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So, what’s the evidence then?
Glad you asked.
Click on the icon below for a downloadable pdf file containing an overview of evidence for Jesus being the Son of God.
I’ve tried to write this in an accessible, non-academic form – so excuse the lack of references. The information has been pulled from a variety of sources - some of which are listed in “Links and Further Reading” section of the website. These books go into many of the topics covered in far greater and more rigorous detail.
To give you a flavour of the contents, please see the introduction and contents summary below:
Introduction
- Contemporary historians (including the majority of non-Christian historians) nearly all agree that a teacher and holy man called Jesus lived in 1st Century Palestine, collected a band of followers and was executed under the order of the Roman prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem around AD30.
- We have clear evidence that within a few years of this (AD 40 to 50), communities of Christians had become established throughout the eastern half of the Roman Empire – despite hostility and persecution from the Roman authorities and the non-Christians they lived amongst.
- Historians can tell us that all types of persons became Christ–followers. This wasn’t a faith restricted to one ethnic group or social class. Jews, Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, the rich, the poor, men, women, slaves and the free became Christ-followers at this time.
- We have clear evidence that by AD64, there was a Christian community in Rome that was large enough to come to the attention of the emperor Nero and be blamed for the great fire of Rome.
- What did these early Christians believe about Jesus? We have good evidence that these Christians believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He’d died and appeared to His disciples three days later (also known as the Resurrection). They also believed that He’d died as a sacrifice for their sins.
- Christian beliefs developed and modified in the centuries following Jesus. However, belief in the Resurrection of Jesus and what it meant has remained a constant – a constant that can be traced with certainty to within a few years of Jesus death.
Historians know that “something happened” in Palestine around AD30 to convince Jesus’ disciples that He was the Son of God. This “something” caused the birth of Christianity and caused it to spread like wildfire through the Eastern Roman Empire. This “something” caused all types of people to become Christ-followers - despite extreme hostility and persecution from those they lived amongst. This “something” caused Christianity to grow - despite almost continual persecution for the first 300 years of its existence.
What is it that happened in 1st Century Palestine to make all this happen?
In the downloadable pdf file, you will find the following topics:
Part 1: The Historical Evidence |
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Part 2: Who was Jesus? |
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Part 3: Resurrection – the Evidence |
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Aim of Material |
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