Quoted
from the "ISLAM REVEALED"
THE
CRUCIFIXION: FACT OR FICTION
THE
TESTIMONY OF SECULAR HISTORY
Sacred history in the
New Testament documents has shown us ample evidence of the historicity
of Christ’s death and resurrection. Not surprisingly, secular history
has far less concerning the traveling preacher from an obscure Empire outpost.
However, even secular history is not silent concerning Christ.
Flavius
Josephus
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.
The
Jewish Talmud
The Talmud is a holy
book of tradition and commentary in Jewish eyes. it has been collected
in huge volumes, which anyone interested can see. In the copy published
in 1943 in Amsterdam, one can read on page 42.
Jesus was crucified
one day before the Passover. We warned Him for 40 days that
He would be killed because He was a magician and planned to deceive
Israel with His delusions. Whoever wished to do so was asked to defend
him, and when none did, He was crucified on the eve of the Passover.
Does anyone dare to defend Him? Was He not a stirrer up of
evil? It is said in the prophets, Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse
8-9, "You shalt not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your
eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you
shall surely kill him. . . ."
Roman
and Greek Historians
The death of Christ
on the cross in confirmed by early historians, heathen and Jewish.
Tacitus, the historian
who was a heathen, wrote in the year A.D. 55, detailing passages
about the crucifixion of Christ and his sufferings. Furthermore,
the Roman historians Pliny the Younger and Seutonius, along with non-Roman
historians Thallus, Phlegon, and the satirist Lucian of Samsota, refer
to the crucifixion of Jesus in their writings. (Martin Hengel’s book,
Crucifixion in the Ancient World, gives more details.)
The Greek historian,
Lucien, who lived around A.D. 100, was an outstanding writer. he
told of the death of Christ and the growing group of Christians.
He was an Epicurean who could not understand the faith of Christians and
their readiness to die for Christ. In his writings he ridiculed the
Christians’ belief in the immortality of the soul and their longing for
heaven. He looked on them as a deceived people clinging to uncertainties
after death rather than living for the present. One of the most significant
allusions to the subject of Christ in his writings is this: "The
Christians continue to worship that great man who was crucified in Palestine
because he brought a new religion to the world."
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