How could Christianity have survived if Jesus had not risen from the dead (1)?

Question

In Biblical times, the culture was much like Japan today. Honor was sought in every action a person did, and shame was to be avoided at all cost. Crucifixion was intentionally the most dishonorable death one could have. The Jewish historian Josephus described it as "the most wretched of deaths." Now if Christians were to hold to Jesus being the Son of God after He had been executed, they would have surely been in an incredibly dishonorable position and dismissed without further consideration. Think about it. Claiming that God in the flesh would suffer such humiliation should have been suicide for the Christians.

Unless, of course, there was undeniable proof Jesus rose from the dead and reversed the dishonor of the cross. And in the Bible, it says that Jesus appeared to hundreds after His resurrection. Unless Jesus had really been raised from the dead and seen by witnesses, there would be absolutely no reason to hold this dishonorable position which would lead to the martyr and persecution of many of the early Christians.
http://www.livingwaters.com/good/
http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.html

Take into consideration that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Answer 1

You're assuming he ever existed at all. Near the end of 1st Corinthians 15, Paul makes it as clear as day that the resurrection was derived from OT exegesis. This makes it impossible for Paul to have known directly, or even 2nd hand about the resurrection. Such a remarkable theology, derived from scripture rather than from witnesses, strongly implies that Christianity was entirely derived from OT exegesis.

Answer 2

Good point. Although Truth in all parts still relies on the Bible not being edited by human hands and filtered with human perceptions. A soul that merged with God, who people saw as God quite rightfully in that sense, rising in spirit (sorry, they got it wrong when they thought it was a physical body) to teach others about the possibility of everlasting life makes perfect sense. After all, it had been done before.

Answer 3

if he appeared to hundreds, shouldn't there be hundreds of accounts?

it also says this:

Mat 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,


Mat 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.



you would think that there would be a very detailed account of this by at least ONE person, but there is not.


there is no undeniable proof. if there were, ALL would have converted when the zombies flooded the city. they didn't, so step off your pedestal and STFU

Answer 4

THE Ressurection of Jesus was not the important thing he did
remember Jesus was a Jew who became the CHRIST, hence his followers became known as Christians.

The important thing that Jesus did was to give his life for the vindication of his fathers name & to pay the RANSOM for sinful mankind.
(Romans 5:12) 12 That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned—.

(Romans 5:19) . . .For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obedience of the one [person] many will be constituted righteous.

Jesus himself ressurected people, so did Elijah, & some of the apostles, but Jesus had the 1st spiritual ressurection

Your mixed up, Jesus was a Jew, & he taught from the Jewish scriptures, I as a flower of Jesus the Jew believe the same things that he did, I'm known as a christian, (a reformed Jew who has accepted Jesus as the christ)

you see there was a legal issue that was involved, the clearing of the slander of God's name (Genesis 3:4-5) . . .At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. 5 For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.”

so God has let a trial go on to vindicate his name, Jesus died as a faithful perfect person, NOT GOD< but as God's only begotton son Jo 3:16

Answer 5

The ressurrection of Jesus Chrsit is the most well documented fact of history with over 24,000 ancient manuscripts , some fragments dating back to the 1st century.

1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Answer 6

Well the words of Christ says it all"unless a grain of wheat falls into soil and dies it always remains a grain of wheat;it's only when it dies it is born to new life".

Answer 7

Hypothetical cases are, to me, mental gyrations. I prefer to know the resurrection, that we are also eternal beings, to share in the rebirth, let it work in me, not just think about the ramifications of it.

Answer 8

He would have been just like alll those other dead gods that are still dead!

Answer 9

1. It could not.
2. It hadn't started yet.

Answer 10

The answer lies within many aspects of the gospel stories. Lets cover a couple of the basic ones:

