History of Christianity

Why do I believe the Bible is

true
 What is at stake ?
Is there a God ?
No Yes

Have fun NOW ! Which God is the real one ?

Right God
Wrong God
Purpose of this
presentation
 Give you an idea on how
Christianity developed during the
first 3 centuries
 Provide historically verified
evidence of the faith of the
founders of Christianity
 Give you evidence that the Bible is
true
Is the Bible really true ?
 Evidence 1:
 Historical Accuracy
 Evidence 2:
 Personal testimonies of their founders
(discussed as part of the History of
Christianity)
Historical Accuracy of the
Bible
 Memory fades
 Written records do not fade
 Obvious fact:
 The earlier the historical record is
written, the more accurate it is !
 So: How does the New Testament
compare with historical writings
(about famous people) around the
same time ?
 Accuracy: Bible vs Julius
Caesar
Jesus died Earliest
Tacitus Surviving
Caesar died Mark Copy Mark

30 AD 70 AD
44 BC 60 AD 350 AD
Earliest
100 yrs
40 yrs Surviving
Copy Tacitus
950 AD
Accuracy of New
Testament
 According to the scholars Norman Geisler
and William Nix:
 The New Testament has survived in more manuscripts
than any other book from antiquity (there are over
5,000 copies of New Testament books in existence,
while the second most numerous ancient document
(Iliad) has about 600 copies)
 New Testament has also survived in a purer form than
any other book - a form that is 99.5% pure
History of Christianity
 Part 1:
 When and How did Christianity
begin ?
 Part 2:
 Apostolic Era (first century)
 Part 3:
 Era of the Church Fathers
When did Christianity
begin ?
 Jesus Christ did not start Christianity
 Christianity started by
 Jesus’ disciples (Peter, John, Matthew,..)
 Jesus’ brother James (in Jerusalem)
 Paul (apostle to the gentiles)
 So anyone who would know whether
Jesus really came back alive, it would be
these people
Foundation of Christianity
 What is the one thing that the
whole Christian faith is based on ?
 Jesus’ resurrection from the death

 Supporting material:
 1Co 15:14: “And if Christ has not
been raised, then our proclamation is
worthless, and your faith is also
worthless.”
Examining Jesus’
resurrection
 Because this single fact is so important to
the Christian Faith, we will spend some
time looking at:
 Did Jesus really resurrect from His death ?

 (1) Did Jesus really die ?

 (2) Did Jesus really come back to life ?
Did Jesus really die ?
Undisputed: Jesus did die
 Jewish Historian Josephus (100 AD)
wrote (non-Christian !):
 Now there was about this time
Jesus..., a teacher of such men as
receive the truth with pleasure. He
drew over to him both many of the
Jews and many of the Gentiles. And
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men amongst us, had
condemned him to the cross....
Undisputed: Jesus did die
 Roman Historian Tacitus (60 AD)
wrote in his Annals:
 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 (Christians) had its origin,
suffered the extreme penalty during
the reign of Tiberius at the hands of
one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus...
Did Jesus come back to life
?
Did Jesus came back to life
?
 No way to prove to you that an event
happen, unless you see it yourself
 Travel back in time to meet Jesus ?
 People can tell the truth
 People can also tell fairy tales (lies)
 What sane people will not do is:
 Give up their life for a belief that they
know it is a lie
Evidence of Jesus’
resurrection
 Strong evidence that Jesus did:
 Change in behavior of Jesus disciples
 Confession of Paul
 Change in behavior of Jesus’ brother
James
 The strongest evidence:
 The willingness of Jesus’ disciples, Paul
and James to die for their belief in Jesus’
resurrection
A bit of human psyche…
 A sane man may die for a belief that
he believes to be true (if that belief is
not true, then this man has been
fooled to give up his life)
 No sane man will die for a belief that
he knows to be false
 Jesus’ disciples knew the truth about
Jesus’ resurrection; and are willing to
give up their life for this belief
Evidence for Resurrection
 Put your money where your mouth is:
 Peter was crucified in Rome in 66 AD
 Paul was decapitated in Rome around the same
time (66 AD)
 James (brother of Jesus) was stoned to death in
62 AD in Jerusalem – James was the leader of
the Church in Jerusalem
 No sane man will die for a belief that he
knows it is untrue !!! These 3 did !!!
History of Christianity
 Part 1:
 When and How did Christianity
begin ?
 Part 2:
 Apostolic Era (first century)
 Part 3:
 Era of the Church Fathers
 Apostolic Era:
Empowerment
33

A few weeks later:

Jesus’ resurrection Peter and other disciples of

Jesus announced Jesus'
resurrection in Jerusalem
Peter and
other disciples The disciples are not
denied Jesus… afraid for their lives…
(scared) Reason ???
 Apostolic Era: Change of
heart
33 37 38 66

Paul was killed

Jesus’ resurrection by Nero (because
Paul was a
Christian…)
Paul persecuted According to Paul: he was
and killed converted to Christianity
Christians after seeing and speaking
(according to his with the resurrected Jesus
own words) (Acts 9)
 Apostolic Era: Change of
heart
33 62

