How do we know Jesus was really resurrected?

[MaHeRsHaLaL]

It is interesting how Christians of all denominations accept the resurrection of Christ (save the JW’s) without any hard physical evidence.
Do any of you have a concrete answer to the atheist conversation stopper of, “You cannot prove to me that Jesus rose from the grave!”

Thanks

 

[puzzleannie]

testimony of hundreds of witnesses who saw him, spoke with him, touched him, ate with him, learned from him, in the period between the Resurrection and his ascent into heaven.

 

[paarsurrey]

MaHeRsHaLaL; 3344254:

It is interesting how Christians of all denominations accept the resurrection of Christ (save the JW’s) without any hard physical evidence.
Do any of you have a concrete answer to the atheist conversation stopper of, “You cannot prove to me that ** Jesus rose from the grave?”**
Thanks

Hi

First of all, I want to correct, Jesus was never put into a grave when he was delivered from the Cross. He could have suffocated in a grave, so his friends did not hand him over to be put in a grave. He was just laid in the tomb of Joseph Arimathea, a rich man. Such tombs were used to be an airy room spacious enough to accommodate three or four persons besides the man being laid . One such tomb could be viewed/googled:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Tomb
or
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talpiot_Tomb
In such tombs one could observe, one won’t suffocate, and there is a possibility of treating an injured man.

Thanks

 

[patg]

It is interesting how Christians of all denominations accept the resurrection of Christ (save the JW’s) without any hard physical evidence.
Do any of you have a concrete answer to the atheist conversation stopper of, “You cannot prove to me that Jesus rose from the grave!”

Thanks

You can’t prove it using the tools of history because there is no independent corroborating evidence for it and it was only reported by “insiders”. And, there are no resurrection stories at all, only vague and contradictory appearance stories.

It is a matter of faith, and the faith of millions is the proof.

If the greatest event in human “history” could be verified in any reasonable way, it would certainly be mentioned in every history text.

 

[MaHeRsHaLaL]

You can’t prove it using the tools of history because there is no independent corroborating evidence for it and it was only reported by “insiders”. And, there are no resurrection stories at all, only vague and contradictory appearance stories.

It is a matter of faith, and the faith of millions is the proof.

If the greatest event in human “history” could be verified in any reasonable way, it would certainly be mentioned in every history text.

I don’t disagree with you, but doesn’t this leave the door open for the many quasi-christian faiths to use this statement to justify their own beliefs.

IE: The Mormons, The Word of Faith Movement etc…

 

[East_Anglican]

I know he rose from the dead because I know him.

Either I’m telling the truth or I am mentally ill. You decide.

 

[mchale]

I would like to point out that there is very often no such thing as proof in history. There is evidence which can be used to reconstruct a narrative about what happened in the past.

Now I will grant that the claims that the Gospels make regarding Jesus’s resurrection are great, but I should also point out that the standards of evidence that are often used by skeptics of Christianity far exceed those that would normally be applied to other historical events. We have multiple accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion, death and resurrection, not only in the Gospels, but in the apocryphal texts as well. We know that shortly after the the date where we claimed that Jesus rose from the dead that his disciples continued a movement that in many respects was a radical break from the Judaism they had formerly practiced. We know that at least some of his disciples were so convinced of the truth of his death and resurrection, that they were willing to go to their deaths to proclaim it.

Now, I will grant that there is a certain uncertainty to this, but that is not unusual in any historical narrative. The evidence alone can never allow you to know; that is where faith comes in.

–
Bill

 

[paarsurrey]

Hi

Anoyone interested may access to find out that Jesus was not resurrected, since he did not die on the Cross to start with:

Did Jesus Die?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Did_Jesus_Die%3F

Did Jesus Die? is a BBC documentary regarding the swoon hypothesis, which theorizes that Jesus did not die on the cross but was temporarily unconscious.

Thanks

 

[wanner47]

Hi

Anoyone interested may access to find out that Jesus was not resurrected, since he did not die on the Cross to start with:

Did Jesus Die?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Did_Jesus_Die%3F

Did Jesus Die? is a BBC documentary regarding the swoon hypothesis, which theorizes that Jesus did not die on the cross but was temporarily unconscious.

Thanks

… you really have no idea what a crucifixion entailed, do you?

From here:

Victims left hanging by their arms, their feet off the ground, were seen to have severe difficulty exhaling which was caused by hyperexpansion of the lungs, and drew themselves up by their arms to relieve their suffering. After a short while the muscles of the victims went into spasms and, unable to lift themselves and exhale, they died within 10 minutes.

Such suffering was clearly not sufficiently appalling for some tastes, especially in antiquity where many techniques for prolonging agony were perfected. For example, nailing the feet to the upright part of the cross gave victims something against which to press to relieve their breathing difficulties, but also causing agonising pain as they did so.

In such cases, victims may have avoided immediate asphyxiation, succumbing instead to cardiac failure, blood loss, shock or dehydration. Which of these causes of death predominated would depend to some extent on the state of the victim prior to crucifixion.

Therefore, while death from pure crucifixion is almost certainly the result of asphyxiation, the potential causes of death in specific cases, especially in antiquity, are as varied as they are terrible.

Note that Jesus was NOT in perfect health when he was crucified – he had been scourged and forced to carry his cross up the hill, meaning he was already very ill and weak when crucified.

Two other resources can be found here and here.

