Why did Jesus's followers die brutal deaths rather than denying?

Question

Why would someone that was an eye withness to Jesus allow himself to be brutally executed, rather than deny that he was Christ?

David Keresh and other wackos didnt witness maricles. They didnt live a godly life. They didnt rise from the dead and appear to their followers, and convince them to record their accounts and be put to death. Saul was hunting Jews and became a deciple when god appeared to him, a learned man, changed all loyalties, the evidence is overwhelming

Answer 1

because they knew with no doubt that who they worshiped and loved was the one true Christ, messiah and GOD. they knew the truth and to deny GOD is blasphemy. in the book of martyrs you can find that each of them died with dignity and simply refused to deny GOD. to deny GOD (according to the KING JAMES BIBLE) is the ultimate wrong.

Answer 2

First, do you think the people who wrote the Bible would have included it if they had renounced it? You have to realize that very few, if any, of the Gospels were written by first hand witnesses. As of my last research into the topic a few years back, the only one that may have been written by a first-hand witness was the Gospel of St. Thomas, which is not considered canonical.

Second, presume for a moment they hid the body out in the desert where no one could find it. Within a week, dunes would have shifted and the body would have been unrecoverable, buried under tons of sand. Also presume that the 'witnesses' DID try to recant their stories. The romans would have said something very simple, "Fine, produce the body." How could the disciples of Yshua answered this challenge?

Knowing they were condemned, do you think that the people would wish to die as liars? Better that they continue their lie through their deaths if their deaths were assured (and make no mistake -- even if they HAD recanted, they were marked men anyways) so that they would die as martyrs than rabble-rousers.

No, until there is some significant non-Biblical archeological information, the Bible is suspect.

Answer 3

Love. Pure and simple. Love & faith in the promised resurrection.

And JP to your question about whether or not those who wrote the Bible would write that they renounced their faith? The answer would be yes! I guess you don't raed the Bible or you'd remember that the Gospels include in their account that after Jesus was arrested all of his disciples ran scared, or the account of Peter denying that he even knew Jesus... 3 times, in fact. Other examples of the honesty of the bible writers:

Exhibit a) Daniel spoke of his adultery with Bathsheba and about having arranged for her husbands death in battle so he could hide her pregnancy

Exhibit b) Jonah wrote about his having high tailed it in the opposite direction when God instructed him to deliver a message of judgment to the Ninevites and how furious he bacame when God pulled back from meting out that punishment because the Ninevites, including their kind, had repented.

Exhibit C) Moses' hot tempered declaration that HE had caused water to spring forth from a rock and that that cost him his entry into the promised land was included

Exhibit D) The apostles wrote down their squabbles over who was the greatest among them

I know there are some others but I just can't think of them right now.

OH and about your comment that we can presume Jesus was buried in some secret locaton in the desert. Hmmmm. NO! The roman soldiers were guarding him. That is why they were so surprised to find his body had gone missing.

Answer 4

Exactly.

As some would accuse the followers of Jesus as being the beginner's of a religion so that they could be rich and live well. The followers of Jesus, almost every one of them died horribly.

Perhaps those that think that the Apostles were in it for themselves also think that Peter, as he was being crucified upside down was saying to himself, ' Oh and this is REALLY going to make Me RICH!. lol

What happened to them is one of the greatest testimonies in all Christianity. They could have stopped their execution in some cases IF they just denied what they were saying about Jesus.

But they did not.

Answer 5

They were courageous enough to die for what they believed in and to defend the truth. The rewards in the afterlife are so great as to make this life pale by comparison. The truth must always be upheld and there is no greater truth than Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

I believe that the followers in that day felt more towards Jesus like we do today towards our own children. Most of us would rather die than walk away and allow our children to be harmed.

Answer 7

Because they knew that He was the Christ. They were willing to die for it bc they knew it was true. That's how certain they were of His divinity and salvation. If Jesus didn't rise again, why did they die for believing He did? Surely they'd know whether it was true, since a few of the conspiracy theories put the disciples behind it. So if He didn't rise again and they were behind it, why did they die for a lie?

Answer 8

For the same reason other people die for their beliefs, whether religious or not (for example, being executed by the church for heretical science). They believed they were right. But can all the people martyred in the names of their respective gods all be right?

Answer 9

If somebody thratened me with being tore to pieces bby wild animals i would have told them i was only kidding,,,,,unless of course i actually believed that Jesus was true.

Answer 10

Why did David Koresh's followers go to their deaths with him rather than leave the compound? Why did Jim Jones followers drink the cool-aid? They probably truly believed what they were following whether it was really true or not. People can be very devoted to their beliefs no matter how "off" they may seem to people from the outside. I am always amazed by the sacrifice of suicide bombers in Japanese culture. I think it is wrong and as I think modern day suicide bombers are, but they truly believe in their cause no matter how false it is to the rest of us.

Answer 11

Because some things are worth dying for.

How could they deny a strong, intense reality that they saw with their own eyes?

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