51002.1 Endnotes Was Jesus a Real Person?

Was Jesus a Real Person?

  1. Quoted in David C. Downing, The Most Reluctant Convert (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 57.
  2. C. S. Lewis, The Inspirational Writings of C. S. Lewis: Surprised by Joy(New York: Inspirational Press, 1986), 122-3.
  3. “Alexander the Great: The ‘Good’ Sources,” Livius,http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z1b.html.
  4. Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered (Bungay, Suffolk, UK: Fontana, 1969), 8.
  5. Jennifer Walsh, “Ancient bone box might point to biblical home of Caiaphas,” MSNBC.com, August 31, 2011,http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44347890/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/ancient-bone-box-might-point-biblical-home-caiaphas/.
  6. Rene Salm, “The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus,”American Atheist.org, December 22, 2009, http://www.atheists.org/The_Myth_of_Nazareth,_Does_it_Really_Matter%3F.
  7. Paul Johnson, “A Historian Looks at Jesus,” speech to Dallas Seminary, 1986.
  8. Quoted in Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson, Evidence for the Historical Jesus (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1993), 23.
  9. Darrell L. Bock, Studying the Historical Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 46.
  10. D. James Kennedy, Skeptics Answered (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1997), 76.
  11. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1966), 423. The quote is from book 20 of the Antiquities.
  12. Ibid., 379. Quotation is from the Arabic translation of Josephus’ words about Jesus because some scholars believe the Christian version, which affirmed Jesus’ resurrection as historical, was altered. However, the Arabic translation cited here was under non-Christian control, where alterations by Christians would have been virtually impossible.
  13. Bock, 57.
  14. Quoted in Durant, 281. The quote is from Annals 15:44.
  15. McDowell and Wilson, 49-50.
  16. Gary R. Habermas, “Was Jesus Real,” InterVarsity.org, August 8, 2008,http://www.intervarsity.org/studentsoul/item/was-jesus-real.
  17. Ibid.
  18. Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2004), 127.
  19. Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino, Unshakable Foundations (Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House, 2001), 269.
  20. Habermas, “Was Jesus Real”.
  21. Quoted in Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, vol. 1(Nashville: Nelson, 1979), 87.
  22. Habermas and Licona, 212.
  23. McDowell and Wilson, 74-79.
  24. Norman L. Geisler and Paul K. Hoffman, eds., Why I Am a Christian(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001), 150.
  25. Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels (London: Rigel, 2004), 199-200.
  26. Luke 1:1-3.
  27. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 61.
  28. William Albright, “Toward a More Conservative View,” Christianity Today,January 18, 1993.
  29. John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 352-3.
  30. C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), 158.
  31. F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1984), 168.
  32. Paul Johnson, Ibid.
  33. Quoted in Christopher Lee, This Sceptred Isle (London: Penguin, 1997), 1.
  34. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Pocket, 1961), 428.
  35. Quoted in Bill Bright, Believing God for the Impossible (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1979), 177-8.
  36. Quoted in Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago: Moody Press, 1957), 163.
  37. Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 1.
  38. Quoted in “What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck,” Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929, 17.
  39. Quoted in Durant, 553-4.
  40. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 119.
  41. Grant, 200.
  42. Paul Johnson, Ibid.
  43. H. G. Wells, The Outline of History (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 528.

51004.1 Endnotes Jesus’ Death and Resurrection: Copied from Other Ancient Deities?

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection: Copied from Other Ancient Deities?

