WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.919 Hello and welcome to my podcast. This is an audio 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.719 version of my videos available to make listening to my 3 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:10.000 stuff in the background easier than YouTube makes it. But 4 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.640 since my videos are primarily made for YouTube, there may 5 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.920 be occasional references to visual materials. If you'd like this 6 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:19.519 podcast ad free, you can join us on Patreon app, 7 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:23.440 Patreon dot com slash Vice Rhino. Please enjoy. 8 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:26.600 Today's video is brought to you by surf Shark. Hello 9 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:30.719 and welcome to my channel Vice Rhino. Here today, I'm 10 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:33.399 looking at a video on Dan Patterson's channel formerly called 11 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.759 Questioning Christianity. The presenter is not Dan Patterson. I forget 12 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:38.920 his name and didn't write it down. This video seeks 13 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:40.880 to answer the question of whether or not Jesus really 14 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.520 rose from the dead. Of course, we know their answer 15 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:45.359 is going to be yes, but it's always fun to 16 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.520 see how they get there. So let's take a look. 17 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:51.039 But first, a word from our sponsor, surf Shark. I 18 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.439 have five children. Do you know what that means? I 19 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:57.640 don't have privacy, but at least thanks to surf SHARKVPN, 20 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:01.000 I have some online privacy, especially while on public Wi Fi. 21 00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:03.880 Serf Shark is a virtual private network. 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This 42 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:56.879 is a limited time offer, so sign up today, and 43 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.560 remember by signing up for surf SHARKVPN, you are helping 44 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:03.840 to support channel, So thank you. 45 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:10.919 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just another religious claim. 46 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.000 It is the claim of the world's largest religion, Christianity. 47 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:18.599 So it's just another religious claim. I know that as 48 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.159 a Christian it seems like the central claim of your 49 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.319 religion deserves extra consideration over the claims of other religions. 50 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.240 But something being important to you does not automatically make 51 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.199 that thing important to everyone else. 52 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.319 Christianity rises and falls with this, As the Apostle Paul says, 53 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.479 if Jesus was not raised, your faith is futile. You 54 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:41.680 are still in your sins. Everything hangs on this. Did 55 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.560 Jesus really rise from the dead. 56 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.199 Yeah, there's nothing really special about any of that. If 57 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.719 the core claim of a religion fails, then that religion 58 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.599 isn't true. This is true of any religion. 59 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.280 But how do we even go about answering a question 60 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:57.039 like that? 61 00:02:57.319 --> 00:02:59.520 The way I see it, you shouldn't have to. If 62 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:02.199 God really is all powerful and really does want a 63 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.879 personal relationship with everyone, then it's on him to answer 64 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.120 that question, not you. 65 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:10.360 Well, first, let's take a breath and ask, how do 66 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.240 we answer any question about a past event When it 67 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.879 comes to eyewitnesses to those events, we generally have three 68 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.680 different options on the table for WIGNE testimony. 69 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:21.960 Okay, before you get into it, let me guess the 70 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.919 reliability of the witnesses, any potential biases they might have, 71 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.599 and their proximity to the events that they are reporting. 72 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:28.560 Am I close. 73 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:33.520 Number one is deception the eyewitnesses were intentionally lying, fabricating 74 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.120 the story, making it all up. Number two is delusion, 75 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:39.680 the witnesses were confused, as in they were just misinformed 76 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.680 or mistaken somehow. And the third option is devotion. The 77 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.039 witnesses weren't deceiving or deluded. They were simply devoted to 78 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.319 the truth of what really happened. And it's up to 79 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:50.759 us now to try and piece together all of the 80 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:52.719 information into a coherent whole. 81 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:55.599 Huh. I see, you're just going for your own version 82 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:58.800 of the cs lewis liar, lunatic lord trilemma. And as 83 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:01.400 much as I love a good alliteration, I don't think 84 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:04.159 it really works here. The way I see these categories 85 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:06.840 is that either the witness is lying, they are correct, 86 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:09.120 or they are mistaken. If you ask me the color 87 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:10.960 of the car that just drove by, and I responded 88 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.639 by saying that it's red. Then either I am lying. 