Also these writings were preserved through the centuries by Jews, so Christians cannot be accused of tampering with the text.
The
Talmud makes note of Jesus’ miracles. No attempt is made to deny them, but it ascribes them to magical arts from Egypt. Also His crucifixion is dated as
“on the eve of the Feast of the Passover” in agreement with the Gospel (Luke 22:1ff; John 19:31ff). Similar again to the Gospel (Matt. 27:51), the
Talmud records the earthquake and the tearing in two of the Temple curtain during the time of Jesus’ death. Josephus in his book, The Jewish War, also confirmed these events.
By the beginning of the 2nd century, Romans were writing about Christians and Jesus. Pliny the Younger, proconsul in Asia Minor, in 111 A.D. wrote to Emperor Trajan in a letter:
…it was their habit on a fixed day to assemble before daylight and recite by turns a form of words to Christ as a god; and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime, but not to commit theft or robbery, or adultery, not to break their word, and not to deny a deposit when demanded. After this was done, their custom was to depart, and meet again to take food… [Pliny, Epistle 97]
Special attention should be made to the phrase,
“to Christ as a god,” an early secular witness to the belief in Christ’s divinity (John 20:28; Phil. 2:6). Also it is interesting to compare this passage with
Acts 20:7-11, a biblical account of an early Christian Sunday celebration.
continued at;
users.binary.net/polycarp/jesus.html
God and His teachings are the same in the Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament we can read killings its a way that justice is achieved for the sins people made. Since God created time He knows what will happen to those people who experienced His wrath had they continued live. Most of the time God gave several warnings before showing His wrath. After all the things He has given us we continue to sin and don’t recognize Him as our God. God gave Adam and Eve everything and all God asked is not to eat the fruit of good and evil. Its like I give my child good education, car, and a house and all I ask is he do good in his studies but instead he waste his life with drugs. In the New Testament God Himself in the form of Jesus paid the price for our sins to acheive justice. In the end the choice is with the person if he wants to live forever and fulfill his purpose or not because it is boring to live forever.
