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The Reliability of The Bible

NON-CHRISTIAN SOURCES:

1. Cornelius Tacitus - (56-120AD) - "a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of ... Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition"  
1. the extreme penalty is a death by Roman crucifixion.
2. the 'mischievous superstition' is that he rose from the dead after it.
2. Mara Bar-Serapion  - around 70AD (~35 years after Jesus) - "Or the Jews by murdering their wise king?" 
1. The Jews did not have a king because during this time of writing, they were still under Roman rule and Serapion would have known this. 
2.  The jews were blamed for Jesus' death.  Regardless who was blamed, it is clearly stated that he was killed.
3. Flavius Josephus - 37-101AD; wrote ~45 years after Jesus - "When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified"
1. Some sections of his writings are mostly agreed upon that later christian imputations occurred but this statement would have came from a historian recording what happens to the subject that he is writing about.  Thus Josephus, a Jew, records the fact that Jesus was crucified. 
4. Lucian of Samosata - (120-180AD; ~115 years after Jesus)  - "The Christians. . . worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced this new cult, and was crucified on that account" 
1. Lucian explicitly states that the man the Christians worship, was crucified.
5. The Jewish (Babylonian) Talmud - written around 375 to 427 AD - "he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!" 
1. This passage was talking specifically about Jesus and then makes the explicitly statement, from the Jewish authority in the Talmud, that he was killed. 
6. The remains were found accidentally in an ossuary with the crucified man’s name on it, 'Yehohanan, the son of Hagakol'. The ossuary contained a heel with a nail driven through its side, indicating that the heels may have been nailed to the sides of the tree which dated to the 1st century.

IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE, NOT JESUS WHO WAS CRUCIFIED ARGUMENT

1. The Jewish authority knew what Jesus looked like..
2. The Jewish people knew what Jesus looked like.
3. The Apostles and followers of Jesus, knew what Jesus looked like.
4. Roman authority who tried Jesus, knew what Jesus looked like.
5. All parties knew what Jesus looked like, those who wanted to see him die and those who believed in him.  All parties saw him die on the cross.
6. Roman, Jewish, and Christian ancient historians knew he historically died.

JESUS DIDN'T ACTUALLY DIE ARGUMENT  

1. Romans would scourge sentenced victims.  This was a violent whipping by a tool that had bone shards and iron fragments that would rip open the back down to the muscle and expose the victims bones.  This would cause serious blood loss and infection.
2. Roman guards in charged of seeing through with executions would be executed themselves if the victim escaped and was not crucified as ordered by the local magistrate.
3. Roman and Jewish authorities were aware of Jesus' claim to come back three days later.  To maintain peace in the region by satisfying the demands of the locals (Jewish authority), Rome would have assigned and positioned Soldiers to ensure the locals demands were met.  Failure to do so would cost the lives of the Soldiers themselves.  Rome and the Soldiers had vested interests in ensuring that he was in fact executed.
1. Different historical methods to ensure the condemned was dead was used.  They would break the legs of the person on the cross to cause suffocation to quicken the death.  They would then stab the victim under the rib cage to pierce the heart to ensure the victim was dead. Again, the Soldiers lives were on the line if they were wrong.
4. Roman authorities would have either let the birds and stray dogs pick at his lifeless body for days and weeks until the next execution OR would have allowed for his family to take down his body and buried it.  Jewish and Christian records indicate that he was taken down from the cross later that day after he was confirmed dead and was burred.  
5. Jewish burial consisted of wrapping the body in thick cloths soaked in oils and spices.  If the victim was still alive, just unconscious during this process, they would have suffocated.
6. The high profile and rebellious claims by Jesus and his disciples would have ensured that Rome guarded and sealed the tomb.  Jewish authority would have also monitored the tomb as well.  If the tomb was left unguarded and the seal broken, the Soldiers would have been held responsible and executed.
7. Jewish records and Christian accounts both validate he died on the cross but there was still a missing body and empty tomb.

The Journal of the American Medical Association

• Jesus Christ's death on the cross was a study in the agony of a man whose arms and legs--their major nerves possibly cut by spikes--shot searing jolts of pain through a body already ravaged by blood loss from a severe whipping. Having suffered for at least three hours, Jesus finally died of an unusually severe variety of blood loss-induced shock and a type of suffocation that normally resulted from crucifixion. In the end, he may have suffered a climactic heart seizure--perhaps brought on by a blood clot breaking loose inside his arteries and fatally damaging his heart muscle. More likely, perhaps, he suffered a final episode of acute heart failure possibly caused by a catastrophic disturbance in the rhythm of his heartbeat.  If he did sustain a lance wound after he lost consciousness for the last time, the spear tip probably pierced the chest cavity, releasing a combination of blood and fluid that accumulated because of the worsening asphyxiation. The end of the lance probably penetrated Jesus' heart, too, but its effect was academic for the man widely perceived as the son of God was already dead before the Roman soldier raised his weapon. These conclusions, at least, are the findings of the most complete medical review of the agony of Christ's death ever published in a medical journal. The article containing the conclusions was published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn

Read the more detailed page about Evidence for The Resurrection