Letter Of Mara Bara Serapion

What is a Non-Biblical Source?

A Non-Biblical source is a person or group of people who have a written a document that is not part of the bible. Although, specifically, in Christian Apologetics, a Non-Biblical source is a person or group of people who wrote a document concerning Jesus, early christianity, the Jews before Jesus, or the Bible. This source would not be a part of the Bible but would be important to Corroberate what it is saying.

Why do Non-Biblical Sources Matter?

Non-Biblical Sources are important for a few reasons. In apologetics, they attest to Jesus's existence, the existence of his followers, and collaberate with the Bible in showing how it is accurate in what it says occured. Both positive Non-Biblical sources and negative Non-Biblical sources towards christianity; do corruborate these things. Also, there is a misconception that the bible is less trustworthy than these Non-Biblical sources. Despite this not being true, people who hold this misconception will have a higher appreciation seeing Non-Biblical Sources attesting to the intellectual credibilty of christianity.

Who was he?

 He was a stoic philosopher who lived in the Roman province of Syria. He was in prison at the time of his only known writing, the letter was written to his son Serapion and most scholars date it slightly after AD 73.

His writing related to Jesus:

  “What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as judgement for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered in sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on in the teaching which he had given”.