  1. Corinthians 15:3-6, J. B. Phillips.
  2. Norman Geisler, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be An Atheist (Wheaton IL: Crossway, 2004), 312.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Cited in Norman Geisler’s Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics pg. 490, and his quote from Y.S. Chishti, What is Christianity?, pg. 87.
  5. Ronald H. Nash, “Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions,” Christian Research Journal, Winter 1994. www.inplainsite.org.
  7. Cited in Maarten Jozef Vermaseren, Eugene N. Lane, Cybelle, Attis and Related Cults(New York: 1996), 42.
  8. Cited in Lee Strobel, The Case for the Real Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 160-61. [In his interview with Strobel, Michael Licona states that Mettinger takes exception to that nearly universal scholarship by claiming that there are at least three and possibly as many as five dying and rising gods that predate Christianity. However, after combing through all these accounts and critically analyzing them Mettinger adds that “none of these serve as parallels to Jesus.” Mettinger writes, “There is, as far as I am aware, no prima facie evidence that the death and resurrection of Jesus is a mythological construct, drawing on the myths and rites of the dying and rising gods of the surrounding world.… The death and resurrection of Jesus retains its unique character in the history of religions.”
  9. Ben Witherington, http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/12/zeitgeist-of-zeitgeist-movie.html.
  10. Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels (London: Rigel, 2004), 200.
  11. Paul Johnson, “A Historian Looks at Jesus,” speech to Dallas Seminary, 1986.
  12. H. G. Wells, The Outline of History (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 528.
  13. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died – And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.
  14. R. C. Sproul, Reason to Believe (Grand Rapids, MI: Lamplighter, 1982), 44.

51012.1 Endnotes Was There a DaVinci Conspiracy?

Was There a DaVinci Conspiracy?

  1. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 234.
  2. Brown, 233.
  3. Quoted in Erwin Lutzer, The Da Vinci Deception (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2004), xix.
  4. Brown, 233.
  5. Brown, 231.
  6. Lutzer, 71.
  7. Brown, 234.
  8. John McManners, ed., The Oxford History of Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28.
  9. Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson, 2004), 114.
  10. Bock, 119-120.
  11. Quoted in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library: The Definitive Translation of the Gnostic Scriptures (HarperCollins, 1990), 138.
  12. Ibid.,13.
  13. Bock, 64.
  14. Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), 156.
  15. Barbara Kantrowitz and Anne Underwood, “Decoding ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ “Newsweek, December 8, 2003, 54.
  16. Quoted in Robinson, 126.
  17. Quoted in Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1998), 68.
  18. Quoted in Lutzer, 32.
  19. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1999, 37.)
  20. Linda Kulman and Jay Tolson, “Jesus in America,” U. S. News & World Report, December 22, 2003, 2.
  21. Stanley Kutler, interview with Frank Sesno, “The Guilty Men: An Historical Review,” History Channel, April 6, 2004.

51017.1 Endnotes Was Jesus Really from Nazareth?

Was Jesus Really from Nazareth?

  1. Associated Press: First Jesus-era house discovered in Nazareth, December 22, 2009.
  2. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-12-21-jesus-house-nazareth_N.htm
  3. T. Cheyne, Encyclopedia Biblica, “Nazareth”, 1899.
  4. Rene Salm, American Atheist.org, “The Myth of Nazareth, Does it Really Matter?”, December 22, 2009,
  5. http://www.atheists.org/The_Myth_of_Nazareth,_Does_it_Really_Matter%3F
  6. From the Probing Mind column, “Why the Truth About Nazareth is Important,” American Atheist magazine (Nov-Dec. 2006).– Frank R. Zindler, Author, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew, editor American Atheist magazine.
  7. Salm, “The Myth of Nazareth, Does it Really Matter?”

51014.1 Endnotes The Gnostic Gospels: Are They the Real History of Jesus?

The Gnostic Gospels: Are They the Real History of Jesus?

  1. John McManners, ed., The Oxford History of Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28.
  2. Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson, 2004), 114.
  3. Bock, 119-120.
  4. Ibid.,13.
  5. Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), 156.
  6. Quoted in Robinson, 126.
  7. Quoted in Lutzer, 32.
  8. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict(San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1999, 37.)

51015.1 Endnotes The Gospel of Barnabas: Secret Bible?

The Gospel of Barnabas: Secret Bible?

