And he began again to
teach by the seaside:
And there was
gathered unto him a great
Multitude, so that he
entered into a ship,
And sat in the sea;
and the whole multitude
Was by the sea on the
land.
And he taught them
many things in parables,
And said unto them in
his doctrine (teaching).
Mark 4:1-2
Critics of
the Bible and of the Christian Religion as a true religion rely on the fact
that there are no records that confirm that Jesus Christ lived and did
miraculous things and taught people. These critics point to the paucity of
evidence written in the days of Jesus Christ is given as proof for their
beliefs. Leaning on a person presuppositions or their pre-determinations is
closed minded and will not necessarily lead a person to the truth. This leaning
is one-sided and often will come to conclusions based on theory rather than on
facts. To study the Christian Religion, or any historical fact, a person must
include in their study the culture of the days, the men of the days, and the
attitudes that determine how people acted. These things have been pointed out
in previous blogs. We seek the truth and to give support to our faith enabling
us to defend our faith in the Christian Religion. I happily addressed the
attitudes of the people in the days of Jesus Christ, their methods of
communication in regards to writing and the fact that oral transmission was a
method used mostly be the people. That the utensils used for writing were not
of a substantial substance to endure time, weather, etc. I did point out that there
was much writing being done and that there were many, many artifacts of writing
on materials that did last found in caves, jars, and other places so writing
was done. It was also pointed out that the Christian Religion was thought of as
being just another religion with magical tendencies as the Pagan religions had
as a practice in their religions. The question that must be asked is whether or
not there are any writings that relate to the life of Jesus Christ and to the
Christian Religion?
There is
one record, among many, that is most authentic even though it is probably lost.
It is the account sent by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate who judged,
condemned, and crucified. Let us take a look at history and determine if we can
use this non-extant record. First it is the custom of government officials,
even in our day, to provide a summary relating to everything remarkable that
occurred in their administration. This was certainly true in the Roman Empire
where the emperor ruled with a sovereignty that demanded to know everything
important in his empire. A study of Pontius Pilate will reveal that he was an
inept ruler, constantly getting into trouble with Roman authorities. Pontius
Pilate attempted to placate the authorities but eventually he was deposed and
recalled to Rome (36 A.D.). In 1961 at Caesarea there was found an inscription
mentioning Pilate’s name and a free translation is: “The Tiberieum, which is a
temple dedicated to the worship of Tiberius a temple that Pontius Pilate the
Praefect of Judea gave in honor of Tiberius Caesar. This inscription
illustrates how this Judean governor bowed and scraped before Tiberious Caesar.
Therefore, Pontius Pilate would have given this account of the problem in
Jerusalem with the Jews. This a problem that constantly hounded Rome, therefore
Pontius Pilate would have addressed to Rome, to Tiberius, how he handled the
situation to quell an uprising that was caused by ill feeling towards anyone
who would make a cause for trouble with Rome, which was determined by some that
Jesus was doing, We learn from Justin Martyr who lived about a hundred years
after the death of Jesus that Pontius Pilate and resided in Rome, was martyred
in Rome and would have been exposed as a liar by Crescens the Cynic, who would
have detected what Justin Martyr wrote. Cresens as an apologist would not only
disputed this account for resisted the cause of Christianity, this apology was
written and delivered to the whole body of the Roman senate. Tertullian, wrote
his apology about fifty years after the death of Justin Martyr and referred to
the same record for he told the governor of Rome that the emperor Tiberius
having received an account out of Palestine in Syria and spoke of the divine
person who had appeared in Judea and that the emperor would have adopted him
among the deities that the Romans worshipped had not the senate refuse to come
in his proposal, a proposal by Tiberius that he would punish anyone who accused
the Christians. Other leaned men of that day wrote about this account but Tertullian
is of special interest because he was a learned man in Roman law and very
skillful. Tertullian grounded his quotation, not just on Justin Martyr, but
other matters of act what are not related by Justin Martyr. Eusebius mentions
the same record but was not extant at the time of his time. Does this mean that
due to omission that we are not to rely on a fact that such accounts were
recorded? No. Ulpian the great Roman lawyer gathered together all the imperial
edicts that had been made against the Christians. Did any one ever say that
there had been no such edicts, because there were not mentioned in the
histories of those Emperors? Suetonius (69-122 A.D.) a great author and
biographer and wrote the De vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars) which
depicted the scandals and gossip of the first eleven emperors; Seutonius
secured by his writings lasting fame. Yet, Suetonius did give us many
particulars of each emperor which was omitted by Tacitus, and Herodian, who
were historians. Therefore those spurious acts of Pontius Pilate, now extant,
are known of their occasion and time of writing and had there not been a true
and authentic record of this nature, they would never have been forged.
As I
continue to give support by Pagan authors that the Christian Religion has much
evidence. The life of Jesus Christ is well attested to and the growing
Christian Religion is accounted as a real event that is based on the real life
of Jesus Christ. This is long as a study by this information is written to
increase your faith to be an Authentic Christian with Authentic Christian
Faith, and to support, defend your faith with facts.
The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
Began both to do and teach,
Until the day in which he was
Taken up, after that he through
The Holy Ghost had given commandments
Unto the apostles whom he had chosen.
Acts 1:1-2
Prepare now to worship God in communion with fellow
believers: The Sabbath
Richard L. Crumb
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