Non-religious Jesus?

[christa08]

I've been doing my usual spiritual/religious research and I found myself wondering if there's scientific/non-biblical/non-religious proof that Jesus exsisted. I haven't been able to find anything about it online. Everything I've found has been tied to religion somehow. If anybody has a good website or book with real facts about this topic, please let me know! :love:

[Gregory_de_Bois]

Well, I have found, as a Christian, that the strongest evidence for Christ lies among his followers. Arguments have been made debating the authenticity of the Gospels, but the four that we have are recognized by most scholars as having been written quite early. It would be easy to make up a story of that magnitude (It's been done by many), but it is hard to die for something invented.

However, there is also evidence among Josephus' writings, in some Roman records (criminal executions aren't always recorded), and... I think that is mostly it. Part of the quest for the "historical Jesus", in my opinion, is skewed, because it seeks to force ancient history sources to submit to Modern, scientific standards. The story, that reflects so much of human existence, is simply too powerful, in my opinion, and universally recognized (every culture has a tale of a sacrificial savior as a part of its folklore) to be brushed aside.

C.S. Lewis wrote a magnificent book, "Mere Christianity" (also "The Problem of Pain") that deals with this issue. I strongly urge you to read it.

Grace and Peace!

[Alecto]

There's two secular historical records (Josephus was one of them) that support the existence of a dude named Jesus who worked miracles (which wasn't totally unheard of in the time period).

Go go gadget catholic schoolin'. ;)

[christa08]

Thanks :) This helped. I put Josephus in Wikipedia and it led me to so many different pages and ultimately about 3 hours of research.