He was smartly dressed, flamboyant and gregarious. The darkness during the crucifixion. Tertullians statement certainly suggests he himself had seen the account of this world-portent. Otherwise, it would have been foolhardy of him to have made such a bold challenge to such sticklers for record keeping as the Romans, who could have proven him wrong. The San Andreas fault is 800 miles long, running along the California coast; Israel and Turkey sit onyou guess ita major fault line! Tertullian, Apologeticus, Chapter 21, 19, Christian Evidence was created to enable Christians to defend their faith, and to open their eyes up to the overwhelming evidence for Christianity. Between 3 PM and sunset the Jews had to prepare the body and get it into the tomb, because the Sabbath started Friday evening around sunset. So that means there has been at least some investigation of it by geologists though I do not know how much. That is a nearly impossible standard to meet. The next piece of the puzzle is to determine if Jesus indeed was crucified on a Friday. The difficulty in this is that it mentions three nights as well as three days. Required fields are marked *. Even if there is speculation on whether this is the correct eclipse referenced, there is only one more that would have been visible by the Persian Gulf and Rome during the Olympiad: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/0001-0100/29-11-24.gif. Last month: Next month: new 11:37 32/06/26 UTC : 1: 32-06-27/28: Noumenia kata Selene : 2: 32-06-28/29: Agathos Daimon : 3: 32-06-29/30: Athene : 4: 32- . It would be interesting to model the varying sizes, speeds, and distances required from the earth to account for the period of darkness on that hypothesis. Thus, upon closer examination, theforce of the skeptics objection inevitably dissolves away into nothingness as we examine the works of other ancient writers who the skeptic would cite as asilentwitness for their case. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. Within each olympiad, time was reckoned by referring to its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year. Sect 257 f16, c, p. 1165. An unknown, massive astronomical body passing through the solar system or on long period orbit, transiting between the earth and sun? Barton, Bill, This webpage quotes John Lightfoot explaining the "onah" concept. In fact, PlinysNatural Historyincludes a chapter entitled Of Unusual Long Eclipses of the Sun. Therefore, it seems atfirst glancethatthe skeptic is on to something when he points out that a three hour long darkness is nowhere to be found in this chapter. He was, therefore, about 4 years old at the turn from BCE to CE. First, is what I would call deduction from all available information. Luke clearly goes out of his way to be specific about when this year was, by relating it to six different important officials. Note that the path of this eclipse was over present-day Russia. It is significant that Jesus be crucified on a Friday because that is the normal time when the passover lamb was sacrificed by the Jews. The earthquake on the other hand was a natural process miraculously timed to occur at the crucifixion. Why would the Apostles allude to a darkness their hearers and readersknewdid not happen? ? someone heckled from the back row. Origen tells us in his work,Against Celsus(cf Contra Celsus II, 14), that Phlegon had some knowledge of Jesus. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. I did a search for the years 25 through 35 AD for the nation of Israel. 2. From all the information above I believe there is a fairly strong convergence of evidence that Christ's crucifixion was in April of 33 AD. Such is the difficulty of the argument from silence. There are some uncertainties in the Olympiad numbering system but it seems from various sources the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad would be either AD 32 or AD 33. Pure speculation. On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. The diagram below will help to clarify this. We will analyze from two perspectives: one that asserts both Phlegons writing to be uncompromised and authentic, and one that assumes Phlegon has been compromised and is unauthentic. This is a clear Bible prophecy foretelling that God would cause the punishment for our sins to fall upon Jesus. And finally, if the crucifixion was on 3rd April AD 33 (Julian) then it is 490 years (70 . Therefore the year of the crucifixion is A.D 33. College Press Publishing Co. Joplin, Missouri. Volume 2 contains the quotes on this webpage. The darkness and earthquake were evident not just in Jerusalem but also in Nicea which is over 300 miles away from Jerusalem! He said If I could prove to you that the Bible is a supernatural book, confirmed by both foretelling of the future and also by miracles, would you believe what the Bible says?. So, we know that when Jesus was crucified had to be a year between AD 26 and 36 in which Nisan 14 or Nisan 15 occurred on a Friday. There are few historical records that are actually from the time of Christ but there are some records from historians from the second century AD. . Conservative Christian speakers were a rarity on their campus and they wanted to make it rarer. ", Africanus quoted a section of Phlegon's work as follows: "During the time of Tiberius Csar an eclipse of the sun occurred during the Full Moon.". Though it is almost impossible to deny that this strange event truly happened, on the same day our Lord died on the Cross, I strived for years to find a natural astronomical explanation about it but in vain. When the Moon "lines up" with the Sun it is referred to by astronomers as being at conjunction (which is the New Moon). Thus the darkening of the sky at the crucifixion is very extraordinary. It was recorded by a Pagan author who had no desire to promote Christianity yet he confirmed the Bible record! Using the above information we can work out that the period of darkness occurred in 33 AD. And calculation makes out that the period of 70 weeks, as noted in Daniel, is completed at this time." The second quote is recorded by Philopon. His chief work was the Olympiads, an historical compendium in sixteen books, from the 1st down to the 229th Olympiad (776 BC to AD 137), of which several chapters are preserved in Eusebius' Chronicle, Photius, and George Syncellus. "In the fourth year, however, of Olympiad 202, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea." Then from Saturday evening after sunset till early in the morning on Sunday was a portion of a 24 hour cycle so it also counted as a day and a night, even though Jesus apparently resurrected before Sunrise. [citation needed]. About two weeks after the New Moon is the Full Moon, which corresponds to Passover. For example, the first year of Olympiad 140 began in the summer of 220 BC and lasted until the middle of . The maximum duration for a total solar eclipse is seven minutes, not three hours, and at the latitude of Jerusalem the maximum duration is even less. The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad was in 33 A.D.!!! The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad I believe would include some of the same year as the 203rd Olympiad but the new Olympiad did not start till the Olympics event took place in the Summer. Is it accurate? So, we have evidence as strong for these miracles at the crucifixion and resurrection as we have for many other events in history that no one ever questions. Earthquake and rocks split open . An earthquake occurred in Bythinia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicaea" The written testimony from outside the Bible confirms some of the main events, people, and places mentioned in the New Testament. Originally written in Aramaic, it was intended for a Jewish audience. Phlegon of Tralles (Ancient Greek: Flegon o Trallianos) was a Greek writer and freedman of the emperor Hadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD. On the subject of unusually long eclipses of the sun, Pliny states the following: Eclipses of the sun also take place which are portentous and unusually long,such asoccurred when Csar the Dictator was slain, and in the war against Antony, the sun remained dim for almost a whole year(Pliny the Elder,Natural History,II, 30) [Italics added]. This argument is sufficient to diffuse the skeptics argument with regard to Pliny. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Copyright Like The Master Ministries. Even if there was an issue of corruption or inaccuratetranslation of the Phlegon writing, how could the science possibly have been faked when there would have been no way of faking it hundreds of years later without it being obviously exposed? Is there historical evidence for the darkness & earthquake at the crucifixion? Unfortunately, no one of those three pairs, that is, recorded event vs. eclipse, is a perfect fit or a harmonious pair. This is done carefully in Humphreys book [1]. The dramatic story recorded above is fictional but the facts presented, namely Bible prophecy, Phlegon and Thallius writings, etc., are very true. Ancient writers sometimes describe their Olympiads as lasting five years but do so by counting inclusively; in fact each comprised a four year period. /*
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