A theist wrote:” About 18 different ancient non-Christian writers provide more than 100 facts about the birth of Christ, His life, teachings, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension:
Josephus, Tacitus, Thallus, Phlegon, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Emperor Trajan, Emperor Hadrian, the Talmud, Lucian, Mara bar Serapion, etc.”
None of the above is true.
Answer: Josephus wrote: “Albinus was still on the road; so he assembled a council of judges, and brought it before the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned.”
Note that he used the “so-called” Christ. Saying that some people called another person’s brother a so-called killer does not make the man a killer. It was just that some called a man Christ. There were a lot of people back then who claimed to be Christ.
This is a no starter.
Answer: The quote attributed to Tacitus was a forgery, non-starter here as well.
Answer: Nothing written by Thallus exists, thus another non-starter!
Answer: Nothing written by Phlegon exists, another non-starter.
Answer: Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan asking for advice on how to deal with Christians.
Another non-starter, a letter written by anyone about a cult of Christ would be about the cult, not any evidence that a Christ ever existed, just that the cult existed.
Answer: Suetonius wrote: “As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.”
In order to use this as a reference to Jesus, you must assume that this ‘Chrestus’ was Jesus. Some say that “Chrestus was probably a misspelling of ‘Christ’ “, but as there were many in the area claiming to be the messiah, he may have been talking about someone else.
Answer: There is nothing in the records about Emperor Trajan writing anything about Christ, another non-starter.
Answer: There is nothing in the records about Emperor Hadrian writing anything about Christ, another non-starter.
Answer: Lucian of Samosata (c.125-180 CE), was a Greek satirist best known for his dialogues (Dialogues of the Gods, Dialogues of the Dead, The Sale of Lives) ridiculing Greek mythology and philosophy; he also authored a work entitled True History. McDowell cites the following statement by Lucian written around 170 CE:
… the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world…
Another non-starter.
Answer: Mara Bar-Serapion wrote: “We are now far removed from our home, and we cannot return again to our city, or behold our people, or offer to our gods the greeting of praise.”
Another non-starter, this is about the multiple gods of the time, nothing about Jesus!