1. Experiences of the resurected Jesus:
Have you ever wondered why the resurection stories are different in all of the Gospels and why those differ from Paul's accounts. Lets work in reverse order of the Gospels when they were written.
A. John (110-125 C.E.) says that Mary of Magdala approaches the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning alone. She leaves the empty tomb immediately, without ever seeing a risen Jesus, and reports the matter directly to Peter and the unnamed "beloved disciple". These two return to the tomb to find it empty. Mary then has an experience of the "risen Jesus" in the form of a gardener who changes form. Later that evening, the "risen Jesus" makes an appearance at the disciples residence and breathes the pentacostal holy ghost upon them. Much later, he makes a dramatic entrance to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, produces a magical catch of fish with them, and has dinner with them. In John's story, there is no acension (Gospel of John 20-21).
B. Luke (95-105 C.E.) says that Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James approach the tomb of Jesus on Easter. After finding the empty tomb, two angels appear at the tomb and proclaim to them that Jesus has been raised. The three women rush to tell all of the disciples who are gathered together all of what happened, and none of the disciples believe them. Peter, alone, runs to the tomb to discover it empty. Jesus makes his first appearance to two men walking in the village of Emmaus. The two men on the road find the eleven disciples and tell Peter what has happened. Now Jesus appears to all of disciples at the apartment, but does not perform the pentacostal giving of the holy spirit. Luke has positioned that story much later in the timeline in the beginning of Acts. Jesus eats grilled fish with the disciples at the apartment, leads them out to Bethany, and performs a dramatic acension into the sky, never to return (Gospel of Luke 24).
C. Matthew (80-95 C.E.) says that Mary of Magdala and the other Mary approach the tomb. A strong earthquake hits. One angel descends from heaven and sits on the rolled boulder that was rolled away from the tomb. Roman guards are at the tomb who also see the angel. The angel sitting on the boulder tells the on-lookers that Jesus is raised. The two women run to tell the disciples, but the risen Jesus stops them before they get there. He instructs the women to tell the disciples to head to Galilee and he will meet them there. The eleven disciples travel to Galilee without ever seeing Jesus and then the risen Jesus appears to them on a mountaintop in Galilee. There is no ascension and Jesus doesn't do any eating or drinking in Matthew (Gospel of Matthew 28).
D. Mark (71-75 C.E.) is the earliest Gospel. All of our earliest copies of Mark's Gospel end at 16:8. Copies of Mark's Gospel that contain 16:9-20 don't start appearing except in copies that date to hundreds of years later. Mark says Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Salome approach the tomb on Easter. They discover an empty tomb with a child-like angel sitting inside where Jesus had been laid. The "cherub" tells them that Jesus has been raised and 16:8 ends with the women running out of the tomb and not telling anyone. There is no vision of Jesus in Mark's Gospel (Gospel of Mark 16).
E. Paul (51-64 C.E.) represents our earliest biblical writings. Paul never mentions any of the above resurection stories---he doesn't seem to know any of them. That would seem strange if the physical resurection were so important. Paul describes his own "vision" experience of Jesus as spirit. There's only one thing---Paul describes his experience as the same as what he states, "Peter saw".

All of the Gospel stories are drastically different from one another. If we add in the non-canonical Gospels, you would see that this trend continues---none of the resurrection stories are the same, no matter which two texts you compare. From this "reverse" look at resurection experiences, it appears as if they started as "visions of a ghost-like image". It also appears as if the later Gospel writers were interjecting apologetics to counter arguments people would make about such "visions". (Not everybody buys the "I saw Jesus in a pancake story", even if it does come from someone who knew him while he was alive).

2. Q Gospel and Gospel of Thomas parallels.
The Q Gospel and the Gospel of Thomas represent the earliest "sayings of Jesus" references that we have. In the plethora of sayings, 37 have commonalities between them. Something is discovered that is curious when we look at these parallel sayings:
A. None of them contain "I am" sayings
B. None of them have Jesus declaring himself the messiah.
C. None of them have Jesus predicting future events (temple destruction, etc.)
D. None of them have Jesus declaring that he will be resurected.
E. All of them are consistent with sayings typical of "wisdom sages" and "healers" among Judean culture.
F. Many of them are anti-Roman government and anti-Roman control (speaking out in public was plenty reason for the Roman authorities to execute someone).

I have no doubt that Jesus had a profound effect on his early followers, his words (especially those 37 parallel sayings, most of which are in the beatitudes) have a profound effect on most that hear them. What most people fail to remember is that Jesus' earliest followers do not refer to themselves as Christians. They refer to themselves as followers of "the way". Jesus changed their lives, but it was not by dying and resurecting, it was by teaching them "the way" to live that changed their lives.