Easter Is Coming in 8 Weeks

We have been discussing religion on an almost
daily basis since Nov, over 3 months. I have
purposely avoided this subject for a reason.
It's the faultiest part of the Christian religion.
Even if you believe the rest of it, this part is
so wildly implausible it pales in comparison to
the rest of it.

Jesus goes through all that leads up to his death.
All the drama extreme, all the sturm and drang
(storm and stress). He finally dies on the cross,
supposedly for our sins. It's over, the sacrifice has
been made, again, supposedly.

But wait! Like a slasher movie, it's not over. Cut to
the tomb of Jesus three days later and his body is
missing. He has apparently risen from the dead and
is hanging with his old bud's, talking about old times
and dispensing more wisdom. Say WHAT? All the
drama of the cross has led to THIS?

He wasn't back for just an afternoon. He was back for
over a month, where he went on tour like a rock star.

"He walked and talked in places where His ministry had been; He was seen in His restored body by thousands; He healed many; He continued to preach"

His tour lasted 40 days. Re rose from the dead, was
alive again, eating and drinking and breathing, and
thousands saw him. This parlor trick ruins any cred
this religion might have. It's silly, it's preposterous,
it's outrageous. It's also something I never hear
Christians discussing much. They love to bring up
what led to the cross, but what happened later, not
so much.

It's embarrassing, it's a bad Copperfield trick. I don't
think a lot of Christians take it seriously, and for
good reason.

"American patriot Thomas Paine, in The Age of Reason, asked: 'Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time; it is, therefore, at least millions to one, that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie.' "

Quote: Evenbob

We have been discussing religion on an almost
daily basis since Nov, over 3 months. .

No kidding, Maybe we should rename this board Religious Diversity Tomorrow.
Why so much religion? and multiple topics.
To be honest, most of the religious threads I don't even open anymore.
How about some DIVERSITY :-)

Quote: terapined

Why so much religion? and multiple topics.

As Abraham found out, it's fun to smash false idols.

Quote:

How about some DIVERSITY :-)

It would help if more people posted.

Bible scholars conclude: "On the basis of a close analysis of all the resurrection reports, we decided that the resurrection of Jesus was not perceived initially to depend on what happened to his body. The body of Jesus probably decayed as do all corpses. The resurrection of Jesus was not an event that happened on the first Easter Sunday; it was not an event that could have been captured by a video camera. . . . We conclude that it does not seem necessary for Christians to believe the literal veracity of any of the later appearance narratives."
The Acts of Jesus: What Did Jesus Really Do?

In other words, it never happened.

Without the Resurrection there would have been no Christianity.

Quote: FrGamble

Without the Resurrection there would have been no Christianity.

I think it is more important that people believed that it happened.

Real resurrection, belief = Christianity
Real resurrection, disbelief = no christianity
No resurrection, belief in resurrection = christianity
No resurrection, disbelief = no christianity

So, you can see that the belief in the event corrolates, but whether or not it actually happened does not.

Quote: Dalex64

So, you can see that the belief in the event corrolates, but whether or not it actually happened does not.

Very good point.

Quote: Dalex64

I think it is more important that people believed that it happened.

Real resurrection, belief = Christianity
Real resurrection, disbelief = no christianity
No resurrection, belief in resurrection = christianity
No resurrection, disbelief = no christianity

So, you can see that the belief in the event corrolates, but whether or not it actually happened does not.

The problem is if there was no resurrection then either the belief in it would be false or made up, either way it wouldn't last past a generation, especially amid such brutal persecution that the early Church actually thrived in. Without a real resurrection you have no explanation as to how this small group of people were able to have the fortitude, courage, conviction, and strength to literally transform the world all while undergoing persecution and torture. A false belief or a made up belief would be given up the first time an Apostle or early Saint was flayed alive or grilled - literally and figuratively.

Quote: FrGamble

The problem is if there was no resurrection then either the belief in it would be false or made up, either way it wouldn't last past a generation, especially amid such brutal persecution that the early Church actually thrived in. Without a real resurrection you have no explanation as to how this small group of people were able to have the fortitude, courage, conviction, and strength to literally transform the world all while undergoing persecution and torture. A false belief or a made up belief would be given up the first time an Apostle or early Saint was flayed alive or grilled - literally and figuratively.

You can't torture the truth out of someone who does not know what the truth is.

There are lots of theories out there explaining what, other than a ressurrection, could have happened. Any of them that doesn't involve a conspiracy by the apostles could have the apostles sincerely believing that Jesus was raised.

I am not saying that the resurrection did not happen. I am saying that if the first group of people believed that it happened, and the next group of people believed them, and so on and so forth, that it doesn't matter if it actually happened or not.

So, they could believe in the resurrection because it actually happened, or the could believe in the resurrection because something happened beyond their perception that led them to believe that it happened.

Here is a nice debate on http://www.reasonablefaith.org/