  1. Acts 13:1-3, 33.
  2. Gospel of Barnabas, 94:1.
  3. John 1:1-3, 14. NIV [See http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:1-14&version=NIV].
  4. 1 John 5:11-13. 1 John 5:11-13.
  5. Norman Geisler & Abdul Saleeb, Answering _____ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 303-307.
  6. Geisler & Saleeb, Ibid.
  7. John Gilchrist, “Origins and Sources of the Gospel of Barnabas,”
  8. Geisler & Saleeb, Ibid.
  9. J. Slomp, “The Gospel Dispute,” ____ochristiana, 68.
  10. Norman L. Geisler and Paul K. Hoffman, eds., Why I Am a Christian (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001), 150.
  11. Bruce M. Metzger, The Text Of The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 86.
  12. This early reference might have been to one of the other books named after the apostle Barnabas: the Epistle of Barnabas or the Acts of Barnabas. Scholars question that it refers to the Gospel of Barnabas because there is no other historical document supporting it.
  13. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 33–68.
  14. Metzger, 39.
  15. Ibid.
  16. Cited in Christian Post, Stoyan Zaimov, “Gospel of Mark Fragments Reportedly Found; Possibly Oldest NT Artifacts” February 17, 2012, http://www.christianpost.com/news/gospel-of-mark-fragments-reportedly-found-possibly-oldest-nt-artifacts-69778/.
  17. Paul Johnson, “A Historian Looks At Jesus,” Speech to Dallas Theological Seminary, 1986.
  18. William F. Albright, “Toward A More Conservative View,” Christianity Today, January 18, 1993.
  19. John A. T. Robinson, quoted in Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have enough Faith To Be An Atheist (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 243.
  20. For a detailed analysis see http://www.errantskeptics.org/DatingNT.htm.
  21. John A. T. Robinson, Can We Trust The New Testament? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 36.
  22. Luke 1:1-4, NLT.
  23. 2 Peter 1:16, NLT.

51016.1 Endnotes The Lost Gospel: Truth or Fiction?

The Lost Gospel: Truth or Fiction?

  1. Simon Jacobovici & Barrie Wilson, The Lost Gospel (New York: Pegasus, 2014), Preface.
  2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827310/Jesus-married-prostitute-Mary-Magdalene-two-children-lost-gospel-reveals.html.
  3. Ibid.
  4. 2 Peter 1:16, NCV.
  5. Portion of 1 John 1:1-3, J. B. Phillips New Testament.
  6. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/11/10/lost-gospel-claims-jesus-was-married-had-children/.
  7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/10/the-book-that-claims-jesus-had-a-wife-and-kids-and-the-controversial-author-behind-it/.
  8. Ibid.
  9. Jacobovici & Wilson, ending page.
  10. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  11. Ibid.
  12. http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/4-are-gospels-true/.
  13. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  14. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), 36.
  15. http://www.inquisitr.com/1606401/the-lost-gospel-wishful-thinking-expert-says-pious-folk-make-things-up/.
  16. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  17. Portion of 1 John 1:1-3, J. B. Phillips New Testament.
  18. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died – And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.

51007.1 Endnotes Was Jesus the Messiah?

Was Jesus the Messiah?

  1. Terence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003), 193.
  2. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1999), 194.
  3. Prediction 3, Quatrain 2, 28.
  4. McDowell, Ibid.
  5. Quoted in McDowell, 12-13.
  6. McDowell, 164-193.
  7. Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks (Chicago: Moody Press, 1958), 97-110.
  8. Stoner, 5.
  9. The Hebrew word netzer, appearing in Isaiah 11:1, is believed by many to refer to Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown.
  10. Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith.

