Was Jesus More Than Just A Man?

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Written by Jimmie Burroughs Email this article to a friend

One of the greatest lies perpetrated on mankind is that Jesus was just a man. If this was true, then we are people without hope because Jesus is the only person in history that offered a way to be forgiven and a way to heaven after death.

If Jesus was just a man, then his death was a horrendous event in history and certainly not anything to celebrate. On the other hand if Jesus was who he said he was and his death is what he said it was, then John 3:16 is also true, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” His death is a gift from God to us, making a way of forgiveness and eternal life.

Many throughout the ages have ridiculed the idea that Jesus was any more than mere man:

“Both Socrates and Jesus were outstanding teachers; both of them urged and practiced great simplicity of life; both were regarded as traitors to the religion of their community. Neither of them wrote anything; both of them were executed; and both have become the subject of traditions that are difficult or impossible to harmonize.” Jaroslav Pelikan


“Lycurgus, Numa, Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, all these great rogues, all these great thought-tyrants, knew how to associate the divinities they fabricated with their own boundless ambition.” Marquis de Sade


“Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Jesus was a crackpot.” Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Of course these remarks are absurd but in order to counter them we must first establish a legitimate case that Jesus was an actual historical figure who once lived and walked on the face of this earth. The fact is that there is stronger proof for that than there is for the existence of Neapolitan Bonaparte who lived much later. We consider history to be authentic when two or more witness and report it. Many of the Bible saw and spoke with Jesus but others outside the Bible also spoke of him:

Thallus was the earliest of historians to write of Jesus but his writings have yet to be uncovered but Julius Africanus, wrote around 221AD quoted Thallus. He said that Thallus being a skeptic had tried to explain away the darkness that occurred on the day of the crucifixion. He contended that it was an eclipse of the sun. The record of Thallus proves that Jesus did live and was crucified and that something as unusual as total darkness occurred.

Phlegon was another historian that was mentioned by Africanus. Philegon wrote around 140AD and also mentions the crucifixion of Jesus and the darkness. He also adds that Jesus was able to foresee the future.

Mara Bar-Serapion writing around 70 AD mentions the life and suffering of Jesus. This is further proof that Jesus was well known even 70 years after his death. He referred to Jesus as the Wise King.

Josephus, a Jewish historian, writes more about Jesus than any other in his “the Antiquities of the Jews” in 93 AD. Three passages about Christians were included;  in the frist  passage he describes the death of John the Baptist; in another one he mentions the execution of James and discloses that he was the brother of Jesus the Christ; in the final passage he describes Jesus as the messiah, a wise man , and he tells the resurrection story.

Cornelius Tacitus was one of the most trusted of ancient historians. He was an expert concerning historical documents. In his “Annals’ of 116AD”, he tells that Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire of Rome. He also described the persecution and execution of Jesus by orders of Pontius Pilate.

Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to the Roman Emperor Trajan describing how the early Christians lived. He said that their faith in Jesus was unmovable. They meet together, he said, one morning each week before sunrise to worship and sing hymns to Jesus Christ.

Hadrian the historian also wrote about the lives of early Christians that lived within the Roman Empire.

Our faith in Jesus Christ is not a make believe faith based on a myth or a pass me down mythical form of worship; it is grounded in extant Biblical and secular history. Jesus was far more than a prophet or teacher; he was God in the flesh. It was not just a claim he made but it was proven by the miracles he performed; he raised the dead, healed the sick, restored sight to blind eyes and made the lame to walk.

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know the way. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:1-6)

There are so called churches today that deny that Jesus is God but Jesus said many times that he was and anyone who says the Bible does not make that claim is lying to you. Jesus proved by the way he lived and the miracles he performed that he was God.

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.” Jesus replied: Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don’t you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things. Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do.” (John 14:8-11)

“That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon’s Porch, and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” Jesus answered: I have told you, and you refused to believe me. The things I do by my Father’s authority show who I am. But since you are not my sheep, you don’t believe me. My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others. No one can snatch them from his hands, and I am one with the Father.” (John 10:22-30)

The capstone of the Christian faith is the resurrection. None of the other religions of the world has a resurrected prophet; they all have grave sites. That is what separates Jesus from all other historical figures. His death paid for sin’s penalty; his resurrection assured every believer that one day they too will be resurrected with a new body. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians explains it like this:

“If we preach that Christ was raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? If they won’t be raised to life, Christ himself wasn’t raised to life. And if Christ wasn’t raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith. If the dead won’t be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not. So if the dead won’t be raised to life, Christ wasn’t raised to life. Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-22)

Without the resurrection we would have no hope but because he did rise from the grave we now know that one day we also will and we can know we have our future in heaven.

