Russell Stewart responded
>
>And what if they didn't know?
I think it rather implausible that the apostles wouldn't have known. The
12 disciples knew Him personally, during His ministry in Palestine. Paul
was confronted by Him after His resurrection. These were Jesus'
contemporaries, who knew Him personally and either witnessed his death and
resurrection or were informed of them within a short time be eyewitnesses
(Paul by Christ Himself, of course) Surely they of all people were in a
position to know if the resurrection was a lie. Generally they were good
Jews who were going out on a limb theologically by acknowledging Him as
God. I think that alone would have eliminated most of them had the
resurrection been a lie. But later on when they faced execution, I find it
hard to believe they would die for a lie. But to reiterate: those who were
close to Him in the first century surely were in a position to know whether
the accounts of His resurrection were true.
Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr, Ph.D. | Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems | General Motors R&D Center | Warren, MI
William_E._Hamilton@notes.gmr.com
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX) | whamilto@mich.com (home email)