And yet you believe that the apostles could have somehow miraculously hidden in the tomb for THREE DAYS with Jesus, without the Roman guards standing watch at the tomb knowing about it, and somehow cure his EXTENSIVE physical wounds, blood loss, internal injuries, etc. using first century medical practices?

And why were so many Christians willing to be martyred for their faith if it was all a big lie, or a hoax? I think history has shown that humans generally do not lay down their lives for something that they KNOW is a lie.

 

[ralphinal]

One time, some money was stolen from a mafia boss. The Boss was sure who was involved. He gathered up the men and their families. He told them that he wanted the money back or else. They denied stealing it. He told them that he would start killing their families until they told him where it was. How many kids and wives die before the story changes? How many of the men?

If Jesus did not rise from the dead and the body was stolen, the people who were involved DIED to protect the story. Why? Why not come clean? Why not leave the body on Pilot’s steps to end the persecution?

 

[whiteknite]

I might be wrong but i thought that once a person was crusified, They was left to the elements…Basicaly to rot… And why would Pilate give Joseph of Arimathaea the body of jesus?? I would have thought only family members would have had that privilage…

 

[ralphinal]

I might be wrong but i thought that once a person was crusified, They was left to the elements…Basicaly to rot… And why would Pilate give Joseph of Arimathaea the body of jesus?? I would have thought only family members would have had that privilage…

Joseph was a man of some level of political clout. He may have been able to call in a favor.

The bodies were removed due to the passover. You are correct that usually they were left up there as a sing to all of Rome’s might. It is one reason they had their legs broken instead of leaving them to agonize. In Jesus case, the lance checked his death.

 

[ralphinal]

I forgot to add that it is possible in ancient Isreal that the Romans had too many to crucify and not enough crosses, so they broke legs and took down bodies.

By the way, Paar, how do you answer Jesus being lanced in the side, between the ribs, and still living and not bleeding out?

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

It is interesting how Christians of all denominations accept the resurrection of Christ (save the JW’s) without any hard physical evidence.
Do any of you have a concrete answer to the atheist conversation stopper of, “You cannot prove to me that Jesus rose from the grave!”

Thanks

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Paperback)
by Gary R. Habermas (Author), Michael R. Licona (Author)

ROFL

I cor 15:6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

 

[MaHeRsHaLaL]

I agree whole heartedly with all of your statements, but these are the same arguments I had Mormons use to prove their points.

ie; look how much they suffered, look he died for his cause, there were hundreds who saw him perform this miracle.

I don’t mind using them on the uneducated, but the moment I end up chatting with someone who reads Carl Sagan, I’m dead meat!!

 

[Namesake]

It is interesting how Christians of all denominations accept the resurrection of Christ (save the JW’s) without any hard physical evidence.
Do any of you have a concrete answer to the atheist conversation stopper of, “You cannot prove to me that Jesus rose from the grave!”

Thanks

Proof isn’t the thing that religion is based on. Faith is the stuff of religion. However, Christ predicted His resurrection and the event is recorded in the New Testament as fact. Either Christ was a liar, or a madman, or He is what He says. Same with the New Testament writers. Either they were liars, or mad men, or they were telling the truth.

Since lots of people saw Him in his resurrected body just as he prophesied in keeping with Old Testament prophesy it would be difficult to believe that the resurrection of Christ is not true. But faith does not require proof.

 

[paarsurrey]

Either Christ was a liar, or a madman, or He is what He says.

Hi

There is no need to use such strong words. The anonymous Gosple writers simply could not, in my opinion, understand the intricacies of the event, so they made their perceptions wrong, after all they were human beings, they could make mistakes. They made mistakes in Jesus presence before the event of Crucifixion as you know, so there was nothing unusual making mistakes after the event of Crucifixion.

Thanks

 

[Namesake]

Hi

There is no need to use such strong words. The anonymous Gosple writers simply could not, in my opinion, understand the intricacies of the event, so they made their perceptions wrong, after all they were human beings, they could make mistakes. They made mistakes in Jesus presence before the event of Crucifixion as you know, so there was nothing unusual making mistakes after the event of Crucifixion.

Thanks

The words I used are right from C. S. Lewis. From Mere Christianity. Good read, I highly recommend it to you.

 

[paarsurrey]

Since lots of people saw Him in his resurrected body .

Hi

I think there were not many persons who witnessed the resurrection. Jesus never died on the Cross, only seriously injured on the Cross, so there was no question of any resurrection, in my opinion. Jesus only resussicated in the tomb, and what the anonymous gosple writers described was the same Jesus as before, with the wounds still fresh on his body. They mistook him as resurrected spirit. The spirits have no wounds and do not eat and drink.

Thanks

 

[Namesake]

Hi

I think there were not many persons who witnessed the resurrection. Jesus never died on the Cross, only seriously injured on the Cross, so there was no question of any resurrection, in my opinion. Jesus only resussicated in the tomb, and what the anonymous gosple writers described was the same Jesus as before, with the wounds still fresh on his body. They mistook him as resurrected spirit. The spirits have no wounds and do not eat and drink.

Thanks

I appreciate your gentleness. However, you don’t seem to grasp the most basic elements of Christian belief. Christ crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell and on the third day He rose again. If you take that away from us we have nothing. It’s not likely that you will be able to do that in the face of the New Testament and the prophesies of the Old Testament.

Peace to you.