Historical evidence for Gospels

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Is there a historical claim from the Church’s history or general history that supports the Gospels? I’ve seen a site which claims that the Gospels were forged, and Jesus was an ordinary man. So please give me evidences.
 
And what evidence was given that supports the claims of that site you refer to (that the Gospels were forged and Christ was an ordinary man)?
 
Pelly said:
Is there a historical claim from the Church’s history or general history that supports the Gospels? I’ve seen a site which claims that the Gospels were forged, and Jesus was an ordinary man. So please give me evidences.
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The gospels are historical documents by themselves. There is nothing that discredits them as historical documents except for atheist propoganda. I would suggest reading about St. Justin Martyr (Born 100 AD), St. Clement of Rome (lived c. 96 AD), St. Ignatius of Antioch (born c. 35 AD), and St. Polycarp (c. 69 AD). 3/4 of the Holy men that I just listed were martyred for the Gospels of our Lord Jesus Christ. Judging by the dates when they lived and composed the earliest works of Catholic literature, it is obvious that they knew men who knew God personally! In fact, Saint Polycarp was actually the student of Saint John the Apostle himself.

If Saint Polycarp (an actual, well-documented historical figure of the ancient world) was willing to be martyred for the Gospels (although the official Canon that we know today was not yet organized), then it is safe to say we can trust him.

Saint Clement of Rome was the first Pope after Saint Peter, and was actually consecrated by Saint Peter.

St. Tertullian, St. Eusebius, St. Irenaeus, St. Jerome…All of these men attest to the reality of our Lord’s divinity. However, faith is a gift from God, and so “those who have no faith, no explanation is possible, and to those who have faith, none is needed.”

God Bless You.
 
Pelly said:
Is there a historical claim from the Church’s history or general history that supports the Gospels? I’ve seen a site which claims that the Gospels were forged, and Jesus was an ordinary man. So please give me evidences.
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I’ve seen a website that claims the holocaust never happened, and makes a fairly convincing case for it to (assuming you know nothing about history, that is).

The internet is full of misinformation. Please link us to this site so we can refute it’s claims, it won’t be hard 😛

Also, as other posters have commented, The main proof we have for the validity of the gospels is that all but one of the apostles suffered horrendous, painful deaths, all the while proclaiming the truth of Christ’s divinity and mission. People do not suffer torture and death for something they do not believe in with all their being (as would have been the case had the Gospels been a forgery.)
 
There are the writings of leaders in the Church in the 3 centuries AD that followed the original disciples, church fathers. Such as Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Polycarp and Eusebius

There is no other religious book apart from the Bible that has fulfilled prophecy. 1 out of 4 verses or 27% of the Bible are prediction prophecy and are specific not vague. You can be sure that these were not inserted in the Bible after Jesus lived and they were written before Christ’s birth because of the many manuscript copies of the OT which predate Christ’s birth such as the Dead Sea Scrolls which has every book of the Old Testament except the Book of Esther. Scholars have determined the age of the scrolls by the pattern of the cloths that the manuscript is made from, pottery were the manuscripts were kept in, coins found with the manscripts and form of the characters

Today there are hundreds of OT manuscripts and 24000 manuscripts of the New Testament in part or whole which can be compared to the Gospels and we can see the Gospels are accurate and can be attested. Some of these manuscripts are exhibited in Cambridge university, British Museum, Smithsonian Institute, National Library at Paris, Israel Museum, Oxford university. Go back to the manusripts and you can verify the text we have in the Bible is the same as what was written in the early manuscripts. Livy’s history is based on 20 manuscripts; 9 or 10 copies of Caesar’s Gallic Wars exist and none earlier than 800 AD.

Archeology confirms places and people in the Gospels

bible-history.com

Dr J O Kinnaman, scholar said
Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by the archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denies one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of the biblical record
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Archeologist Dr Nelson Glueck said in 1959 which was prior to many more archeological evidence found that authenticates the accuracy of the Bible, said
It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical description has often led to amazing discoveries
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Source - page 31, Rivers in the Desert
 
Ask neighbours what the meaning of life is, way to salvation, their views on the universe, origin of evil etc and you will get different views

Consistancy exists in the Bible that is evidence of guidence from the Holy Spirit. Bible was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. Many authors wrote the Bible in different places; John wrote on the Isle of Patmos in the Medditerian sea; Paul wrote in Rome; Luke travelled and wrote; Prophet Eziekel wrote in Babylon (Iraq) for example

Bible is made up of 27 NT books and 39 OT books even though it is written by approx 40 different authors from different cultural and educational background i.e. Paul was a scholar, Matthew tax collector. Peter was a fisherman, Luke a physician, David a shepard then King and was witten over 60 plus generations and 1500 plus years
 
=Pelly;10097916]Is there a historical claim from the Church’s history or general history that supports the Gospels? I’ve seen a site which claims that the Gospels were forged, and Jesus was an ordinary man. So please give me evidences.
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Yes there is “Ordinary men” do not pe:thumbsup:rform miracles that take place even in current times through Christ.

