There is a great logical fallacy among Bible skeptics, atheists and those who like to challenge Christianity that says when discussing the historical aspects of the Bible “you can’t use the Bible as proof that Jesus existed. You must use non-Bible sources!!” To which I say, “why not?” The four Gospels of the Bible are bibliographical accounts of the life of Jesus. The normal objective measure of the reliability of historical document is: 1) The number of available copies of ancient manuscripts and 2) the time span between the original version and the date of those copies still in existence today. When examined under this standard, the Bible proves to provide a treasure trove of proof and evidence that Jesus really existed.

Some of the earliest manuscript fragments of the New Testament are the John Rylands Fragment, Chester Beatty Papyrus and the Bodmer Papyrus which were written between 50-100AD. Copies of these papyri were reproduced in 125-200AD, meaning that the time span between the originals and the copies still in existence today is 29 years to 130 years, putting all these manuscripts beings written anywhere from 50-100 years after the death of Jesus Christ. Now some may object and say “Hold on! These manuscripts were written years after Jesus died. There’s no way they could be reliable!” But any expert on ancient documents would disagree.

Let’s look at some of the more famous and universally accepted historical documents and see how they match up with the Bible:

Plato — Plato wrote his works from 427-347 BC. The earliest manuscript copy of Plato’s writing in existence today was written in 900 AD. That is 1,200 years after Plato’s death! And there are only 2 copies of these manuscripts in existence.

Julius Caesar — One of the most celebrated and trusted historical figures. Caesar lived from 100-44 BC and the earliest manuscript copy of his writings dates back to 900 AD, putting our best evidence of Caesar ever existing 1,000 years after his death. And there are 10 copies of ancient manuscripts of Caesar’s Gallic Wars . So if you question the Bible based on when it was written, being “translated so many times” (it was not – we still have the same Greek manuscripts today) and still question whether Jesus existed, then you must also be really sure that Julius Caesar and Plato were completely fictional characters and never really existed.

Homer — Homer, who historians are not even sure ever really existed even today, is credited with writing the Iliad in ca 900 BC. The earliest manuscript copy of the Iliad dates to 400 BC. Meaning the only proof of Homer or the Iliad being accurate is from 500 years after the death of Homer. Additionally there are 643 copies of ancient manuscripts of the Iliad written over the centuries that when compared against each other by experts have a 95.3 consistency and accuracy, making it one of the most reliable and proven documents of antiquity.
That is of course, until you compare it to the New
Testament. The New Testament manuscripts date to less than 100 years after the death of Christ. Additionally there are over 5,600 ancient manuscript copies of the New Testament giving it more copies to a degree that dwarfs any other figure of ancient history. And they have a 99% accuracy when compared to each other. The evidence is not even comparable. And it all points to Jesus Christ. The record of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has more evidence and proof than any other person from antiquity.

CONCLUSION

The most amazing conclusion in all of this is not only that Jesus really existed — it is that He still exists. And He sits in Heaven at the right hand of God offering forgiveness to those who will not just believe He was a regular man, but that He as the Son of God, gave His life on that same cross that so many historians knew about, to take the punishment for sins that all of humanity has committed. It just takes faith and trust in that sacrifice to receive him. Jesus said: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. – Revelation 3:20-21. Jesus wants us to believe in Him so we can be freely forgiven of the sins we have committed in our lives, have eternal life and reign with Him. So now that it is established that He existed, why not take the time to get to know Jesus Christ and who He said He is from His historically-verifiable perspective? Your eternal life may depend on it.

Why

Julius Caesar and Plato didn't open their graves and fly into the sky. Whether or not they were real is unimportant because they should be dead NOW.

OK prove to me eternity exist, how my eternal life depends on Jesus

ThatVvnGurl:
Why you MUST? Bro salvation is not by force. this your topic just vex me.

Exactly, salvation is never by force. I think the MUST is rather too extreme. Nevertheless, the OP has driven home some strong points.

All you are doing is suggesting that a man named Jesus (Yeshua) probably existed around the time that Christians believe. I can accept that. However it is one thing to claim that he existed, but quite another to say that he performed miracles and is sitting at the right hand of an unseen god.

There are legends surrounding other people who actually lived as well, but the stories themselves are either untrue or exaggerated. I believe the same about Jesus: he may have existed but was not the son of god, a prophet, or a miracle worker because none of those have ever been proven to exist.

onetrack:
All you are doing is suggesting that a man named Jesus (Yeshua) probably existed around the time that Christians believe. I can accept that. However it is one thing to claim that he existed, but quite another to say that he performed miracles and is sitting at the right hand of an unseen god.

