Thanks for writing this Baby J. This is exactly my point. The men that lived with Christ and followed him and the people that followed them during his life and after his resurrection were hunted down and many were killed for NOT renouncing their faith in him. They heard his claims and they heard him say what he would do. It was after he did it that they were ready to die. Because when Christ died these followers where nowhere to be found.Originally Posted by BABY J
so the idea of a hoaxed resurrection is crazy to me. they were willing to die because they fully believed that Christ had risen because they saw him and spent time with him after he rose. their faith was more substantiated than anyone elses in that they witnessed it all.
Even in Peter, as he denied Christ while Christ was being beaten and hung up and at the point of the resurrection Peter did not doubt again, to the very point of being crucified himself. The rest of the disciples scattered when Christ was captured out of fear, until the moment of his resurrection, then they were made bold in their faith to the point of where they would reunite and put their lives on the line.
I say this to say that these men were NOT crazy, they experienced something that told them that ALL that they had seen and ALL that they had heard was validated, NOT in Christs life or death. Even though he performed many miracles, that was not what did it, (because even Judas saw the miracles) It was the resurrection. It was that nobody needed to come and resurrect Christ. He rose on his own just as he said he would. At the moment of experiencing Christ again, ALL of their doubts were removed and their faith was made complete.
The same as with Paul. He knew of the miracles he heard of Christ, but it was only after he experienced the living Christ on the road to Damascus that he immediately became just like the rest. and I mind you that before he was like them, he was trying to kill them.
They most certainly believed (thought) with good reason that Christ was the Messiah, and that He did indeed raise up from the grave. And this was not 100 years or 2000 years later. This is just about or a little over three days later. At the moment, not fizzled and distorted with time.
Nobody was converted after David Curesh, or the Jimmy Jones or Heavens Gate. Because there was NO validation of the claims that these men made. Their unfounded and destructive programs and systems died with them. The few of the followers that they remain have renounced them as heritics, as liars, and evil. This was NOT the case with the historical Christ.
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