The linked article covers a discussion on the evidence for Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Christ. Rather unsurprisingly if one thinks for even a second, the evidence for Christ is huge in comparison. If one questions the existence of Christ, then Plato, Socrates and Aristotle are near certain fiction.
The graphic is from here, he didn't source it, however it aligns well with the top linked article which is excellent.
In Matt 28:12-14 we have the official tale of how the tomb came to be empty.
12 After the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: "You are to say, His disciples came by night and stole His body while we were asleep. 14 If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”…
To the casual observer, this piece of ancient Fake News is more reasonable than "You are to say the Russians did it", but it still has some rather large issues:
- We find that on the evening of the day of the resurrection, the supposedly brave grave robbers were in hiding. (John 20:19) On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" The Romans were the most feared fighting force of the day ... our intrepid disciples were in no state to take on that force prior to the Holy Spirit's arrival.
- The penalty for falling asleep on guard duty for Roman soldiers was "Fustuarium" ... being beaten to death with a cudgel publicly. The logical thing to do if you were caught in dereliction of duty was to avoid the beating ... Acts 16:27 "The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped." (quick and private is better than slow and very public)
We all know that if the Jewish leaders had the body, the skull and bones of Jesus would have been prominently displayed! They would no doubt be a favorite Jewish artifact even today
As I've covered before, the air tight proof of Christ's resurrection is the fact that if it were NOT true, the disciples would have KNOWN it was a lie, and would not have each went to his death as a martyr for a lie.
Atheists will naturally say this is idiotic ... people go to their deaths for religious reasons all the time! They do indeed -- because they actually BELIEVE. They have had experiences, strong enough desire, are easily influenced, or whatever reason to be certain of their faith. We all live by faith -- the atheist stakes his eternal soul on not having one by FAITH.
That is COMPLETELY different from following a guy around for about 3 years, watching him whipped and crucified as a criminal and then taking part in some plot that SOMEHOW gave MANY people the impression that he had been resurrected. (1 Corinthians 15:6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.)
Being willing to die for something you BELIEVE to be the truth is not that uncommon -- 10+ people going to painful deaths for what they knew to be a lie, totally aware that they hid the body some place and if any of them talks, it is a complete waste of time. (plus you have to pull off the "impersonation" to the 500)
We won't go into "the odds" that in addition to that air tight proof, a known persecutor of Christians would accidentally go insane on the road to Damascus and join up as a disciple, writing much of the New Testament and also going to his death as a martyr. In an atheist world, a TRULY miraculous coincidental happening that someone like Paul could have such a strange psychotic break and then live out his life traveling, preaching and writing.
Oh well, if you are a true atheist, your existence is based on odds of something like 1 in 10 to the 500th, so essentially, ANYTHING can happen in an atheist universe.
Fake News is some of the oldest news there is. The Good News of Easter is so well known that our calendars mark the new covenant of AD "anno Domini" ... in the year of our Lord.
If you are determined that Christ and the resurrection are fiction, would it not be better to convince the rest of the world that Plato and Aristotle never existed, so the concept of Western civilization is a COMPLETE LIE! There never was any such thing as Western civilization ... there is no hope, no resurrection and no eternal life. Yes, that is a sad state, but if you worship only the physically provable, the Greeks need to go as well. Well, maybe none of us exist ...
Fortunately, the GOOD NEWS is TRUTH, and the Fake News is just Fake News.
Hallelujah! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!
'via Blog this'
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