89 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:15.319 I know it's really blue, but I told you it 90 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.079 was red. I'm correct, it really was red, or I 91 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:20.240 was mistaken. I thought it was red, but it was 92 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:23.319 really blue or something. And as fun as your alliteration is, 93 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.000 I do not have to be devoted to the idea 94 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:27.959 of the car being read for my telling you that 95 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.319 it is read to be a true statement. Nor do 96 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.600 I have to be delusional or deceptive to have done 97 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:34.319 something like misremember a detail. 98 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.279 That's more or less the trilemma we're left with when 99 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.000 we consider the resurrection account of Jesus in the New 100 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.199 Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The claim 101 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.399 is that Jesus lived, that he died, that his tomb 102 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.839 was found empty on the third day after his death, 103 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:50.879 and his followers saw him alive. 104 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:54.839 Well, that's actually several claims that can be examined relatively independently. 105 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.000 I'm okay granting thee he lived and died, ones specific 106 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.160 evidence for them can be rather scant, But at the 107 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:02.040 end of the day, a guy with a common name 108 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:03.879 was preaching a message that was fairly common in that 109 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:06.720 time and location, and was executed by a fairly common 110 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:09.680 method of execution. Is such a mundane claim that I 111 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:12.360 don't really see the need to argue against it. The tomb, though, 112 00:05:12.519 --> 00:05:14.680 that is where we start to have issues. There is 113 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.160 no evidence that Jesus was buried in a tomb that 114 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.199 comes from earlier than seventy CE, and the evidence we 115 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:22.879 do have, inasmuch as you can call it, that, is 116 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:26.079 not from eyewitness accounts. It's the written accounts of stories 117 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.319 that have been passed around for decades. By that point. 118 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:31.680 The evidence for the resurrection is somewhat amusingly a bit 119 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.040 stronger than the evidence for the tomb, though that's still 120 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.040 not saying much. But at least we do have the 121 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.319 writings of a guy who actually was witnessed to a 122 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:41.560 post resurrection appearance. I mean, the actual description of his 123 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:44.639 experience wasn't written down for at least twenty years, and 124 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:46.639 then by the author of Luken Acts, rather than by 125 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:48.759 Paul himself, who had been dead for quite a while 126 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:50.800 by the time those books were written. What little there 127 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.040 is of Paul's first hand writing of his own conversion 128 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.720 makes it seem like a vision rather than a bodily apparition, 129 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:57.879 going so far as to tell Usingalatians one that he 130 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.360 did not receive his gospel message from any man, but 131 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.480 through a revelation from Christ. Quote for I would have 132 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:05.519 you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by 133 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:08.120 me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive 134 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:10.199 it from any man, nor was I taught it, but 135 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.120 I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So 136 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.199 there's no reliable evidence for a tomb burial, and the 137 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.120 best evidence for a resurrection is one guy who gave 138 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:22.439 us a rather vague he was revealed to me statement. Yeah. 139 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:24.040 He also added his name to the list of people 140 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.160 who had seen arisen Jesus in First Corinthians fifteen. But again, 141 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:29.480 that is worded in a way that makes it unclear 142 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.600 whether this was a bodily resurrection or just an appearance, 143 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.199 which might seem like splitting hairs. But I feel like 144 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:37.319 it's a lot easier to wind up with mistaken witnesses 145 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.959 if the event they supposedly witnessed was inside their head 146 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:40.560 to begin with. 147 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:45.079 First deception, this idea that Jesus' disciples concocted the whole 148 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.839 resurrection story. There are number of different ways that people 149 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:48.720 make this case. 150 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:51.560 There are, indeed, and well, it is not the option 151 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.560 that I personally hold to. It is entirely reasonable to 152 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:56.879 think that a handful of people made up a religion 153 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:00.079 for power and profit. A common response to this is 154 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.079 to point out how humble the early church leaders like 155 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.120 Paul were. And yeah, in the letters that Paul wrote 156 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.079 to convince his followers that he was but a humble 157 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:09.959 servant of God, he definitely came across as a humble 158 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.680 servant of God. But if we put our skeptical hats 159 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.399 on for a moment, let's hypothetically start with the assumption 160 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.720 that Paul was making it up for power and profit. 