Resolved: Jesus Christ Rose From The Dead

“The fact, however, remains that John 7:53—8:11 is not supported by the best manuscript evidence. Thus, there is serious doubt as to whether it should be included in the Bible. Many call for Bible publishers to remove these verses (along with Mark 16:9–20) from the main text and put them in footnotes.”

“These last verses don’t read like Mark’s. There are eighteen words here that are never used anywhere by Mark, and the structure is very different from the familiar structure of his writing. The title “Lord Jesus,” used in verse 19, is never used anywhere else by Mark. Also, the reference to signs in vv. 17-18 doesn’t appear in any of the four Gospels. In no account, post-resurrection of Jesus, is there any discussion of signs like picking up serpents, speaking with tongues, casting out demons, drinking poison, or laying hands on the sick. So, both internally and externally, this is foreign to Mark… Some, or even one, of the early scribes, however, apparently missed the thematic evidence and felt the need to add a more conventional ending.”

“20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

 

17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

 

20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

 

26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

Would you buy a used car from Paul? Paul has no qualms with making himself to all people for the sole purpose of winning them to Christ. Paul rejects the Torah, yet when he is around Jews, he observes the Torah to win the Jews. 

This attitude had formed part of Jewish missionary practice long before Paul. Two Talmudic illustrations of Hillel’s work are relevant: he accepted into the fold a gentile who refused to acknowledge the oral Law, and he accepted another who refused to acknowledge any Law beyond the most fundamental ethical principle. … At the decisive moment of conversion, he fell in with the notions of the applicant and declared himself satisfied with recognition of the written Law or a single, basic moral precept. …

Paul is woefully unreliable and is well known to make up facts and twist the Hebrew Scriptures for his own benefit

Even if I concede that 500 people “saw” Jesus, there is no reason to say that it could not be a mass hallucination. Indeed, in the early 1900s, 70,000 people “saw” the Virgin Mary and the “miracle of the sun.”

Hume wrote, “No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish.”

Hume’s test applied to Fatima would be to observe that it is very improbable that 70,000 people could simultaneously be deluded, or simultaneously collude in a mass lie. It is also very improbable that 70,000 people experienced the same hallucination. [2]

Indeed, this is not the only case. There are repeated examples of people who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary.[5]

Outside of religion, many people claim to have seen aliens, UFOs, and have been abducted by aliens. 

In courts of law, eyewitness testimony is often the least reliable witnesses and are often cause wrongful convictions. In one case, Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of rape and murder and convicted on the testimony of 5 eyewitnesses. However, DNA evidence later exonerated him.

I want to conclude with what I believe to be the most probable explanation. The story and person of Jesus evolved overtime and grew more fantastic.

The role of the historians is to show what most probably happened in the past. When we take the evidence that we have, the resurrection is the least probable explanation. 

As I mentioned in the last round, the 500 people seeing the resurrected Jesus is an easy claim to makeup. Indeed, this number appears only in 1 Corinthians. If this actually did happen, it is shocking that it is only mentioned here and not in the Gospels or in the Book of Acts. 

In contrast, nobody was at the tomb when Jesus resurrected. No one actually presents when Jesus rose from the dead! 

My opponent says that appearing to the Pharisees wouldn’t have changed their minds.

Moreover, even if (and that’s a big if), Jesus actually performed these miracles, Deuteronomy 13 says that false prophets can perform miracles.

Finally, with regards to Jesus being the Passover lamb in John, this is repeated time and time again. Let’s take a look at some examples:

 

John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” 

Finally, as mentioned before, John has Jesus’ crucifixion timed exactly at the same time that the Passover lamb was offered. 

Pro essentially admits that these texts are problematic. The ultimate issue here is that all scripture is supposedly given by inspiration of God. How could God let such issues into his text? These contradictions prove my contention that the story of Jesus evolved over time.

Did Jesus tell the disciples to stay in Jerusalem or not? This is a huge issue! Galilee to Jerusalem is 182.2 km away. This is a greater distance than from Washington DC to Philadelphia, PA! Both of these events could not have taken place. Either Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem until Shavuot (Pentecost) or he did not. It’s hard to believe that a disciple of Jesus would forget such an important detail! 

I mentioned that Matthew misquotes 2 passages of scripture to apply them to Jesus. While I could have pointed out dozens of passages like that, I only focused on these two. The problem with my opponent’s argument is that they did notice! Matthew was written for a Jewish audience. The knowledgeable Jews who were reading Matthew were quickly able to fact check Matthew and knew right away that he was false.

Finally, prophecy is only based on the plain and literal meaning of the text and never “types and shadows.”