Per historian Justo L. Gonzalez, “The early Christians did not believe that they were following a new religion (worldview). They were Jews, and their main difference with the rest of Judaism was that they were convinced that the Messiah (Christ) had come, whereas other Jews continued awaiting his advent.” (p. 41)
In fact, early believers in Jesus did not refer to themselves as “Christians.” Instead, the title “Christian” was given to them by authorities in Antioch as a way to designate them as a group (Acts 11:26; 1 Pe 4:16).
For years, the Romans viewed early Christians as a variant sect of Judaism. That is until people from outside of Judaism became followers of Jesus as well.
Historian Justo Gonzalez continues: “For those early Chrisitans, Judaism was not a rival religion to Christianity, but the same faith, even though those who followed it did not see or believe that the prophecies (of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament) had been fulfilled” by Jesus. Please read Luke 24.
These early followers were not following a mythological tale. Nor were they staking their lives, literally, on wishing thinking. They saw Jesus back-up his claims to be God incarnate (Mk 2; Jn 5:17-18, 8:28).
Per Cold Case Detective and Christian Apologist, J. Warner Wallace, even if someone were to ignore the eyewitness accounts compiled within the New Testament, he or she would still have a “robust description of Jesus and his followers from ancient, non-Christian voices” after Jesus’s crucifixion and empty tomb…(ninety-two historical figures).
Here is a Google Document sharing a few of these historical persons for your research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1agQkAulkjBgZsLkFsbc_JKl0VWannmoMYFo8-v0Pjqg/edit?usp=sharing
“Biblical faith isn’t a blind faith that operates
without any reason to believe- rather, it looks at the evidence. In fact that is one of the reasons the apostles of Jesus recorded many of the miraculous signs performed by Jesus: ‘These [signs] are written down so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah’ (John 20:31).” Dr. Sean McDowell
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
- C.S. Lewis
Hold Fast Apologetics 