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The letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar

Today I got into a theological debate with a Christian on Facebook who is the friend of a friend regarding whether or not an historical Jesus existed which I myself seriously doubt, and even if Jesus did exist it's highly doubtful he was divine.

The person who I was debating brought up the letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar and suggested I Google it, which I did and found that there was indeed such a letter.

My question is, is the letter authentic? Was it really written by and for the people it claimed to be? Or is this another Christian scam like the Shroud of Turin and the Josephus fraud?

Does anyone have more information on this or know of any websites or anything that gives accurate unbiased information about this?

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Permalink Reply by DeafAtheist on September 24, 2009 at 2:22pm

I don't mean to come across as an asshole here, but deism is theism. Why join an atheist and agnostic web community if you consider yourself a deist? Just curious.

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Permalink Reply by Marshall on September 26, 2009 at 2:06pm

I agree. It's fine that he's a deist but there a pleanty of sites a believer can go to. If he believes in a being who created the universe whom he calls "The Master" then quite simply he's a theist.

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Permalink Reply by Marshall on September 26, 2009 at 2:02pm

Let's put it this way, the only reference to this letter is in the Gospel of Nicodemus written long before Christianity became a legal faith in Rome. This gospel was of course rejected by Christians for a variety of reasons and wasn't really considered as a part of the orthodox canon. How precisely is it that a Christian managed to obtain this letter to the emperor at a time when it was technically illegal to even be a Christian? They didn't exactly sell letters to the Roman emperor in local book stores. There is zero indication that Pilate ever converted to Christianity which is all the proof you need that he didn't actually write this letter (seriously if Pilate had Christians would mention it in every conversation).
Fact: Christianity (like all religions) was created on one lie after another...the Acts of Pilate happen to be one of the more obvious lies Christians told.