Did the Man JESUS CHRIST Ever Live?
By Gentry G. Lowry
¶ The persistent growth and development of the church of Christ throughout the centuries since its Founder returned to heaven is the strongest argument of all in favor of the fact that Jesus did live on this earth and did all that He is reported by His followers to have done. GENTRY G. LOWRY
Ranchi, India As the gospel of Jesus Christ finds its way into the various countries of the world, the questions often arise, Who is Christ? Did such an individual ever exist? There are men—learned men, according to worldly standards of wisdom—who are ready to undertake to prove that such a person as Jesus Christ never existed; that the whole story that is carried into the remotest corners of the earth by the Christian people is a myth and nothing else; that those who call themselves Christians, the followers of Christ, are deceived, and spend their time and money in deceiving others. They put forth tremendous efforts to prove that the whole story, as we have it in the Gospels, is only the ravings of a bunch of maniacs, not worthy of the faith or confidence of sensible and intelligent men. Their object, of course, in trying to discredit the life and works of Christ is to upset the belief of the people in Christianity. There would be no more effectual method of breaking up the work of Christ and of the Christian church in the world to-day than to prove that the story of His birth, life, death, and resurrection is only a fairy tale. And so, from generation to generation there have been men who, having their own reasons for not believing in Christ, undertake to show that the whole story is a hoax. OBJECTIONS USUALLY RAISED
One of the chief proofs that they usually bring forth to make it appear that there is nothing to the story of Christ's life, death, and resurrection is that His name does not appear in any of the current histories of that time. They say that other great men who lived and died in that time are mentioned in the histories of those days. Such men as Demosthenes, Plato, and Socrates, who lived before the time of Christ, and Nero and the Cæsars, who lived after Christ, are mentioned. Then why does not Christ, who claimed to be such a great teacher, if ever such a man lived, find at least some place in the histories of those times? The fact that they do not read a detailed story of the life of Jesus Christ alongside of other great men of the day is sufficient proof to them that Christ never existed. In bringing forward such evidence as this to prove that a Man called Jesus Christ, a religious teacher, never existed, people seem to forget that as a rule only men who held some public office or were connected in some way with the government or public life of the times were mentioned in the histories of those days. In the first place, the people did not have the facilities in those times for writing and printing records of public men and affairs that we have to-day. Also they did not take the same interest in religious leaders as we do now. This is an added reason why only those who, according to the way men valued things in those times, were accounted public-spirited men were worthy of mention in historical records. As an illustration of this point, take the historian Thucydides, who is supposed to have been the very best Greek historian, and who died about four hundred years before Christ was born. He was a very careful historian, and took the utmost trouble to ascertain his facts before writing them in his history of Greece. What was the purpose he had in view in writing his history? It was to give the history of the deeds of the various states of Greece—just that and no more—during a certain limited time of his own career. Consequently he tells us no more of the individual citizens than is required by his history. There were undoubtedly great men in his time whose names he did not mention. He mentions only those who were generals in the army, politicians, or public men of some sort or other. He does not mention any men who did not hold some kind of public office. Consequently, although during the time of his history Socrates was living in Athens, the very town in which this historian lived, and he must have been well acquainted with him, he did not mention his name even once,—because all this time Socrates was a private citizen and took no part in public affairs. Later on, when Socrates was given some position in the government, his name was mentioned in current history,—not as a great philosopher, or as a martyr, as one would naturally expect, but simply in connection with some little part he had to play in connection with the public life of the time. Because other men who lived in those days and contributed their part in the affairs of Grecian life, such as poets, dramatists, orators, and philanthropic men, were not mentioned in their histories, are we to conclude that such men did not exist? Certainly not. But we do conclude that such men in those days did not particularly interest those who were writing the history of the times. Our readers will now easily understand why Jesus Christ, who always shrank from any sort of publicity, and kept Himself out of public affairs as much as possible, does not find His rightful place in the ordinary histories of His time. The writers of the times in which He lived were not interested particularly in religious matters. And even if they had been, it is not likely that they, being pagans as they were, would have taken very much notice of Christ at that time; for then His greatness was not seen as it was later on. He would have appeared to them as a simple-minded, fanatical sort of Jew rather than a great teacher and a founder of a wonderful world-wide religion, as we to-day know Him to be. So, simply because we do not find the name of Christ in the histories of His times does not in any way prove that He never existed. And, furthermore, we should not be too hasty in making the statement that His life, death, and resurrection, as well as His teachings, are not mentioned in histories of the time. For there were four historians, some of whom were personally acquainted with Jesus, who have given us details of His activities while in this world. They tell of His miraculous birth, of His9childhood, of His work as a teacher and healer, of His trial, of His death on the cross, of His resurrection after three days, and, finally, of His ascension to heaven. These men's writings have been collected and form a part of what we now call the New Testament. But, says one, these men were not recognized authorities or historians. They were His followers, and therefore