RMP,
RMP:
A little bit of actual history recorded by NON believing officials or historians:
Cornelius Tacitus 1st century: one of the greatest roman historians- wrote to Ceasar in the time of NERO concerning the death of Jesus and the CHRISTUS followers in Rome. "Christus, the founder was put to death by Pilate…a pernicious superstition, repressed for a time …broke out again…in ROME.
“Their founder, one Christus, had been put to death by the procurator, Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.” – Tacitus
The referred to passage of Tacitus appeared in his *Annals. *He was not writing to Caesar.
Tacitus wrote the passage sometime after 117 A.D. Nero died in 68 A.D. This was not the time of Nero. I think that what you meant was that Tacitus was writing *about *the time of Nero. His Annals are, afterall, a history of the emperors from Julian to Nero.
Tacitus does not identify where he obtained the information about this “Christus” or “Christians”. Some think that this information is not first hand information and that Tacitus came upon this information from his dealings with Christians, either directly or indirectly, and merely reported it. This seems rather plausible.
Some also note that Pontius Pilate is referred to as procurator. The appropriate title would have been “prefect.” Some think that this is evidence that Tacitus obtained his information from Christian sources
In addition, the passage appears word for word in the writings of Sulpicius Severus, in the fourth century, where it appears with other “myths”. This is also believed to detract from the validity of the passage of Tacitus.
RMP:
Lucian of Samosata 2nd century: greek writer. He wrote satire on the christians…who were founded by a man, who introduced novel rites…was crucified on that account…They think they are immortal…despise the God of greece… do not fear death.
The satirical writings of Lucian are from the second century. This isn’t exactly good historical evidence for the existence of a man that supposedly died in 33 A.D. It is highly probable that his information came from Christian sources.
One should also remember that Lucian was
just a comedian, not an historian.
RMP:
Pliny the younger 112 AD : Govenor of Bithynia in ASIA MINOR. he writes of a disturbance of christians. He seeks counsel of how to handle and treat them. So many were being killed w/o any effects, he wondered if they could try something else!
Well, the report of Christians being a disturbance proves nothing except that Christians existed in 112 A.D. It does not prove that Jesus actually existed and rose from the dead.
However, I am unfamiliar with the part about Christians being hard to kill. Where did you read this?
RMP:
Secular writer TALLUS 52 AD. wrote of darkness on the earth that was unexplainable…dated at the time of the crucifixion.
What we know of Thallus comes from ninth-century Byzantine writer George Syncellus who quoted a third-century Christian historian called Julius Africanus who quoted a person named “Thallus”. Now isn’t that a fun game of historical “telephone”?
Anyway, the works of Julius are lost, however, so it is really difficult to assess the validity of what Thallus wrote.
In addition, nobody really knows anything about Thallus. We don’t even know if “Thallus” is his correct name.
RMP:
There are many other NON believing people or historians of their day that record events IN HISTORY validating christian occurrences.
Well, if you like, you can continue to offer passages of those certain historians that you think validate the Christian story, and I will offer some of the reasons as to why skeptics either reject and/or doubt them.
Or, you could just do a google search.
Clarkal
