Expert: Brenda Martin - 2/27/2005

Question
1. details about Jesus place of birth, date of birth and family. What historical proof exists?

2. during his lifetime: how was Jesus recognized or related to by his followers (preacher, prophet,religious leader) ?

3. pls expand on the process and history-timeline
of Jesus becoming what he represents to Chritianity at present ?
The apostols, the first Christians, the church of Byzanth...who (and when) initiated the beatification of Jesus as God's own son?

Answer
Hi Teddy, you asked about--" JESUS PLACE OF BIRTH, DATE OF BIRTH AND FAMILY?"

PLACE--In the eighth century B.C.E., the prophet Micah foretold that Jesus would be born in the insignificant town of Bethlehem. Two towns in Israel were named Bethlehem, but this prophecy specified which one: Bethlehem Ephrathah, where King David had been born. (Micah 5:2)

Jesus' parents, Joseph and Mary, lived in Nazareth, some 90 miles [150 km] north of Bethlehem. While Mary was pregnant, however, the Roman ruler Caesar Augustus ordered all the people to register in their home cities. So Joseph had to take his pregnant wife to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.—Luke 2:1-7.

DATE--The Bible does not reveal the exact day of Jesus' birth. ‘I thought Jesus was born on December 25!' some may exclaim. This is not possible because he died in the spring of 33 C.E. at 33 1/2 years of age.

Moreover, at the time of his birth, shepherds were “living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks.” (Luke 2:8) In the land of Israel, late December is a cold, rainy season during which sheep would be kept in shelters overnight to protect them from the winter weather.

Actually, December 25 was set aside by the Romans as the birthday of their sun god. Centuries after Jesus was on earth, apostate Christians adopted this date for the celebration of Christ's birth. The Scriptures indicate that Jesus was born about October.

FAMILY-- The majority of Bible scholars accept the cumulative evidence that Jesus had at least four brothers and two sisters and that all were offspring of Joseph and Mary by natural means after the miraculous birth of Jesus, naming four of the “brothers”: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. (Mt 12:46; 13:55, 56; Mr 3:31; Lu 8:19; Joh 2:12; Ac 1:14; 1Co 9:5; Ga 1:19)

WHAT HISTORICAL PROOF EXISTS?

Strangely, some say that Jesus never lived—that he is, in effect, a creation of some first-century men. Answering such skeptics, the respected historian Will Durant argued: “That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels.”

Ask yourself: Could a person who never lived have affected human history so remarkably? The reference work The Historians' History of the World observed: “The historical result of [Jesus'] activities was more momentous, even from a strictly secular standpoint, than the deeds of any other character of history. A new era, recognised by the chief civilisations of the world, dates from his birth.”

Yes, think about it. Even calendars today are based on the year that Jesus was thought to have been born. “Dates before that year are listed as B.C., or before Christ,” explains The World Book Encyclopedia. “Dates after that year are listed as A.D., or anno Domini (in the year of our Lord).”

Critics, nevertheless, point out that all that we really know about Jesus is found in the Bible. No other contemporary records concerning him exist, they say. Even H. G. Wells wrote: “The old Roman historians ignored Jesus entirely; he left no impress on the historical records of his time.” But is this true?

Although references to Jesus Christ by early secular historians are meager, such references do exist.—

Cornelius Tacitus, a respected first-century Roman historian, wrote: “The name [Christian] is derived from Christ, whom the procurator Pontius Pilate had executed in the reign of Tiberius.”

Suetonius and Pliny the Younger, other Roman writers of the time, also referred to Christ.

In addition, Flavius Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, wrote of James, whom he identified as “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.”

The New Encyclopædia Britannica thus concludes: “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.”

"HOW WAS JESUS RECOGNISED BY HIS FOLLOWERS?"

Really, Who Was He?--Jesus' first-century associates pondered that question. When they saw Jesus miraculously calm a wind-whipped sea with a rebuke, they wondered in astonishment: “Who really is this?” Later, on another occasion, Jesus asked his apostles: “Who do you say I am?”—Mark 4:41; Matthew 16:15.