161 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:20.399 Would we expect him to just come out and say 162 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:22.839 that in his letters or would we expect him to 163 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:25.240 pump up his image as a humble servant of God? 164 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.759 And humans kind of suck. There are plenty of people 165 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.439 who go on power trips over tiny things that don't 166 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:34.040 matter in the slightest. My partner is on the PTA, 167 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.439 and the treasurer of the PTA is a person who 168 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:39.839 uses her position as treasurer to exert her authority over 169 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:42.759 everyone else. She has had to be reminded several times 170 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.680 that once the PTA has voted on something, her sole 171 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.839 job is to sign the check. She doesn't have veto power, 172 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:51.120 even though she seems to think that she does, and 173 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.360 we're not talking about massive expenditures here. She's caused problems 174 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.000 over things like buying a caraft to put hot chocolate 175 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.240 in during certain school events. Point is, some people go 176 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.519 to weird lengths to assert even the smallest bit of authority. 177 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.560 So even though I don't personally think this is what happened, 178 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:09.120 it's not implausible to suggest that this is what Paul 179 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.480 was doing when he decided to join the newly formed 180 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:12.319 Christian community. 181 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.199 Perhaps the oldest one is to stolen body theory, mentioned 182 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:19.120 in the Bible itself Matthew twenty eight eleven through fifteen. 183 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:22.160 Here the claim is that the Jewish leaders started the 184 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:25.079 rumor that Jesus' friends snuck into the tomb when the 185 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:28.040 gods were asleep or something like that, stole his corpse, 186 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.199 and fabricated the whole resurrection story for some sort of 187 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:33.320 social or political gain or influence. 188 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.840 Ah. So for this one, I don't think we even 189 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.080 have to go as far as suggesting that anyone was lying, 190 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.200 Given that the most likely scenario for what happened to 191 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:41.960 Jesus' body is that it was left on the cross 192 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.720 for several days before being thrown into an unmarked mass grave. 193 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:47.919 The story of the disciples stealing the body probably developed 194 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.159 in tandem with the story of the empty tomb. To 195 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.720 be clear, this is just a hypothetical here, but it 196 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:55.639 seems entirely plausible to me that at first nobody knew 197 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.279 where Jesus' body was, and all of his appearances were 198 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:00.919 spiritual anyway, so what is it even matter. But as 199 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:03.399 the story was told and retold, eventually someone thought to 200 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:05.960 ask where his body was, because it seems weird that 201 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.519 such an important person wouldn't have a proper burial. So 202 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.440 the tomb story began. But the resurrection was still spiritual, 203 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.240 so it's weird that you can't tell me where the 204 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:15.879 tomb is, and so on and so on. At no 205 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:18.320 point in the development of the story did anyone have 206 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:20.559 to be lying. It could easily have grown in this 207 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:22.840 manner through the same kind of apologetic reasoning that we 208 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.480 see happening today with stories like the death of Judas 209 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:28.519 the Bible covers three aspects of judas death. First, what 210 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.240 happened to the thirty pieces of silver? Second the manner 211 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.679 of judas death, and third why the field is called 212 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.360 the field of blood. In Matthew, Judas throws the silver 213 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.639 into the temple, which the chief priests collect and then 214 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.000 used to buy the potter's field. Judas then dies by 215 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.840 hanging himself in an unspecified location. And the reason the 216 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:45.799 potter's field is called the field of blood is because 217 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.639 the chief priest used blood money to buy it. In Acts, 218 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.120 Judas himself uses the thirty pieces of silver to buy 219 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.600 a field. He dies by falling headlong and bursting open 220 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:55.440 in the middle, and it is the field of blood 221 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:58.360 because of the gruesome death that he experienced there. These 222 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:01.879 are too fairly simple and obvious contradictory accounts, But when 223 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:03.879 you look up what happened to Judas, you'll find a 224 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:07.039 fairly common story on pretty much all of the apologetics websites. 