Evidence God Exists

[Thor]

Yes religion has cost many innocent people their lives and yes people have killed in the name of God and wars have been fought in the name of christianity and none of this makes it right. What I want to know is why you think that true christians caused these horrible events.You are the ones making the assurtions give me your proof?

You need proof that Christians caused "horrible events" like wars? Really? The Pope himself was responsible for launching the Crusades. Unless you want to argue that the Pope is not a "true Christian".

Josephus a Jewish historian born in 37 AD.The Antiquities is one of his greater works and it is the history of the Jewish nation from creation to his present time.In this work he writes about James being killed and refers to James as the brother of Jesus,who was called the Christ.Another work of Josephus called the Testimonium Flavianum refers to Jesus as a wise man that wrought suprising feats.He also states Pilate condemned Him to be crucified.Josephus also states in this passage that His followers loved Him and never abandoned His teachings.

Yes, believers often reference Josephus in an effort to prove that Jesus truly existed. Problem is, Josephus was born AFTER Jesus supposedly lived. Anything Josephus writes about Jesus is hearsay. There are NO first hand accounts that record the activities of a man named Jesus.

Tacitus a roman historian tells of Jesus receiving a death sentence of crucifiction from Pontius Pilate.

Tacitus was born in the year 64. Over three decades AFTER Jesus supposedly lived. Anything he writes about Jesus is also hearsay. Next.

Pliny The Younger writes of the executions of the followers of Christ.These executions were ordered by Pliny The Younger.

Pliny the Younger was born in the year 62. Anything he writes about Jesus is also hearsay.

The New Testament says a great darkness fell over the land as Christ hung on the cross.There are historic records by Thallus,Tertullian that a great darkness did occur in the Mediterranean area in 33 AD.

Thallus, huh? We don't know when he lived, but it's estimated that his writings date to the mid to late 1st century. So it's POSSIBLE that he was an eyewitness at the time Jesus supposedly lived. Problem is, all of his writings have been lost. There is NOTHING in existence that was written by his hand. All we have are a few fragments from writers that lived hundreds of years later. Hardly concrete evidence there.

I wrote this last part in response to a statement made that there is no evidence that Jesus was a real person when indeed there is evidence out side of the Bible that supports the claim of the Bibical Jesus.

And all you have done is to present hearsay and undocumented extrapolations of fragmented writings. This is extremely weak evidence. Ya got anything first hand? Any writings from historians who actually lived at the time Jesus was supposedly alive? Strangely, writers who were recording events during the alleged life of Jesus never mention him! Philo Judaeus, Pliny the Elder and Seneca all lived at the same time and place as "Jesus", yet they make not one mention of him! The Romans were meticulous record keepers, yet there is nothing in their records about a man named Jesus who was executed. All writings of "Jesus" are found decades after he allegedly died. This is strong evidence that "Jesus" never lived at all and is nothing more than a myth.

I'd say nice try, but it wasn't.