Evidence for the crucifixion

[cessnawag]

Is the crucifixion a made up story? I’ve heard it is only in one gospel. How could something like that not be heavily recorded. I’ve also heard that two thieves would never have received such a punishment. What historic evidence is there to prove this ever even happened?

 

[AvailableName]

Well first, all four gospels agree that Jesus was crucified. The Roman historian Tacitus mentions it in his work called Annals.

Also, the lack of contradiction gives some weight. The early Christians had some enemies. They would have called the Crucifixion a fraud if they could.

The Romans were quick to crucify people (as long as they weren’t Roman citizens anyway). It was a brutal time. Crucifying a couple of thieves was not out of character for them at all.

 

[Cone]

Is the crucifixion a made up story? I’ve heard it is only in one gospel. How could something like that not be heavily recorded. I’ve also heard that two thieves would never have received such a punishment. What historic evidence is there to prove this ever even happened?

You have to remember that the printing press wasn’t invented until the 1600s, so not much of anything was heavily recorded 2000 years ago. The Romans would have had no interest in recording the crucifixion of Christ, nor would the Jews. So we’re left with the Gospels, all of which testify to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The rapid spread of Christianity didn’t occur in a vacuum.

 

[John_Martin]

Is the crucifixion a made up story? I’ve heard it is only in one gospel. How could something like that not be heavily recorded. I’ve also heard that two thieves would never have received such a punishment. What historic evidence is there to prove this ever even happened?

Some questions:
Your Signature quote says “Pray the Rosary Every Day” - if you are praying it, then you are claiming “I believe in Jesus Christ,… crucified under Pontius Pilate” when you begin your Rosary.
So, you yourself are claiming and asserting to God, to yourself, and to the world that Jesus was indeed crucified.

Now, if someone told me it was a made up story, and here I was claiming it true every day, and if someone told me it was only in one Gospel, what should I do? Would I stop praying the Rosary? No, the Rosary is True, and my confession of Jesus is True. So, the only thing to do is to go look in the Gospels, all four, and see if the story is true that someone told me. And I will find that the account of the crucifixion is in all four Gospels, so I can go and tell the person that it is not just in one but in all four. And I can tell them Jesus really was crucified.

Then I would do a web search with the question: “How were thieves punished by Rome in 30 AD” And I would find many sites stating that punishment of thieves could be crucifixion or flogging or prison, depending on who the thief was. And I would bring this information to the person who told me, and ask him to stop saying things that he does not know about.

 

[cessnawag]

Some questions:
Your Signature quote says “Pray the Rosary Every Day” - if you are praying it, then you are claiming “I believe in Jesus Christ,… crucified under Pontius Pilate” when you begin your Rosary.
So, you yourself are claiming and asserting to God, to yourself, and to the world that Jesus was indeed crucified.

Now, if someone told me it was a made up story, and here I was claiming it true every day, and if someone told me it was only in one Gospel, what should I do? Would I stop praying the Rosary? No, the Rosary is True, and my confession of Jesus is True. So, the only thing to do is to go look in the Gospels, all four, and see if the story is true that someone told me. And I will find that the account of the crucifixion is in all four Gospels, so I can go and tell the person that it is not just in one but in all four. And I can tell them Jesus really was crucified.

Then I would do a web search with the question: “How were thieves punished by Rome in 30 AD” And I would find many sites stating that punishment of thieves could be crucifixion or flogging or prison, depending on who the thief was. And I would bring this information to the person who told me, and ask him to stop saying things that he does not know about.

I was approached with this argument. Thank you for your response.

 

[HelenRose]

Is the crucifixion a made up story? I’ve heard it is only in one gospel. How could something like that not be heavily recorded. I’ve also heard that two thieves would never have received such a punishment. What historic evidence is there to prove this ever even happened?

You may point out to your friend that crucifixions were common. 6,000 slaves were crucified along the Appian Way about 70 years after the time of Jesus. The death of three men in, what the Roman’s considered, an insignificant country wouldn’t have been a blimp on their radar. The Romans had no problem crucifying people.

Also keep in mind that much of the history that we do know about this period of time was preserved by the same monks who preserved the writings of the new testament. If we can’t trust them in regard to the four gospels we will have to throw out the writings of Cicero and much of what we know about the Roman world as well. Most of these writings would have been lost if it had not been for the careful re-writing and re-writing of the ancient scrolls by Catholic monks. So if the Jesus is fiction so is Julius Caesar.

ancienthistory.about.com/cs/slavesandslavery/a/spartacus.htm