Artifacts Support the Bible, Says Bestselling Book

The Shroud of Turin and other artifacts help corroborate the Bible, New Testament scholar Jeremiah Johnston says.

“There are many great Christians out there, they walk up to me in our events and around the world and they say, ‘Hey, I don’t need all that evidence. I have the Bible, I have my faith,’” he told CBN News recently. “Well, I want to make this very clear. There would not have been a single New Testament book written had Jesus Christ not evidentially shown himself to be alive physically, bodily, after he was crucified by the Roman Empire.”

Johnston, the son of former Kansas City area pastor Jerry Johnston, shares his insights in a new book “The Jesus Discoveries: 10 Historic Finds that Bring Us Face-to-Face with Jesus.” He believes it is important to not ignore the significance of such powerful evidence.

“Remember how Luke opens his gospels,” Johnston said. “He’s literally presenting the case for Jesus through many infallible proofs. Even Acts 1:3 said Jesus proved himself to be alive through many convincing proofs. It’s exciting to us as Christians that we can actually appeal to evidence for our faith for the reason that we believe. And remember, we don’t ever have faith in faith or faith in a feeling. Faith is always defined by its object.”

For Christians, this is the “resurrected Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “Our evidence for Jesus is a lot better than Alexander the Great . It’s a lot better than Caesar crossing the Rubicon.”

One such piece of evidence is the Jesus Cup, a ceramic bowl found in 2008 that refers to Jesus as an “enchanter” and “magician.” The cup dates back to AD 50 and holds spiritual significance.

“This could be the earliest incised words of the name of Jesus from any artifact,” Johnston said. “This is before scripture is written, and what’s amazing is this tells us that Jesus was popular as a miracle worker and an exorcist.”

Johnston said he has spent the past four years traveling the world to consult with scientists and archaeologists who have studied these artifacts. He argues the findings provide compelling evidence for the New Testament, regardless of a person’s religious background. The book reached No. 2 on Amazon Charts’ bestseller list in nonfiction and No. 3 on the New York Times Bestsellers List.

–Alan Goforth