225 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.120 In most cases, it goes something like this. Judas threw 226 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.320 the money into the temple, then he went and hanged himself. 227 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:14.919 His body went undiscovered for long enough that it became bloated, 228 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:17.559 and eventually either the tree branch or the rope snapped, 229 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:20.279 dropping his body, which, because of the bloating, burst open 230 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.399 on impact. The chief priest then used the money to 231 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.399 buy the field that Judas died in and named it 232 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.840 the field of Blood. Also, the priest buying the field 233 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:29.639 with Judas money counted as Judas buying the field, because 234 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.480 how else are you supposed to make that one makes sense? 235 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:34.960 Setting aside that this isn't really a satisfying harmonization, you'll 236 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.480 notice that the Bible makes no mention of his body 237 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:39.759 being undiscovered for any amount of time, the bloating of 238 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.120 his body, the rope or branch snapping, or his fall 239 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:45.200 being a post mortem event. But these details being absent 240 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:48.279 from the Bible do nothing to dissuade the Christian organizations 241 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:51.519 from treating them as almost canonical facts. So with the 242 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:53.840 example of the Judas story in hand, we can see 243 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.759 how people who sincerely believe positing what they think are 244 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.080 plausible responses to criticism can result in the story growing 245 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.480 over time, with more and more details being added to 246 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:05.840 fill in skeptical questions later, and as a bonus, this 247 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:08.240 explains a lot of the contradictions in the Gospels. They 248 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.519 didn't have the Internet, so apologist couldn't just reference each 249 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:12.519 other and come to a singular conclusion like they seem 250 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.960 to have with the Judah story. So each community's version 251 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:16.960 of the story developed in slightly different ways. 252 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.720 But the problems here abound. But one, Roman guards don't 253 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:24.679 just sleep through a grave robbery, and Jesus followers, frightened, 254 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:28.480 scattered teenage women amongst them weren't exactly a covid ops 255 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:30.240 team capable for the task. 256 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:33.120 Oh, so you're going with the apologetic tactic of assuming 257 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.679 that the Bible is accurately recording events and then using 258 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.840 that assumption to conclude that the Bible accurately recorded events. 259 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.600 If I doubt the resurrection as recorded by the Bible, 260 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.080 why would I accept the guard at the tomb, especially 261 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:46.279 given that it only appears in one gospel, and in 262 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.480 that gospel it is specifically there to set up a 263 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:50.960 counter to the accusation of body theft. I don't think 264 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:53.320 that Jesus was ever in a tomb, so why would 265 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:55.600 I believe that there was a Roman guard guarding the 266 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:57.159 tomb that I don't think existed. 267 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:00.080 Also, if the body was stolen, why didn't the au 268 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.919 already simply produce it to end the momentum of this 269 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:03.799 movement before it. 270 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.600 Began, assuming that the authorities actually cared to stop the 271 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.879 movement before it began. If his body were unceremoniously tossed 272 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.559 into a mass grave, then it is incredibly unlikely that 273 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.600 they would be capable of identifying it, even if they 274 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:15.120 wanted to. 275 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:17.720 I mean, it's not like Jesus' friends ran away to 276 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.679 some far off country to begin telling this tale. They 277 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.480 started talking about it days after jesus public execution in 278 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:26.360 the very same city that it all went down. 279 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.639 If I grant that, keep in mind that this is 280 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.840 a major city. Its population during the first centuries estimated 281 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.440 to be somewhere between twenty and one hundred thousand. Not 282 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:38.320 a lot by today's standards, but it's not insignificant. For comparison, 283 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:40.519 I live in a town of about thirty thousand people. 