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CHAPTER TWO TESTING TESTIMONY PAGAN/JEWISH/CHRISTIAN IN REVIEW: Wild men make wild claims. Jesus was a man made of flesh and bone. People knew him as he grew up. He ate, breathed, got tired and bled just like we do. How could it be possible that this man could be all that was claimed of him? If anyone else walked up and said he was God Almighty it would be most difficult to believe it. Can these claims be proven? Every court system in the world is dependent on evidences which cannot be seen, smelled, tasted, heard or touched. It should be noted also that no historical event can be proven by our five senses. For example: Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address; we cannot see him giving it, hear him giving it, smell him giving it, taste him giving it, or feel him giving it, yet we can prove that he gave it. All events, both future and past, must be established either by the tracks they leave1 or the evidence of testimony. In this book we will examine evidence that proves that Jesus Christ was a true historical figure; that he performed miracles; that he was able to satisfy all human needs, that he raised from the dead; that he is the Messiah, and that he is indeed, the God of the universe. In previous books we used scientific evidence, prophetic evidence, providential evidence and historical evidence. In this study we will be primarily interested in the evidence of testimony. Rules for testing testimony: All judicial courts base their conclusions, convictions and acquittals, on testimony. The world’s reliance on testimony illustrates that it does prove claims and it can be trusted. There are four ways to prove or disprove the truthfulness of testimony, they are: 1. Is there a sufficient number of witnesses? 2. Are the witnesses competent? 3. Are there ulterior motives? 4. Is there any contradictory evidence? By subjecting all testimony to these four tests we can establish if the evidence supports the claims. In this study we will be careful to test the testimonies of many witnesses. PAGAN AND JEWISH HISTORIANS:2 Five pagan historians testify that Jesus Christ was a real person. They testify to the darkness which came at Jesus’ crucifixion;3 that Jesus was a wise man;4 that Christians got their name from Christ, and that he suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of Pontius Pilate.5 They also testified that Christians sang an anthem to Christ as God.6 Two Jewish sources also testify of the historical Jesus. The Jewish Talmud makes many references to Christ. These writings tell that Jesus was from Nazareth, practiced magic, scorned the words of the wise, led people and said he did not come to destroy the law.7 Flavius Josephus is the most noted of the Jewish historians. He did his work from 70 A.D. Josephus tells who Jesus was, what he did and what his opinion of Jesus was. Josephus also wrote about many notable Roman and Jewish people who are also mentioned in the New Testament stories of Jesus.8 The following is a quote: “And there arose about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if indeed we should call him a man; for he was a doer of marvelous deeds, a teacher of men who receive the truth with pleasure. He won over many Jews and also many Greeks. This man was the Messiah. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross at the instigation [urging] of our own leaders, those who had loved him from the first did not cease. For he appeared to them on the third day alive again, as the holy prophets had predicted and said many other wonderful things about him. And even now the race of Christians, so named after him, has not yet died out.” CHRISTIAN HISTORIANS: All of the New Testament writers lived during the same period of time as did Jesus. Seven of these writers were eyewitnesses; three accompanied Jesus throughout his entire ministry. Two were likely Jesus’ own half brothers. All of their writings are in agreement as to the facts of Jesus’ life and ministry. These Christian historians are reliable! Their testimony stands firm when put to the tests which prove truthfulness. THE ANCIENT SECULAR HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS: The ancient history that we recognize as accurate, (from the time of Christ to the 700’s A.D.), is gathered from a few ancient manuscripts which are copies of copies of copies etc., of the originals. Due to the fragility of writing materials of the time, all of the originals are gone! The copies we have today were made many years after their originals were first written. The following illustrates the gap between the writing of our best historical manuscripts and the copies which are in existence today: 800 years; 330 years; 800 years; 1,000 years; 1,300 years, and 1,300 years. NEW TESTIMENT MANUSCRIPTS: We have today, 5,000!!! copies of the original New Testament manuscripts. The years that went between these original writings and their existent copies are; 400 years, 400 years, 350 years, 250 years. Thus we see that the Christian’s New Testament comes from a much more reliable source than that of any secular history of that period. And we see that the testimonies recorded in the New Testiment are far more reliable than anything recorded in the secular history of that period of time.9 BOTH SECULAR AND BIBLICAL TESTIMONY amply proves that Jesus was a historical figure who preformed miracles. Even the Pharisees freely admitted that Jesus performed miracles (Matt. 21:15; John 3:2; 11:47).
STUDY GUIDE CHAPTER TWO 1. If you were a neighbor of Jesus, why might you have had difficulty believing that Jesus was God? 2. What type evidence do judicial courts primarily depend on to learn truth? 3. How is testimonial evidence different from the evidence we gather from our five senses. 4. What type evidence can be used to prove things past or future? 5. Give an example of how we cannot use some types of evidences to prove an event? 6. Name three major things this book attempts to prove about Jesus? 7. Name the four tests that prove the truthfulness of testimony. 8. Explain in your words why it is important to have a sufficient number of witnesses. 9. In your own words, how could a witness’s competency be challenged? 10. What do the words, “contradictory evidences” mean? 11. In our study, what are 300 ways God testified about Jesus? From this chapter list seven things that Pagan 12. historians testified about Jesus. 13 . From this chapter list five things the Jewish Talmud testified about Jesus. 14. What made Fulvous Josephus famous? 15. Name seven things that Flavius Josephus testified about Jesus. 16. How many Christian historians do we have who wrote about their first hand knowledge of Jesus? 17. What two things weaken our confidence in the secular history of Jesus’ day? 18. What two things strengthen our confidence in the reliability of the New Testament?
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You Can Positively know Jesus is God 
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