Was Jesus' resurrection real?

Question

1. All they saw was an empty tomb.
2. Those who saw his "resurrected self" were all disciples of him and already believers. NO ONE other than his followers saw any apparition or spirit of him.
** and don't mention Paul's letter to the corinthians saying that 500 people saw jesus' resurrection. that was 20 years after the supposed event, not during the times of the account. plus paul never saw it himself.

sounds like a myth to me. since other religions' central idea is around the resurrection of their god. too copycat-like and magical to be logic.

and it would suck for you Christians, since Christianity solely depends on the resurrection...1 Corinthians 15:14 says, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

ouch.

Answer 1

Unfortunately there is no real way to prove or disprove it either way, the biblical accounts are the only "evidence" for it, and they are contradictory and fallible myth. But you can't really disprove it.

It's true that the whole story is a very common myth... Adonis, Osiris, Mithras, Horus, and a bunch of others went through similar ordeals. Other mythological saviors also have these traits (before Jesus): born of virgin mother on Dec 25, star appeared at birth, visited by 3 magi, healed sick, raised dead, walked on water, turned water to wine, betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, had a last supper where bread was body and wine represented blood, nailed to a cross or tree, came back to life 3 days later.

So yeah, the Jesus story was already very popular hundreds of years before he was even supposed to have existed. To make things worse the only time he really appears in history is in the bible, which was written in a time when symbolic literature was very popular.

Answer 2

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most verified event in human history. Paul may have written 1st and 2nd Corinthians 20 years after the fact, but the 500 witnesses were contemporary. They were there. Who's copying who? the Resurrection happened 2000 years ago. It's not a myth, there's no magic involved, only the power of God Almighty. Read the gospel accounts for yourself; don't rely solely on what others tell you. The truth will always stand up to questions.

Answer 3

YES! You're right the resurrection is very important to our faith because if it did not happen then we are not saved. But it is real so we have hope.

You admit there is an empty tomb. Why didn't anyone find his body? Where are the bones? The authorities would have been only too happy to point out the tomb and correct the disciples error when they began to proclaim that Jesus had risen from the dead. Obviously the disciples had no motive to steal the body and then die for a lie, and certainly the Jewish authorities wouldn't have removed the body.

Here are only a few of the peple who saw Jesus after his resurrection:
*Mary Magdalene in John 20:10-18
*the other women in Matthew 28:8-10
*Cleopas and another disciple in Luke 24:13-32
*To 11 disciples and others in Luke 24:33-49
*To 10 apostles and others (Thomas absent) in John 20:19-23
*To Thomas and other apostles in John 20:26-30
*To seven apostles in John 21:1-14
*The Apostles before his Ascension in Luke 24 and Acts 1.
*To more than 500 people in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8.

Answer 4

It's funny the way you can just discount Paul's letter though those living would have known whether or not there had been witnesses. They would have known if Paul wasn't telling the truth. He referred to an account that they already were familiar with.

Also, we do know that other historical people living at the time wrote about the many people who were saying that they had seen Jesus alive. Leaders of Rome wrote letters to each other asking what was to be done to quell the excitement and stop the spread of belief in Jesus.

Are you suggesting that those original disciples lied about seeing Jesus? That they all sacrificed their lives and submitted to all kinds of abuse and torture for something they knew to be a lie?

How do you explain the transformation of the disciples? One night they were hiding out in fear for their lives believing their dreams had all come to an end. The next day they say that Jesus is alive, and they dedicate the rest of their lives to self sacrifice and spreading the news.

Exactly how do you think the body got out of that tomb? Guarded by trained Roman soldiers who would be put to death on the discovery of the missing body. Where exactly did the body go? And why didn't the Romans find it and produce it as evidence that the resurrection never occurred? And who spent the time to wrap up the burial cloths so that it seemed as if the body had just disappeared from within them--all neatly in the shape of a body?