Was Jesus, in fact, God? Many today say that he was. Yet, his associates never believed that he was God. The apostle Peter's response to Jesus' question was: “You are the Christ, the SON of the living God.”—Matthew 16:16.

Mary, his mother, knew who he was, as the angel told her--“This one will be great and will be called SON of the Most High; . . . ”

Jesus himself taught that he was the unique Son of God (John 10:36; Matt. 16:15-17), the foretold Messiah (Mark 14:61, 62), that he had a prehuman existence in heaven (John 6:38; 8:23, 58), that he would be put to death and then would be raised to life on the third day and would thereafter return to the heavens. (Matt. 16:21; John 14:2, 3)

Over 500 witnesses actually saw Jesus alive following his resurrection, and his faithful apostles were eyewitnesses as he began his ascent back to heaven and then disappeared from their view in a cloud. (1 Cor. 15:3-8; Acts 1:2, 3, 9) So thoroughly were they convinced that he had been raised from the dead that many of them risked their lives to tell others about it.—Acts 4:18-33.

John summarized matters, saying: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, [not God, but] the Son of God.”—John 20:31,

"THE APOSTLES, THE FIRST CHRISTIANS, THE CHURCH OF BYZANTH...WHO (AND WHEN)INITIATED THE BEATIFICATION OF JESUS AS GOD'S OWN SON?"

Some of the apostles had been disciples of John the Baptizer before becoming Jesus' disciples. (Joh 1:35-42) Their primary function as apostles was to be witnesses as to Jesus' fulfillment of God's purposes and prophecies, particularly of his resurrection and exaltation, and to do a discipling work among all nations; and this commission was emphasized to them by Jesus just before his ascension to heaven. (Mt 28:19, 20; Ac 1:8, 22; 2:32-36; 3:15-26) Their testimony concerning the resurrection was that of eyewitnesses.—Ac 13:30-34.

The apostles served as a foundation, resting on Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone, for the building up of the “holy temple for God.” (Eph 2:20-22; 1Pe 2:4-6)

Jesus sent out his early disciples, he directed them to go to the homes of the people. (Matt. 10:7, 11-13) The apostle Paul said regarding his ministry: “I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.”—Acts 20:20, 21; see also Acts 5:42.

The apostles and their associates were no peddlers of the Scriptures, as the false shepherds were. What they preached was the straight, unadulterated message of God. (2Co 2:17; 4:2) The apostle Paul told Timothy: “Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.” Furthermore, Timothy was commanded: “Preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season.” (2Ti 2:15; 4:2)

The apostles and the Early Christians taught that Jesus was the SON of God, however as time went on, lies crept in—

The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord' (Deut. 6:4). The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . . . the doctrine of the Trinity (Jesus is God) took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.”—(1976), Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126.

When Christianity was founded at Pentecost 33 C.E., there was not a single follower of Christ in Rome. The first headquarters of the Christian congregation was unquestionably Jerusalem.

In those early days, Rome was not a centrally located headquarters for organizing Christian activities. It was not in Rome but in Syrian Antioch that Jesus' disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26) And it was from Antioch, not Rome, that the apostle Paul undertook his three missionary journeys. (Acts 13:1-4; 14:26; 15:35, 36; 18:22, 23)

In fact, there is absolutely no Biblical proof that any of the 12 apostles went to Rome or died there. The last of the apostles to die was John, probably in or near Ephesus. Their death left the door wide open for apostasy to develop.—1 John 2:18, 19; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.

As time went by, other cities came into prominence as centers of APOSTATE Christianity. Among these were Alexandria and Carthage, in North Africa, and Byzantium (later to become Constantinople).

The apostles and the Early Christians "beautified Jesus as the SON of God"  but by the time a church was set up in Byzantium it was corrupt and preaching that, Jesus was God.

All the best
Brenda