may have been misled, or they may have purposely endeavored to mislead us. It is true that they were not recognized historians, and it is also a fact that they were His associates and disciples. But it hardly seems reasonable to think that these men could have completely deceived the world on this point even if they had so desired. Anyone who would accuse them of deliberately writing up a false story about the matter would be asked two questions. First, how could they have done such a thing? for all that they wrote was within seventy-five years of His death, and there must have been many people living in Palestine who could easily have exposed their fraud and dishonesty; and most of them would have been only too glad to do so. Second, what possible object could they have had in trying to deceive the public by telling such an unheard-of story as that of the life and death and resurrection of Christ? What could they have hoped to gain by doing such a thing? Why would they insist on telling the story over the then-known world when it meant ostracization from their homes, persecution, and in many cases, death? These questions are not easy to answer when one thinks of what the early believers had to pass through as a result of their teaching the things they did. As to their being deceived themselves, one would think that it might possibly be that one or two might have been deceived; but one could hardly conceive of all twelve of His apostles being taken in by the deception. Moreover, one of the writers tells us that above five hundred men and women saw Him after His resurrection. It hardly seems likely that such a report would have been circulated if Christ never existed at all. Moreover, there is evidence that within a few years after the death of Christ, even government officials were convinced that there had been a man called Christ who had lived, and had died, and had been resurrected. It is true that they did not look upon Him as a great teacher or religious leader, but at least they gave credit to the story of His life. Tacitus, a Roman historian, records the fact that the notorious emperor Nero waged a most cruel persecution against the Christians, and expressly mentions that these people were followers of a “criminal” executed by Pontius Pilate. He, of course, gave credit to Pilate’s report as to the character of Jesus, and that is why he called Him a criminal. The fact remains, however, that he recognizes the Leader of the Christians as one who was executed by Pilate. Then again, Pliny, a Roman governor, wrote a long letter to the emperor, asking him what he should do with the extraordinary number of Christians in his province, and mentioned the fact that these people used to sing hymns to Christ as God. These Roman writers were born less than fifty years after the death of Christ, and it is very hard to understand how a historian like Tacitus could have been taken in by a false story about a man who never existed. It is clear that they did not believe that Christ was divine, or anything of that sort, for all the evidence they had, outside of the testimony of Christians, was the report of Pontius Pilate. But what they did was to record that these Christians were followers of a certain Man who lived under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. This is enough to show that not very long after His ascension even secular historians of that time recognized that the Founder of the Christian faith actually lived in this world, and that He was executed in the time of Pontius Pilate. This agrees with what the historians of the New Testament tell us. TIME HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE
It is difficult for us who live two thousand years this side of Christ to have a very clear idea as to the conditions that existed during the first two or three centuries after Jesus’ death. Nowadays the religion of Jesus Christ is being carried by people of all nations to every nook and corner of the world. Everywhere He is acknowledged to be, at least, one of the world’s greatest religious teachers, and His followers are found everywhere in the world, in all grades of society from the lowliest peasant to the king on his throne. But in those days it was not so. Christ Himself was branded by the Roman officers as a seditious criminal, hardly fit to be mentioned in respectable history. His followers were looked upon as the off-scourings of the earth, and were despised and persecuted by every one. Their sacred books, instead of being valued and prized as the chief treasures of the world’s literature, as they are now, were derided and blasphemed by the educated of the time. When we take all these things into careful consideration, it will not be so difficult for us to understand why the non-Christian writers of those days did not think it worth while to give Christians any large place in their histories. The greatest and strongest argument of all in favor of the fact that Jesus lived in this world and did all that He is reported by His followers to have done is the persistent growth and development of the church of Christ through the centuries since its Founder returned to heaven. Christians have been bitterly persecuted, they have been banished, their churches have been burned, their writings have been destroyed, and everyPage Tenpossible obstruction has been placed in the way of their progress, and yet continued growth has been made. There is a power in the story of the cross that cannot be gainsaid, and which overcomes every barrier that confronts it. This is not to be wondered at if Christ actually lived in the world and if His words are to be believed, for He predicted that the plan of salvation that He taught would go to the whole world. But if such a Man never lived and the whole story of His life is only a fairy tale, then the history and progress of the Christian church in the world is indeed a mystery. Yes, Jesus Christ actually lived. The place, the time, and the manner of His birth were all predicted by prophets of old centuries before they took place. He was born in the very place that had been predicted for Him, and in the way the prophets had declared. He did the work that was foretold for Him. He met the fate that the prophets and seers had foretold He should meet. His whole life, His work, His death, and His resurrection were all a fulfillment of prophecy. This is why the work that He began two thousand years ago, and committed to His followers at the end of His experience in this world, has gone on from victory to victory, in spite of the opposition that has been brought against it down through the ages.