DO YOU BELIEVE ANYTHING IN HISTORY?
“ARE THOSE ALL the sources you have?” Lauren asked.
“All the sources he has?” Scott glared back at her. “What do you mean by that? Do you believe anything in history? Why can’t we just admit, as atheists or agnostics or whatevers, that Jesus Christ existed in history, died on a cross, and had devout, though perhaps ignorant, followers? Is that really a problem? When atheists like Russell, Hitchens, and all the ‘bloggers-who’ll-never-be-scholars’ question Christ’s historicity, I think it does us a disservice. It proves we’ve never even bothered to look into it.”
“I’ll be glad to share a few more examples, Lauren,” suggested Jamal.
“Please do.” Lauren glared back at Scott.
“One of the first secular writers to mention Christ was Thallus. Dated perhaps AD 52, Thallus ‘wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan war to his own time.’28 Unfortunately, his writing now exists only in fragments that have been cited by other writers. One such writer is Julius Africanus, a Christian who penned his work around AD 221. One very interesting passage relates to a comment made by Thallus about the darkness that enveloped the land during the late afternoon hours when Jesus died on the cross. Julius Africanus, a third-century historian, mentioned Thallus. Andrea, would you mind reading this?”
“No thank you.”
Jamal smiled at her, then read it himself.
Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun—unreasonably, as it seems to me (unreasonably, of course, because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, and it was at the season of the Paschal full moon that Christ died).29
“Why is this Africanus’s reference to Thallus any big deal?” asked Brett.
“Well, it’s important historically because it’s another early, non-Christian reference to Jesus Christ. This specific reference shows that the gospel account of the darkness that fell upon the land during Christ’s crucifixion was well known and required naturalistic explanations from non-Christians. Thallus did not doubt that Jesus had been crucified and that an unusual event had occurred in nature that required an explanation. What occupied his mind was the task of coming up with a different interpretation. The basic facts were not called into question.”30
“Thanks for sharing all this,” commented Brett. “I honestly didn’t know there was so much documentation of Christ outside the New Testament. None of it proves He was God, of course, or even that He was good. The New Testament describes Him condemning people to hell, driving people from the temple with a whip, and even cursing a fig tree for not bearing fruit. He’s not someone I’d want to follow, but you’ve given me reason to believe He existed in history.”
“Those are reasonable objections,” said Jamal, “and I’ll be glad to deal with each one of them in further conversation. Hopefully, for right now, we’ve established some historical grounds that Christ did exist, and I would also like to take a minute to address your objection that we can’t know if Jesus was good.”
Brett looked at his watch. “Go ahead.”
“Even some of the pagan writers of the first century saw Jesus as good. Let me read from one last non-Christian, non-Jewish first-century writer. In the later part of the first century, Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian and probably a stoic philosopher, wrote a letter from prison to his son, encouraging him to pursue wisdom. In his letter he compares Jesus to the philosophers Socrates and Pythagoras. Nick?”
Nick took the computer and read with genuine interest.
What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on in the teaching which He had given.31
“What do you all observe from this?” Jamal asked.
Brett spoke up. “This writer seems to have a love for philosophers. The ‘wise King’ seems to describe Christ. Obviously, because of his reference to the dispersion of the Jews, this was written after AD 70 and the ‘wise King’ lived before AD 70. Clearly, Mara Bar-Serapion is not a Christian like you guys since he puts Jesus on equal footing with Socrates and Pythagoras.”
“I agree with you, Brett,” said Nick. “He also has Jesus living on through His teaching rather than His resurrection. But he thought Jesus a good enough person to warrant God’s judgment on the Jews. And he certainly didn’t question whether Christ really lived or not.”
Andrea raised her voice. “So you’ve proved Jesus lived. What’s the big deal? That doesn’t make Him God. You can’t prove He was born of a virgin, you can’t prove His miracles, and you can’t prove He rose from the dead. We spent all this time talking and we didn’t learn a thing.”
“Andrea, do you remember the time you stopped by my office last spring and I explained some of the evidence for Christ’s miracles, and specifically His resurrection? I’ll be glad to review some of that evidence with you if you’d like.”
“Actually, I’ve got to go,” said Brett. “I have to meet my girlfriend for dinner. But Jamal, I do appreciate you walking us through the historical evidence for Christ’s existence. I’ll make sure I’m at your lecture in a couple weeks!”
Jamal stood to shake Brett’s hand and Andrea stood up too, saying, “You know, I’d better go as well.” As they were all saying their good-byes, Andrea realized, for a fleeting moment, how persuasive and kind Jamal was in his defense of Christ’s existence to Brett and his friends. Then Lauren giggled and said, “Oh my goodness, Jamal! How tall are you?”
Puh-leeze, Lauren! He hears that all the time, Andrea thought to herself. Even my atheist friend is trying to flirt with Jamal.
“I’m six feet six inches tall, which is pretty average in Texas! Look, why don’t we all meet here again sometime? Also, I’d love for all of you to come out to the debate in three weeks.”
“We already announced it at our atheist group,” said Brett.
“Excellent. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Brett, Scott, and Lauren. Andrea, thanks for hanging out.”