There are legends surrounding other people who actually lived as well, but the stories themselves are either untrue or exaggerated. I believe the same about Jesus: he may have existed but was not the son of god, a prophet, or a miracle worker because none of those have ever been proven to exist.

I know of examples of some sort which
do meet requirements as “proof” outside the Bible (and
outside of the writings of believers) that Jesus did perform miracles. In these cases, the writers provides for us evidence that Jesus worked miracles, but in writing intended to downplay belief in such miracles.
The first comes from the Babylonian Talmud 43a.
Babylonian Talmud (late first or second century AD)
Babylonian Sanhedrin43a-b “On the eve of the
Passover they hanged Yeshu and the herald went
before him for forty days saying [Yeshu] is going forth
to be stoned in that he hate practiced sorcery and
beguiled and led astray Israel Here Jesus is accused
of sorcery, in obvious parallel with the charge leveled
in Matthew 12:22-23. The writer of the Talmud does
not agree that Jesus worked bona fide miracles, but he
reports that he did things which, to the enemy of
Jesus could only be written off as sorcery. Also, in
Babylonian Sanhedrin107b it is claimed that Jesus
practiced magic. In tHul2:22-23 it is reported that
healings were done in the name of Jesus. So we have
indirect confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus and of
his working of public miracles-only wrongly charging that the miracles were worked by Satan, not God.
The point I would make from this material in the
Jewish Talmud from the late first century is that it
proves that Jesus was a person they felt they had to
deal with and that it was sufficiently common
knowledge that he worked signs and wonders that
they felt they had to address this by falsely claiming that
Jesus did his miracles by the power of Satan (sorcery).
Doesn't this “prove” that Jesus worked miracles? What it also proves is that many in his day were convinced that he worked miracles and that his enemies were aware of sufficient positive evidence of this that they felt they needed to explain it.

rawgame:

Doesn't this “prove” that Jesus worked miracles? What it proves is that many in his day were convinced that he worked miracles and that his enemies were aware of sufficient positive evidence of this that they felt they needed to explain it.

In an age where people routinely believed in miracles and sorcery, it is very possible that other people thought that Jesus may have engaged in sorcery. However, an atheist and skeptic such as myself does not accept any such claims at face value.

ThatVvnGurl:
Why you MUST? Bro salvation is not by force. this your topic just vex me.

Sorry dear, I didn't mean to offend you. OK, let me insert "should" rather

Weah96:
Julius Caesar and Plato didn't open their graves and fly into the sky. Whether or not they were real is unimportant because they should be dead NOW.

I only made a comparative analysis

winsley:
OK prove to me eternity exist, how my eternal life depends on Jesus

Faith is a credible evidence. Don't you think that believing is a risk worth taking? OK, what do you stand to loose if you believe?

rawgame:
Faith is the only credible evidence. Don't you think that believing is a risk worth taking? OK, what do you stand to loose if you believe?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,why should I believe in things(idea) that can't be proved.there is so much to lose
1 of the much is reason.

rawgame:
Faith is a credible evidence. Don't you think that believing is a risk worth taking? OK, what do you stand to loose if you believe?

Enticing the wrath of other Gods like Allah and Shiva. The risk that comes with empty belief is that another person with a similar empty belief system might be correct, even if he believes in another God.

Nice one there @OP. Your article does show that Jesus Christ is the most documented and historically verifiable figure in antiquity.

Domislaz:
Nice one there @OP. Your article does show that Jesus Christ is the most documented and historically verifiable figure in antiquity.

Thanks. There are many secular historians who lived in the century after the death of Jesus Christ who confirmed this such as Flavius Josephus(37 – c. 100), who was a 1st century Romano-Jewish historian. In The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3 the famous historian Flavius Josephus writes :

“ Now, there was about this time Jesus , a wise man,
if it be lawful to call him a man , for he was a doer of
wonderful works —a teacher of such men as receive
the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both
many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was
[the ] Christ; and when Pilate , at the suggestion of
the principal men amongst us , had condemned him
to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not
forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the
third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these
and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning
him; and the tribe of Christians , so named from him,
are not extinct at this day."

Weah96:


Enticing the wrath of other Gods like Allah and Shiva.

So, you wouldn't mind risking the wrath of all three. SMH

Weah96:

The risk that comes with empty belief is that another person with a similar empty belief system might be correct, even if he believes in another God.

That's If your believe system is empty.