The Romans were smart and brutal and even they were puzzled by the events as they played out. They could have easily exposed a lie and ended the spread of Christianity, yet they didn't. They wrote saying they didn't know what to do. Many Romans came to believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

You are putting so much effort in trying NOT to believe, but the truth is that Jesus is alive and well. His followers experience his presence and power in their lives every day. And you're missing out on that because you choose to not believe.

Double OUCH.

Answer 5

The evidence supports it. I don't believe that it is scientifically explainable. It looks like a miracle. The creator of everything studied by science can work outside those rules In spite of the evidence the reality can be undermined by a fiction that the Bible is a "Faction". A fictional story set in a factual time and place. That also helps them get around the logic of infering truth of the bits that are harder to check from the bits that are easier to check like the geography and weather etc. As regards to Jesus personally the red herring that there is not one single mention of Jesus in the entire Roman record is sometimes used. This is a man who executed as a criminal in a backwater of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless there is some indication that there was an official record kept even if it hasn't survived. Likewise another red herring is that there is not a single contemporary record from any source. This is also intended to work around the evidence of the resurrection by undermining the historicity of Jesus personally. That is like saying another historical figure Alexander the Great didn't exist for the same reason. Interestingly, the first surviving records of Alexander the Great who conquered so much of the world (even if he wasn't significant enough to split time like Jesus ie. BC and AD) were written by writers who lived about 300 years after him albeit referring to earlier writers. We even have a fragment of an eyewitness account of Jesus from 76AD. Some militant atheists even try out the argument the bible mentions of him like all other references were not written until many years after His death thus undermining his authenticity. However the writings were from within decades of His death and make some strong claims that noone rebuts. For example there are claims about Jesus' body missing from the tomb that could be easily rebutted if untrue. In a similar vein Paul says words to the effect that if you don't believe that Jesus walked around after the crucifixion there are hundreds who saw Him who can back him up. That would be a strange thing to write in the decades after Jesus' death if it weren't true.

Answer 6

What makes a difference when the account was written? All of the gospels and letters were written years after Christ's Resurrection. Much of secular history is the same. You either believe that person's version of the story or you don't.
If you only believe certain sections and verses, there is no sense to believe at all. Your faith is watered-down or "luke-warm" as Christ put it.
You ask a question, and then limit the answer. Doesn't sound like a fair question.

Answer 7

Well, the tomb was gaurded by Romans. At the time, if a Roman was assualted, hurt, killed, imprisoned or what have you in another "land" or a provence under local rule, they would land a bloody garrison there and start kicking the crap out of people.

The Romans didn't tolerate ANY crap, especially when it was their soldiers / citizens.

So, the tomb was under Roman guard, FOR ANYONE to have touched it, they would have had to deal with them. The jews of the time wouldn't have taken the body, because they wanted him dead and it was counter to their purpose, which is why the put him under gaurd.

They could produce NO BODY and NO WITNESSES. So what are we left with? That he rose from the dead. Plain and simple. We also have corraborating stories from the new testament writers.

Regarding Paul: Writing a letter 20 years after would have meant that MOST of the people that he was referring to still lived and could DISPROVE him / church if it wasn't true. This was never done.

Answer 8

Is Resurrection Real

Answer 9

Matthew Chapter 28
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the sepulchre. There was a great earthquake and an angel of the Lord appeared and rolled back the stone from the door. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. The angel answered and said unto the women , Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. The angel told them to go to Galilee where they would find him. They departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy to tell his disciples. Jesus met them saying "All hail". They fell to his feet and worshipped him. He said to them "Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me".

Therefore, it wasn't just his disciples, both Marys saw him and even his disciples doubted, and he proved himself to them if you read on in that chapter and the next.

Maybe you doubt the Christian religion but millions of people believe. Do you think you can change all of these people's minds just by your little comments? Our Bible has all the answers to those doubts and always will.

Answer 10

I read some things some time back about this. First, his followers went out of their way for Jesus to appear to fulfill the prophecies. Sure he was stabbed in the side, but that may not have been lethal. They didn't break his legs to accelerate dying like the other two people with him. No sooner is he given something to drink than he passes out. He was apparently treated with healing balms in the tomb.