History’s witness

July 18, 2006

By Gary Rogers

Luigi Cascioli sued a priest in Italy for claiming that Jesus existed. Cascioli cited two Italian laws to support his charges — one called “abuse of popular belief” in which someone deceives people by using a popular held belief that is not well documented, and a law regarding “impersonation” in which someone receives gain by attributing a false name to someone. Cascioli, 72, reported that he was motivated to press the charges because the cleric had written in the parish bulletin that Jesus existed.

As a result of Cascioli’s charges the court appointed technical experts to review the historical data and determine if Jesus did truly exist. The study concluded there is more evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth than for many other historical people.

Not only did Jesus exist, He also held a position of prominence due to the number of chronicles that record Him by name. To cancel out Jesus’ existence would be a complete discrediting and denial of historical record. The report given to the court caused the case to be thrown out.

Why do people everywhere try to discredit the existence of Christ? From the human perspective it is a means by which conscience can be silenced and wrong can be rationalized. When we remove the existence of the One who fully represented God to us, and make Him a counterfeit, it removes trust in God and a desire to please Him. This gives license to a life of immorality.

From the spiritual perspective, discrediting Jesus’ existence is the ultimate goal of our ultimate enemy. If we can be convinced that Jesus is a fictional, storybook character, then Satan wins and we are without hope.

Jesus Christ does exist. Not only did He walk this planet, He also died for our sins, arose from the dead, defeated our spiritual foe, and is now seated at the Father’s right hand ready to come to our aid at just the mention of His name.

Gary Rogers is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Coweta, Okla.