Can You Prove Jesus Existed Without Using the Bible?

A detective sets out to answer that question, along with solving a murder.

Bebe Nicholson
4 min readFeb 22, 2024

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Photo by author

“How do you know Jesus really existed? What proof do you have?” These are questions that crop up periodically when I mention my faith to people outside the church. Responses like, “You just have to take it on faith,” or “Because the Bible says it’s true,” don’t carry much weight in a world that has gotten more secular and less religious.

That’s why, when my church class decided to study Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible, I was both skeptical and intrigued. Were there really other resources that pointed to the historical Jesus outside of scripture?

Author and detective J. Warner Wallace claims there are, and he sets out to prove it in his book.

What makes his research even more intriguing is that Wallace started out as an atheist. He had decided years before that the bible was a book of myths and fairy tales, without any relevance to his life. His wife wasn’t a Christian either, but she believed in God enough to want to raise their kids with a similar belief.

Reluctantly, Wallace agreed to visit a friend’s church with her, and something the minister said piqued his interest enough to buy a…

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Bebe Nicholson

Writer, editor, publisher, journalist, author, columnist, believer in enjoying my journey and helping other people enjoy theirs. bknicholson@att.net