In a few debates I've been in, (online of course because I don't necessarily have the skills or the wit to respond very quickly in a face to face debate, also because I like to have time and look at multiple sources to give well thought out answers), many athiests or skeptics have denied that Jesus Christ ever existed. Of course when a Christian uses the bible to make an arguement for His existence, it isn't convincing to the skeptic because they reject the bible as a source of truth anyways.
In this post, I will (thanks to those who have published books on this i.e. Josh Mcdowell) give you some secular and non secular sources that confirm Christ's existence. There are quite a few, so I will highlight some of the ones I think make a strong case.
- Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian wrote in "Antiquities" book 18, this about Jesus:
"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 recieve 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 to this day."
-Tacitus, a Roman historian, in "Annals 15.44", mentions "Christus" who is Jesus:
"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on 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 one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all the things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."
-Lucian mentions Jesus. Greek writer and rhetorician:
"The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property." (Lucian was opposed to Christianity, yet confirms the existence of Christ whom Christians follow.)
-Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, mentioned Christ in one of his books:
"They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."
It is no doubt that Christ existed. These sources describe and explain the way of Christian life, the wonderful works and person Jesus was (is), and contribute to the fact that Christ affected many lives. You will be hard pressed to find any credible scholar or historian that thinks Christ never existed. If you would like, here is a good article that's a little more in depth. Think of the claims of Christ, if He is who He says He is and proved it with miracles and rising from the dead, then He is God.
http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Divin/D-0201.htm
