DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD = PART SEVEN

                                         DID JESUS RISE             FROM THE DEAD?

 PART SEVEN

 (copied from 
 Y-Jesus.com)


Grave Robbing?

As Morison continued his investigation, he began to examine the motives of Jesus'  followers. Maybe the supposed resurrection was actually a stolen body. But, if so, how does one account for all the reported appearances of a resurrected Jesus?  Historian Paul Johnson in A History of the Jews wrote: "What mattered was not the circumstances of His death but that He was widely and obstinately believed, by an expanding circle of people, to have risen again. 

The tomb was indeed empty, But it wasn't the mere absence of a body that galvanized Jesus' followers, (especially if they had been the ones who had stolen it). Something extraordinary must have happened, for the followers of Jesus ceased mourning, ceased hiding, and began fearlessly proclaiming that they had seen Jesus alive.

Each eyewitness account reports Jesus suddenly appeared bodily to His followers,  the women first.
Morison wondered why conspirators would make women central to its plot. In the first century women had virtually no rights, personhood or status. If the plot were to succeed, Morison reasoned the conspirators would have portrayed men, not women, as the first to see Jesus alive. And yet we hear that women touched Him, spoke with Him and were the first to find the empty tomb.

Later, according to the eyewitness accounts, all the disciples saw Jesus on more than ten separate occasions. They wrote that He showed them His hands and His feet and told them to touch Him. And He reportedly ate with them, and later appeared alive to more than 500 followers on one occasion. 

Legal scholar, John Warwick Montgomery, stated:  "In 56 AD. (The Apostle Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive. (1st Corinthians 15:6) 
It passes the bounds of credibility, that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might  easily have refuted it, simply by producing the body of Jesus.  

Bible scholars Geisler and Turek agree. If the resurrection had not occurred why would the Apostle Paul give such a list of supposed eyewitnesses?  He would immediately lose all credibility with his Corinthian readers by lying so blatantly.

Peter told  a crowd in Caesaria why he and the other disciples were so convinced that Jesus was alive. 

"We apostles are witnesses of all He did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by crucifying Him, but God raised Him to life three days later.  We are those who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead." 
(Acts 10: 39-41)

British Bible scholar Michael Green remarked; 
"The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity. 
There can be no rational doubt that they occurred. 

next post tomorrow  17th June