To duckling; pt 1

[Sir Gareth]

here is the evidence for the ressurection i mentioned in chat.

I hope this is helpful

The information i am presenting is from historians Micheal Licona and Gary Habermas. It was presented in the Case for the Russeruction by Licona and Habermas and again in The case for Christ by Lee Strobel. These five facts are almost universally accepted by historians and scholars.

1) Jesus died by crucifixion: Not only do all four Gospels, which are written far too early for legendary corruption, account this fact but it is also accounted by Josephus, a well known and trusted historian who lived in Roman era Isreal. He wrote about the crucifixion of Christ in passing here.

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9) those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. ( antiquities 18, chapter 3)

2) The disciples of Jesus saw the risen Christ: Of course this is again accounted in all four gospels, but also in 1 corinthians, which was actually written down before the four Gospels. 1 Corinthians 15 records a very early account of post ressurection apperances to Peter, the other apostles, James the brother of Jesus and to '500 others, solme of which have fallen asleep but many of whom are still with us.' By making such a bold statement, Paul was inviting people to check out his story, which Luke later did before writting the Gospel named after him. The effects of the post ressurection apperances had a very profound effect on the apostles, all of whom deserted Jesus during his crucifixion as told by the Gospels themselves. Even the Gospel writers admit they left Jesus in fear. Now, after the ressurection, these 11 people-and other disciples as well-who had abandoned Jesus and went back to their own lives feeling fear and shame suddenly proclaim that Jesus is alive and not only refuse to recant after being threatened but keep to their stories when persecuted, beaten, flogged and faced with death. While it is certainly possible for the disciples to have lied about the ressurection, liars make very poor martyrs and would not be willing to die for what they knew to be a lie.

3) The conversion of Paul: Saul of Trasus was completly against the followers of Jesus, he was a persecutor of the early church and was on hand for the stonning of Stephanas. Despite his desire to destroy the early church and stop the Christian movement before it could really pick up steam he had a sudden realization and came to be the most outspoken and-to this day- the most famous and effective evangalist in all the church history. The reason Paul himself gives for this-told three times in Acts, and eluded too elsewhere in Paul's writtings- is that he encountered the risen Christ on his way to Damascus. It seems hard for me to believe that such an ardent and millitant anti-christian would suddenly just join the ranks of his enemies for no reason. Not only switching sides but being willing to suffer and die for the new cause he had found.

4) The conversion of James: Jesus' half brother, James, was likewise a very skeptical person who did not see his brother as being anything more than a weirdo leading people astray. The fact that the followers of Jesus record this, despite the complete embarrasment it would be to their cause, shows me that they were trying to record the truth, not just making up stories. James likewise encountered the risen Jesus and became a leader of the church in Jeruselam. He also suffered and died for the belief that Jesus was the Christ, despite being completly against the ministry of Jesus in his brother's lifetime.

5.) The empty tomb: The Jews and Romans both knew where Joseph had taken the body of Jesus, the Romans even had a guard posted at the request of the Jewish leaders. When the early Christians started proclaiming the ressurection they could easily have gone to the tomb, gotten the body out and said 'look, he's still there, shut up already!' Instead what they did was to make excuses as to why the tomb was empty. If I borrow your car and wreck it so it can't be fixed and tell you it was stolen I am admitting, in part, that the car is gone. The fact that enemies of the church support the empty tomb helps us to believe it was true. Another strong argument for the empty tomb is the fact that the Jewish men writting the Gospels admit that women found the empty tomb first. In 1st century Jewish culture women were considered the lowest wrung, so much so that the Talmud said that women's testimony should not be considered admissable as evidence in court. But here we have the apostles admitting that only the women among them went back, the women were the first to see the risen Christ and that only after being led there by the women did the men believe. In comparisson it would be as if a convicted drug dealer were used as a character witness in todays court.

In closing, i believe this evidence best fits in with the theory of Christ'sn ressurection. No other theory explains all the data as clearly as the ressurection would.