James (brother of
Jesus) was stoned to
Jesus’
death for his faith in
resurrection
Jesusappeared to James
Jesus
Jesus’ brothers did not after He has resurrected
believe that He was from the death (1 Co 15)
the Son of God (in fact, … Seeing a death person
they believed that He coming back to life will
was crazy - John 7:3-5 surely make someone into
 Apostolic Era: Early
martyrs
33 37 42 47 49

1st missionary mission

of Paul (Acts 13-14)
Jesus’ resurrection

James (brother of
Stephen (first
John) beheaded by
martyr) dies at the
hands of Saul (Paul) Herod – Acts 12:2
– Acts 9
 Apostolic Era: Paul’s
Missions
33 47 4950 52 53 56
1st mission 2nd mission 3rd mission
Jesus’ resurrection

Acts 13:4 Acts 15:40 Acts 19-23

57 59 60 62 66
Prisoned In Rome
Acts 23-26 Acts 28-end
 Apostolic Era: Verification
33 41 47 49 50 52
1st mission 2nd mission
Jesus’ resurrection

Claudius emperor

Claudius
expelled Paul met Aquila
Jews from and Precilia, two
Rome Jews in Italy that
(Suetonius) were expelled by
Claudius (Acts
18:2)
 Apostolic Era: Persecutions
64

Rome burned "...a vast multitude, were

By Nero convicted, not so much of the
Nero fastened crime of incendiarism as of
the guilt and hatred of the human race. And in
inflicted the their deaths they were made the
most exquisite subjects of sport; for they were
tortures on a wrapped in the hides of wild
class hated for beasts and torn to pieces by
their dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set
abominations, on fire, and when day declined,
were burned to serve for
History of Christianity
 Part 1:
 When and How did Christianity
begin ?
 Part 2:
 Apostolic Era (first century)
 Part 3:
 Era of the Church Fathers
 Post Apostolic:
Persecutions
Pliny: 100 AD

"I have observed the

“For the matter
following procedure: I seemed to me to
interrogated these as to warrant consulting
whether they were you, especially
Christians; those who because of the
number involved. For
confessed I interrogated a
many persons of every
second and a third time, age, every rank, and
threatening them with also of both sexes are
punishment; those who and will be
persisted I ordered endangered…”
Post Apostolic:
Persecutions
Decius: 249 - 251

"Under the emperor Decius many

persecutions arose against the name of
Christ, and there was such a slaughter of
believers that they could not be numbered.
Babillas, bishop of Antioch, with his three
little sons, Urban, Prilidan and Epolon, and
Xystus, bishop of Rome, Laurentius, an
archdeacon, and Hyppolitus, were made
perfect by martyrdom because they
confessed the name of the Lord.” – Gregory
 Post Apostolic: Official
Religion
312 313 323 324 325

Constantine Edict of Constantin Christianit

Council of Nicaea
emperor of Milan: e emperor y only
the Western Christianityof the legal
Roman given same WHOLE religion in
Empire – status as Roman Roman
fighting pagan Empire empire
under the religions
Christian
Cross
symbol
 Council of Nicaea ala D.
Brown
325

Council of Nicaea
Jesus was not Jesus was
considered “made”
equal to God equal to God by
before the a close vote in
Council the Council

Dan Brown in a LIER

 Evidence that D. Brown
lies
 Gospels were written before 325 and they
all state that Jesus is “Son of God”
 Pliny wrote:
 Christians were accustomed to meet on a fixed
day before dawn and sing responsively a
hymn to Christ as to a god
 Worst of all:
 The purpose of the Council of Nicaea was NOT
to decide whether Jesus was God
Council of Nicaea
 300+ Bishops met in Nicaea
 Main issue to decide was:
 Arian Heresy
 Arius (256-336) taught that:
 The Son was “begotten” – a created being
 There was a time when the Son did not exist
 The Arian heresy was voted down by 298
against 2… (some close vote)
Final Thought
 How can we tell Bible is True ?
 What is the main difference between
the Bible and other “holy books” ??
 John 14:29 “And now I have told you
before it happens, so that when it happens
you might believe.”
 Only God can know what will happen
in the future
 Check out some predictions !!!
Prediction: Jews scattered
 Jer 9:16 I will also scatter them among the
nations, whom neither they nor their fathers
have known.

 After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD

by the Romans, Jews had no country of their
own – they lived among other people for
nearly 2000 yrs (until the UN formed the
country of Israel in 1948)
Prediction: Israel will
return
Jer 31:10 Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands afar off. And say, He
who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him,
as a shepherd keeps his flock.
 Prediction: Israel will
return

Hos 3:4 For the Israelites will live many days

without king or prince, without sacrifice or
sacred stones, without ephod or idol.
Hos 3:5 Afterward the Israelites will return and
seek the LORD their God and David their
king. They will come trembling to the LORD
and to his blessings in the last days.
 Prediction of fluke ?
 People from ancient history who had lost their
country:
 Assyrians (defeated by Babylonians)
 Babylonians (by Persians)
 Persians (by Greeks)
 Romans (by different barbarians)
 How many of these survived more than a few
generations?
 NONE !!!
 Why ?? They get absorbed into the people of the
land ! The Jews are the only people not absorbed !!!
More predictions for you
 A temple for God will be built in
Jerusalem – You will see this happen
 When Jews in Israel say “Peace and
Safety”, they will be attacked. They will
suffer utter defeat and persecution.
 You will see Jesus return (and when you
do, and you are not yet a Christian, it is
then too late for you…)