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"External sources" are virtually nonexistent. That's part of the problem. The Bible is close to the only nearly contemporary reference for the life of Jesus, and what remains, such as the writings of Josephus, scholars consider highly suspect.*

The complete absence of any Roman records is particularly vexing for historians. The life of Pontius Pilot, for instance, is fairly well documented (up to the moment he simply vanishes!), and no reference to Jesus can be found.

Two letters, from nearly a century later, often referenced by Christians as proof of the historical reality of Jesus (one was by Pliny), actually reference Christianity, as a new cult based on the worship of Jesus. This would be like taking a Roman letter that mentions Jupiter (the god) and using it as proof he was real.

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* A great historical irony, there. The Jews condemned and ignored Josephus' histories, considering him a traitor who had sold out to the Romans. It was the Christians who preserved the work, largely because of two rare extra-Biblical references to Jesus. References which are now largely dismissed as forgeries!

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Peace and love. That's what Jesus was all about, right? That's why this:

"Jesus doesn’t only reference hell, he describes it in great detail. He says it is a place of eternal torment (Luke 16:23), of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48), where people will gnash their teeth in anguish and regret (Matt. 13:42), and from which there is no return, even to warn loved ones (Luke 16:19–31). He calls hell a place of “outer darkness” (Matt. 25:30), comparing it to “Gehenna” (Matt. 10:28), which was a trash dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where rubbish was burned and maggots abounded. Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more vividly. There’s no denying that Jesus knew, believed, and warned against the absolute reality of hell."

And that's from The Gospel Coalition, a Christian site.

Ah, feel the love!