Was Jesus only a Myth?

I was recently contacted by an atheist on YouTube who believes that Jesus was only a myth. Here is his statement, and my answer to his question:

YouTube atheist claims:

“Too bad there wasn’t a single contemporary that ever mentioned Jesus. Truth is not threatened by questions, but myth stumbles upon the rocks of evidence.”

Dear YouTube atheist,

To claim “there wasn’t a single contemporary that ever mentioned Jesus” is a very unacquainted statement that contradicts a massive amount of verifiable historical and archeological evidence that even the most passionate Atheist does not refute.

The following list are contemporaries of Jesus' apostles:

1. The Jewish historian Josephus (who was not a Christian) referred to Jesus twice in his writings (Jewish Antiquities 18.3.3; Jewish Antiquities 20:9.1).

2. Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Younger) the governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, wrote in his circa AD 112 to the Roman emperor Trajan about Jesus being real.

3. Tacitus, a senator under Emperor Vespasian wrote around AD 116 in his work entitled Annals regarding the fire which swept through Rome in AD 64, "Christus, from whom the name (Christians) had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty (crucifixion) during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of the our procurators, Pontius Pilate."

4. Many other contemporaries of the early church, like Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas, Lucian, all wrote about Jesus.

5. The Talmud (a collection of Jewish oral traditions that were put into writing with additional commentary between the years of AD 70 and 200) says, "On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshua." The reason "Yeshua" (Jesus) was hanged was because He was accused of leading Israel "astray".

6. In addition to these ancient historical documents, we can also look to almost every reputable historian to date, who all agree that Jesus was not just a “myth” as you claim, but a very real person who lived and breathed, and whose life influenced the world more than any other person who has ever existed.

In addition to this, the Bible itself informed us that there were multitudes of people (i.e. contemporaries) who saw Jesus. In fact, the apostle Paul, who wrote to the believers in Corinth, that Jesus “was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present” (1 Cor. 15:6). Which means there are over 500 witnesses that Paul said we could go to in his day that all saw Jesus. Paul is basically saying, “if you don’t believe me, go ask them!”

If Jesus weren’t real, why would Jesus’ closest friends and followers give up their very lives for a lie? If Jesus never existed, and if Jesus never rose from the dead, why would His closest friends (“real life contemporaries”) give up their lives for him? It is a historical indisputable fact that 10 of the 12 original apostles, along with the Apostle Paul, who were all contemporaries of Jesus, died for their faith in Jesus.

What makes this a more remarkable statistic is that each one of these individuals (except for Paul) ran for their lives the night Jesus was betrayed (Matthew 26:56), and three days later we are told they were hiding in fear for their lives (John 20:19). And yet, even though these cowards were afraid for their lives once Jesus died, something dramatic took place on Sunday evening after Jesus rose from the dead. They saw Jesus with their own eyes! (John 20:21-29). Once they saw that Jesus had risen from the dead, they went from being cowards in hiding, to fearless in their beliefs! In fact, they fearlessly told others about Jesus openly and in public before the masses (Acts 2:14; 3:12), and were bold in their convictions to the same religious leaders (Acts 4:18-21), that caused them to behave like cowards prior to seeing the risen Lord (cf. John 20:19).

Everyone will agree that NO ONE WOULD EVER DIE for something if they knew it was a lie. Yet these men who were all once cowards, were transformed into bold followers once they saw Jesus alive again, and historical records testify that all but one died for their faith, and the other lived in exile (Revelation 1:9). With these facts being firmly established, it is simply impossible to accept that Jesus was not real, or that His followers could have been lying about the events surrounding Jesus’ life.

One very important individual, who was a Dane Professor of Law at Harvard University, had a difficult time believing the stories about Jesus were true as well. His name was Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853), and even though he wasn’t a contemporary of Jesus, he was the man who wrote the three-volume legal masterpiece, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, which is still regarded as “the greatest single authority in the entire literature of legal procedure (Knott, The Dictionary of American Biography). The U.S. judicial system today operates on rules of evidence established by Greenleaf.

While teaching law at Harvard, Professor Greenleaf stated to his class that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was simply a legend, due to the fact that as an atheist he did not believe miracles were possible. To Greenleaf’s surprise, three of his law students challenged him to put the resurrection on trial by using his renowned rules of evidence against the resurrection account. Greenleaf eventually accepted his students’ challenge and began an investigation into the evidence, attempting to prove the resurrection account as being false, and therefore, proving Christianity false. 

However, the more Greenleaf investigated the case for Jesus’ resurrection, the more surprised he became by the powerful evidence supporting the claim that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. He was unable to explain several dramatic changes that took place shortly after Jesus died, the most baffling being, the behavior of the disciples, something that I already alluded to. You see, it wasn’t just one or two of the disciples that insisted Jesus had risen; it was all of them. Applying his own rules of evidence to the facts, Greenleaf arrived at his verdict, which was shockingly different than what he began with. Greenleaf accepted Jesus’ resurrection as the best explanation for the events that took place immediately after His crucifixion. 

To this brilliant legal scholar and former atheist, it would have been impossible for the disciples to persist with their conviction that Jesus had risen if they hadn’t actually seen the risen Christ. 

You can read his book, and his findings by purchasing “The Testimony of the Evangelists” (Simon Greenleaf) www.amazon.com/Testimony-Evangelists-Gospels-Examined-Evidence/dp/0825427479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487286395&sr=1-1&keywords=simon+greenleaf

With all of the historical and archaeological evidence that exists today regarding Jesus, it is impossible to accept that Jesus was only a “myth.” Whether or not you choose to believe in Jesus and follow Him is your choice, but to say He never existed is not dealing with the proven evidence that exists.