Evidently, after the virgin birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary had sons and daughters of their own. While Jesus was growing up he often helped his father in his carpentry shop. "Jesus lived a sinless life and taught throughout Palestine for about three years."(Habermas Pg, 123) .
The miracles Jesus performed, his death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascent to heaven, all point to the fact that he was no ordinary leader. In the days of the first Christians, there were many writings about the life of Jesus. But some had special quality--they had been written by Jesus' followers or their close friends. These gospels and letters were carefully copied by hand. "Over the years, archaeologists have found thousands of manuscripts of bits of the New Testament and even some complete copies. By comparing these, we can get very close to what the New Testament writers originally wrote. Some of these copies are dated less than 100 years after the original gospel or letter was written." (Habermas 18).
Hundreds of years before Jesus' birth, prophets predicted his coming. "The Old Testament, written by many people over a period of 1,500 years, contains more than 300 such prophecies. All of these details came true, including his miraculous birth, his sinless life, his many miracles, his death and his resurrection."(biblehistory.org) .
By his own account, Jesus claimed he had the power to forgive sins, to cast out demons, and to determine people's eternal destiny. He even declared he himself was God! Declaring that he was God angered the religious and political leaders of his day so that they had him crucified. They buried him in a borrowed grave, and three days later, he rose from the dead. "Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.