Every Original Apostle except John was Martyred burtally for their faiths and historical records exist to prove this.

Jesus can be proven to be GOD because of the many OT prophesies that fortold and were fulfilled in the NT. Here are just a few:

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:22-23: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’–which means, ‘God with us.’

Micah 5:2: But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

Hosea 11:1: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Matthew 2:14-15 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son."

And here are some Early Church Fathers testimonies:

St. Ignatius became the third bishop of Antioch, succeeding St. Evodius, who was the immediate successor of St. Peter. He heard St. John preach when he was a boy and knew St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.

“Consider how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead.” “Letter to the Smyrnaeans”,** circa 80-110 A.D**

ST. AMBROSE OF MILAN

“You perhaps say: ‘My bread is usual.’ But the bread is bread before the words of the sacraments; when consecration has been added, from bread it becomes the flesh of Christ. So let us confirm this, how it is possible that what is bread is the body of Christ. By what words, then, is the consecration and by whose expressions? By those of the Lord Jesus. The Sacraments” Book 4, Ch.4:14. Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397

St. Clement, bishop of Rome, 80 A.D., to the Corinthians, 40:
Since then these things are manifest to us, and we have looked into the depths of the divine knowledge, we ought to do in order all things which the Master commanded us to perform at appointed times. He commanded us to celebrate sacrifices and services, and that it should not be thoughtlessly or disorderly, but at fixed times and hours"

There are TONS of historical documents; and only fools deny their verasity; their truth:)
 
Another approach for anyone wanting to look for the historical evidence for the Gospels is to look at the writings of non Christians from the time. The most well known are Pliny the Younger, proconsul in Asia Minor. Roman historians, Tacitus and Suetius and Flavious Josephus, a Jewish historian.
Among the many historical documents written by Josephus is one called Antiquities, in which is the earliest know description of Jesus outside of the New Testament. In it Josephus describes Jesus in detail with references to his wisdom, his deeds, the truth of his teaching, his crucifixion, his resurrection and the numerous Old Testament prophecies he fulfilled. He also hints at his possible deity by identifying him as the Messiah. Josephus also lays the blame for Jesus’ condemnation with the leading Jews of the time and Pilate.
Opponents of Christianity have claimed that this passage must have either been inserted at a later date or the passage has been touched up by over zealous Christians. Such claims are pure guesswork and cannot be proved.
 
Well, you can, actually.

Eusebius quotes from an earlier copy of Josephus that has a different and less declarative tone. There is a third-hand quote from an Arabic translation that is more secular still.

But those who challenge Jesus’ real existence are a curious bunch, no doubt about it.
 
Pelly said:
Is there a historical claim from the Church’s history or general history that supports the Gospels? I’ve seen a site which claims that the Gospels were forged, and Jesus was an ordinary man. So please give me evidences.
Click to expand...
You have this the wrong way round. You are putting forward a claim that the gospels were forged. Its up to you to provide evidence to support your assertion and then we can debate it.
 
It’s not my assertion. The site even supported some “Christ myth theory” from the film Zeitgeist, which was proven false. It that theory is false, the Gospels must say the truth.
 
=oldbrit2009;10099247]Another approach for anyone wanting to look for the historical evidence for the Gospels is to look at the writings of non Christians from the time. The most well known are Pliny the Younger, proconsul in Asia Minor. Roman historians, Tacitus and Suetius and Flavious Josephus, a Jewish historian.
Among the many historical documents written by Josephus is one called Antiquities, in which is the earliest know description of Jesus outside of the New Testament. In it Josephus describes Jesus in detail with references to his wisdom, his deeds, the truth of his teaching, his crucifixion, his resurrection and the numerous Old Testament prophecies he fulfilled. He also hints at his possible deity by identifying him as the Messiah. Josephus also lays the blame for Jesus’ condemnation with the leading Jews of the time and Pilate.
Opponents of Christianity have claimed that this passage must have either been inserted at a later date or the passage has been touched up by over zealous Christians. Such claims are pure guesswork and cannot be proved.
Click to expand...
THANKS for the leads; I WILL look them up:)
 
Pelly said:
It’s not my assertion. The site even supported some “Christ myth theory” from the film Zeitgeist, which was proven false. It that theory is false, the Gospels must say the truth.
Click to expand...
As thistle said, the Church has consistently taught the Gospels as truth. It is up to all these naysayers to comeup with their own proof that the Church is lying. If they cannot prove otherwise, then their accusations are empty.
 
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