Sorting by

×

New Testament Gospels

More on the Resurrection

     As I pointed out in the previous posting, we cannot know that there was an empty tomb three days after Jesus’ death.   We also cannot know which of his twelve disciples came to believe that he had been raised from the dead, or when they started to believe it.  They later indicated that he was raised on the third day, as Paul, a later Christian who knew some of the disciples, tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5.   But Paul does not indicate that the disciples of Jesus started to believe that it was three days after Jesus’ death that his disciples started to believe he had been raised –only that that was the day on which he was raised.  They may have come to realize it weeks later. The Gospels, written decades after Paul, indicate that the disciples came to believe on the third day.   And it indicates that they all (except Judas Iscariot, of course) came to believe.   I don’t know if that is historically right or not.  There are a lot of Christian [...]

Another Question on the Resurrection

[h3]EMAIL QUESTION[/h3] From all of my studies, I still have one open question about the resurrection…or the resurrection story.  I do not understand how or why or when that story was invented.  It is easy to understand the retroactive invention of the virgin birth stories and other theoretical miracles of Jesus, but it seems to me that no one would have gone to the trouble to create those prior stories if they had not believed sincerely in the resurrection. …but how did the resurrection story get started?   Practically speaking, after Jesus’ crucifixion, I imagine the Disciples were terrified.  My hunch is they wanted to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible.  So, after the horror of the crucifixion…..what in the world triggered one of them to say…”you know, Jesus was really the Messiah…we have to spread his message…but nobody will believe us so how do we get the message across? O.K. Let’s make up a story about him being resurrected…and then we will tell everyone about that miracle and then certainly they will believe [...]

2020-04-03T19:46:04-04:00April 28th, 2012|Afterlife, Canonical Gospels, Reader’s Questions|
Go to Top