If Christ did not rise from the dead...

[Mitt Romneys sideburns]

That being said, I think most historians would agree these men existed given the unbroken written testimonies spanning back to the first century. Pretty good evidence they existed actually given the time/etc.

no, you just made that up.

 

[TortoiseDream]

why would the apostles endure torture and death in His Name?

The Mayans performed human sacrifice simply because they saw a solar eclipse, believing that without it they would perish. Does that make the supernatural Sun god real? People do extraordinary things, but that doesn't mean the causes behind them are real.

 

[TER]

no, you just made that up.

Really? That's not what I have read.

 

[TER]

The Mayans performed human sacrifice simply because they saw a solar eclipse, believing that without it they would perish. Does that make the supernatural Sun god real? People do extraordinary things, but that doesn't mean the causes behind them are real.

I think you are missing the point of this thread. Please reread the thread.

 

[Mitt Romneys sideburns]

Really? That's not what I have read.

Yes, really. There is no historical evidence of this stuff. You just made that up.

 

[TER]

Yes, really. There is no historical evidence of this stuff. You just made that up.

Wrong. There is historical evidence. Very good evidence in fact. Unfortunately, you keep dismissing the evidence I listed above (the writings, the traditions of the Church, the relics of the saints). Did you know that the most well-preserved, widely circulated, and most-read writings we have from this era happens to be the Holy Scriptures? How do you compromise that?

The problem is that you require video-taped, notarized, DNA confirmed evidence of events that occurred 2000 years ago in order to satisfy yourself. Sorry, simply not going to happen. Back then, (and even now), testimony was considered evidence. And the Lord's disciples gave their testimony with their own lives in order to confess to the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and has risen from the dead.

First your argument was that the more rational conclusion is that the apostles were deceivers and liars. Sorry, I don't believe you. These men lived under intense persecution always with the threat of death. They spread a message of love and mercy and forgiveness, even to the point of torture and death- praying forgiveness for the very torturers who were torturing them.

Now, you revert to your statement that they never even existed! How rich! Perhaps you are waiting for the lost video tape of St. Peter being crucified upside down? Or maybe the DNA evidence of St. Paul's decapitated body? Very well, keep waiting. You will waste your whole life in this world waiting for something that will never appear in front of your eyes while all the while all the evidence you needed was deep in your heart- in places long forgotten and neglected. If the value of the life of another does not give you pause to consider what the true depths of truth is, than no amount of material 'evidence' will. Lord have mercy on us.