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There are some people today who doubt that Jesus Christ ever existed. They don't seem to have problems with other historical figures, so why Jesus? They say "Jesus...if he ever existed" or "It's all fairytales". They think it makes them sound clever, but in fact they have probably not researched or studied the subject at all.
Jesus never wrote anything down in His lifetime on earth, it is true, but plenty of other people wrote about HIM. For instance, a Roman intellectual called Tacitus mentions Jesus in his "Annals" of the Roman Empire, in about 115 AD. A Jewish historian called Josephus wrote about Jesus, saying He was "called the Christ". An educated doctor called Luke wrote a book of 24 chapters about Him! He knew Mary, Jesus' mother, and spoke to other people and investigated the facts he was told. And...Matthew and John were two of Jesus' disciples, travelling around day by day with Him.
The four Gospels tell the facts about Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. They aren't made up like the myths and fables of pagan people. And anyway, thousands and thousands of folk all over Israel had met Jesus. Very many had been healed by Him and had seen His miracles and crowds had sat listening avidly to His words. They would undoubtedly have passed on their memories of this amazing person to the next generation.
In the years that followed, as Christianity spread, would people have been martyred - been willing to die - for something they said they believed in but which they knew was really a pack of lies, a "good story"? I'm sure I wouldn't! Among serious scholars of history, Jesus' non-existence is not even regarded as a possibility. He has been mentioned in so many sources, both Christian and non-Christian, as to be definitely not fictional!
