Quote:
Originally posted by kang
Can someone confirm what nota said above? That there are no first person accounts of the resurrection? I always thought that those books were written in the first person. Yes, I read the bible, a long, long time ago, but I don’t remember these details.
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If you're asking if anyone saw Jesus roll out of the crypt and stretch his arms? No.
If you're asking if anyone else saw Jesus alive after the resurrection -- yes, they are mentioned:
1) John reports when Jesus visited the him and 9 other disciples in a closed room.
2) Jesus repeated this visit with (doubting) Thomas present (for a total of 11 disciples) a week later.
3) He appeared to both Marys (Magdalane, and the mother of Jesus), but in those days (as is often the case in the mid-east today) women were not considered to be reliable witnesses. Either way, it's not known if the Marys were literate or not.
It's pretty clear that when he was seen after the resurrection, it was not like he was just any Joe of the street. For example he appeared in a locked room twice, without using the door. But on another occasion, he had dinner and ate food with some of the disciples who were fishing. So he was reported to be both human (he ate) and spiritual (doing the casper thing). Not your normal human being.
This leads me to where the followers of Jesus are
not like the followers of any other religion (that I'm aware of).
- Mohammad was the pre-eminant member of his faith when he died of old age, and within their environment the Muslims were the predominant group politically and militarily. He started a group and it was going strong when he passed away. This story is essential the same as countless other cultures through-out history, including William the Conquerer, the Kims of North Korea, Mao and Lenin. Start small, grow big, appoint successors.
- David Corresh lead a smallish group of followers and died when they died. No one has heard of them again, nor of the Branch Davidean faith. So it certainly appears to have died with him. Nothing unusual there. Start small, end small.
- Jesus was executed before the group got off the ground. The "group" of followers was a core of 12 of decidely middle-class individuals, and a wider group of mostly faceless individuals. None of the core group were particularly noteworthy or rich. Individually and as a group they were powerless to save their leader from execution, in fact one of them even turned him in. After the execution they ran off and hid. At no time were they ever the predominant group politically in their environment, nor did they ever have any military might. Does this sound like the beginning of a movement to take over the world.
But something invigorated the remaining members to VERY suddenly rise up and start to convert large numbers of people to their beliefs. This was done locally (in the same city where Jesus was killed), and internationally. Haven't you ever wondered what happened???? The group started small, gets decapitated, and grows to be the largest single social grouping on the planet.
I'd like to see Dawkins pull that off!