catholicsphere

Non-Christian historians such as Tacitus and Josephus write about Christ in their histories.  The Bible also is a historical document in this regard, although it would be categorized as friendly to Judeo-Christian tradition.  Yet, history — both Christian and non-Christian — tell us that Jesus did exist.

We know, too, that the Apostles existed.  If Jesus’ existence, and further His death and resurrection were not true, certainly these men would not have gone to the lengths they did for a lie.

Of the 12 Apostles, all but one was killed for his faith.  John underwent what is sometimes referred to as a “white martyrdom”.  An attempt was made to boil him in oil, but it was unsuccessful.  So, he was exiled to the island of Patmos.

Who today would die for a lie?  Certainly not many, especially if they knew it was not true.  It is one thing to be decieved, such as those men and women in the Heaven’s Gate cult years ago were.  It is quite another to know.  The Apostles obviously would have been able to verify whether Christ Jesus was in the tomb or not — thus they had the knowledge.  The knowledge that He was not in the tomb gave them explicit evidence that He did what He said He would do, and therefore was Who He said He was — the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God.

It is for this reason that we know that Jesus existed, and can have extreme confidence in the testimony of the witnesses to His resurrection.

[tags]apologetics, catholic, christian, jesus, resurrection, messiah, martyrdom, doctrine, church, faith, belief[/tags]