51003.1 Endnotes Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

  1. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1999), ?203.
  2. Wilbur M. Smith, A Great Certainty in This Hour of World Crises (Wheaton, ILL: Van Kampen Press, ?1951), 10, 11
  3. The word Jesus uttered, “fulfilled” is tetelestai in Greek which is an accounting term meaning “debt paid in full.” It refers to the debt of our sins.
  4. Historian Will Durant reported, “About the middle of this first century a pagan named Thallus … argued that ?the abnormal darkness alleged to have accompanied the death of Christ was a purely natural phenomenon and coincidence; the argument took the existence of Christ for granted. The denial of that existence never seems to have occurred even to the bitterest gentile or Jewish opponents of nascent Christianity.” Will Durant, “Caesar and Christ,” vol. 3 of The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), 555.
  5. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died – And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.
  6. Lucian, Peregrinus Proteus. Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland, eds, Jesus Under Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 2.
  7. Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, 18. 63, 64. [Although portions of Josephus’ comments about ?Jesus have been disputed, this reference to Pilate condemning him to the cross is deemed authentic by ?most scholars.]
  8. Tacitus, Annals, 15, 44. In Great Books of the Western World, ed. By Robert Maynard Hutchins, Vol. ?15, The Annals and The Histories by Cornelius Tacitus (Chicago: William Benton, 1952). “What Is a Skeptic?” editorial in Skeptic, vol 11, no. 2), 5.
  9. Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone? (Grand Rapids, MI: Lamplighter, 1958), “What Happened Friday Afternoon.”
  10. Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor Part 3, Josh McDowell Ministries, 2009, ?http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/intermediate/the-resurrection-factor-part-3.htm.
  11. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1981), 66.
  12. Gary Collins quoted in Gary Habermas, “Explaining Away the Resurrection,” http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm.
  13. Thomas James Thorburn, The Resurrection Narratives and Modern Criticism (London: Kegan Paul, ?Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1910.), 158, 159.
  14. Sherwin-White, Roman Society, 190.
  15. Even skeptical scholars agree that the creed in 1 Corinthians 15 is not an interpolation but was a creed formulated and taught at a very early date after Jesus’ death. Gerd Lüdemann, a skeptic scholar, maintains that “the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus… not later than three years…”[17] Michael Goulder, another skeptic scholar, states that it “goes back at least to what Paul was taught when he was converted, a couple of years after the crucifixion”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Corinthians_15
  16. Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: ?Kregel, 2004), 85.
  17. Habermas and Licona, 87
  18. Acts 10:39-41.
  19. Morison, 104.
  20. J. N. D. Anderson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Christianity Today,12. April, 1968.
  21. Morison, 115.
  22. Quoted in Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago: Moody Press, 1957), 163.
  23. Quoted in Bill Bright, Believing God for the Impossible (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1979), 177-8.
  24. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Pocket, 1961), 428.
  25. C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000 ), 159.

51008.1 Endnotes Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus God?

  1. Quoted in Robert Elsberg, ed., A Critique of Gandhi on Christianity (New York: Orbis Books, 1991), 26 & 27.
  2. Joseph Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1946), 43, 44.
  3. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Washington Square, 1961), 428.
  4. inda Kulman and Jay Tolson, “The Jesus Code,” U. S. News & World Report, December 22, 2003, 1.
  5. Ravi Zacharias, Jesus among Other Gods (Nashville, TN: Word, 2000), 89.
  6. Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994), 150.
  7. John Piper, The Pleasures of God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 35.
  8. Bono, quoted in, Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Penguin Group Publishers, 2008), 229.
  9. John 17:3.
  10. John 14:9
  11. John 8:58.
  12. John 11:25
  13. John 8:12
  14. John 14:6
  15. Ibid.
  16. For the meaning of “ego eimi.” See, http://www.y-jesus.com/jesus_believe_god_2.php
  17. John 10:33
  18. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: Harper, 2001), 51.
  19. Lewis, Ibid.
  20. A Deist is someone who believes in a standoffish God—a deity who created the world and then lets it run according to pre-established laws. Deism was a fad among intellectuals around the time of America’s independence, and Jefferson bought into it.
  21. Lewis, 52.
  22. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 57.
  23. Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ: The Miracle of History (1913), 94, 95.
  24. Lewis, 52.
  25. Schaff, 98, 99.
  26. Bono, Ibid.
  27. Lewis, 52.