The world has always tried to prove that Jesus didn’t rise from the grave. The following are some of their arguments:

The swoon theory:

This theory claims that Jesus never actually died but just swooned and was latter taken down and was revived. He then quickly recovered from his wounds and appeared before the world. In order to recover he would have to recover from the nails in his hands and feet as well as the spear wound to his side. But the real reason this would not have happened is:

• The Roman soldiers made sure that each person executed was dead. It was customary to break the legs but in the case of Jesus they knew he was dead so they skipped that part and thrust a spear into his side. To allow a prisoner to escape or bungle a execution meant death for the soldiers and they made sure it didn’t happen.
• According to John when the soldier stabbed Jesus, water and blood came out. That commonly happens when a body has been dead a while. Water collects in the body cavity.
• Another thing is where Jesus went if he wasn’t dead and did not ascend into heaven. There are no records of him ever being seen or heard of after the ascension.

The Hallucination Theory:

This theory states that the disciples only imagined that Jesus rose from the grave. You might entertain one or two people hallucinating but for all 12 of the disciples, the women first at the tomb, plus some 500 others who saw Jesus alive after the resurrection to hallucinate is preposterous. Even if there was a hallucination it could not possibly last for the 40 day duration of time Jesus remained in contact with the disciples before his ascension. Another problem with this theory is no corpse was ever found.

The Conspiracy Theory:

This claims that the apostles conspired to make it look as if Jesus arose. This means that the fearful disciples who fled, for the most part, after the arrest of Jesus became so brave that they made up the lie that he rose and then they whet forth over the whole Roman Empire proclaiming Jesus and everyone of them lost their lives as a result of their stand except possible for John who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos to spend the rest of his life there. There are several real problems to this theory:

• They wouldn’t have been able to have removed the body. The tomb was heavily guarded by Roman soldiers at the command of Pilot and they would have thwarted any attempt to steal away the body of Jesus.
• The ones who insisted that Jesus be crucified would have known. They might have been able to get some to lie about seeing Jesus but to get more than 500 to lie and then live the rest of their life without leaking the truth is not going to happen.
• What possible motive could they have had. Why any sane person would put their lives in jeopardy to conceal a lie. Would they have gone on to risk their lives daily to perpetrate a lie and eventually sacrifice their life based on a religion that was nothing more than a lie? That makes absolutely no sense. The fact is that their life was transformed from weakness and fear to being brave outspoken soldiers for Christ, not because of a lie but because of the truth of the resurrection.

The myth theory:

The myth theory is the Claim That Jesus Never Existed to start with; it was only a myth. The whole thing was fabricated from legend over time and put together as a system of worship. This theory has problems also:

• The secular records: Many of the historians who wrote about Jesus were not believers. They had no reason to lie about the existence of Jesus.
• The time frame would disallow a myth founded on legend since within the first generation there were witnesses who attested to the resurrection.
• The first witnesses were women. Had this been a myth created out of a legend, only men would have been considered as the first witnesses, since women in those days had little credibility.

There is nothing in history that can prove that Jesus didn’t die on that cross and after three days, come back to life. Jesus would have to have been a lunatic and a liar to have been anything other than what he said he was, LORD, God Himself, able to break the laws of nature that He established from the beginning of time. It takes less faith to believe in the historical record of Jesus than to believe the lies that have been constructed to the contrary.

I stand firm on the truth of Jesus and acknowledge his saving power and the transforming effect his presence has made in my life.

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

Don’t let the lies rob you of your future

I pray that you will secure your future in Christ Jesus. I pray that you will know and accept his plan for your life. All the lies that are offered today are only excuses for not obeying the will of the Heavenly Father. Evolution is so absurd that no intelligent person would believe it for a moment if it was not the only other alternative other than a belief in God for man’s presence on this earth. Don’t be deceived; trust Jesus today.

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“With patience and ease, in an unselfish and purposeful way, over a time period undetermined, and for a good that includes others, I intend for $1,000,000 to come to me and to others who join me in holding to this objective.” Jimmie Burroughs




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Jimmie Burroughs is the author of JimmieBurroughs.com ; get more tips on personal development: www.JimmieBurroughs.com

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