284 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:43.559 In twenty twenty two, there was a brutal murder in 285 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.200 an apartment building that is within walking distance of where 286 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.519 I lived at the time. The victim's body was found 287 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:50.559 in a storage shed belonging to a church that I 288 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.799 had attended VBS at as a child. That's Vacation Bible 289 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.279 School for those of you not blessed with a Christian upbringing, 290 00:12:56.519 --> 00:12:59.159 A shocking crime happened quite near me and what is, 291 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:01.960 by today's standards a fairly small town and involved a 292 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:05.039 church that I have relatively close ties to. Do you 293 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:07.879 know when I found out about this attack today? When 294 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.080 I was looking for information on a different murder that 295 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.240 happened on the street that I lived on at the time, 296 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.679 within a block of where I was living, and which 297 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:17.519 I didn't find out about for several years. So in 298 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.279 my lifetime in this small town, there have been two 299 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.879 murders within walking distance of my home, and even in 300 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.039 this age of the Internet, it took me years to 301 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.759 find out about them. My point is a lot can 302 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.440 happen in a town of this size without everybody knowing 303 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.960 about it. So there is no reason to think that 304 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:36.799 even if the Disciples began preaching about it days after 305 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:40.360 the crucifixion, they wouldn't have just flown completely under the radar. 306 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:42.519 But there's also really no reason to think that the 307 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:45.639 Disciples began preaching that early or in that region, or 308 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:48.159 that all of them even joined in. There's actually another 309 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.600 potential apologetic in Matthew that would explain the noted absence 310 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.200 of several of the disciples. Matthew twenty eight sixteen through 311 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:57.519 seventeen says, quote, now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, 312 00:13:57.559 --> 00:13:59.759 to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and 313 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:03.000 they saw him. They worshiped him, but some doubted, which 314 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:05.799 to a first century Christian would explain why they aren't 315 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.840 here preaching today, despite the fact that they're such a 316 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:12.200 prominent figure in the story. Also, notably, Galilee is not Jerusalem, 317 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.720 and this is the first appearance of Jesus to the disciples, 318 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.320 So no, at least according to the Book of Matthew, 319 00:14:17.480 --> 00:14:20.120 the disciples did not start talking about it in Jerusalem 320 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:21.320 days after the execution. 321 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.639 Perhaps the reason the authorities didn't produce the corpse is 322 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.639 simply because they had no corpse to produce. 323 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:29.840 Which would be the case if his body were thrown 324 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.279 into a mass grave. Thanks for coming to my ted talk. 325 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.240 Even more compelling, though, is why would Jesus followers willingly 326 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:38.519 suffer for a claim that they knew was a lie? 327 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:40.799 Who says they did. The sources for the martyrdom of 328 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:44.279 the disciples are extremely dubious, and none of them actually 329 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:45.879 say that they were ever given a chance to save 330 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.279 their skin if they were canted, Can we really say 331 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:50.639 that they died for the lie? If they were never 332 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:52.559 given a chance to live. If they admitted it was 333 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:54.559 a lie. 334 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.799 They had nothing to gain and everything to lose. It's 335 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:59.120 a well documented fact that for the first two to 336 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:02.159 three hundred years of the early Christian Church, Christians would 337 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:05.000 brually tortured and killed for their beliefs in the Resurrection 338 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:05.840 of Jesus. 339 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.279 Ooh, buddy's being really slippery here. What does this say 340 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:11.360 about your case if you have to be so deceptive 341 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.039 in order to make it notice? How he neatly transitioned 342 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:16.639 from the question of whether the disciples would be willing 343 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:18.799 to be tortured for a lie to it being a 344 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:21.960 well documented fact that Christians were persecuted for the first 345 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.720 four centuries. In the time when the original Eleven Disciples 346 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.519 would have been doing their preaching, there was zero precedent 347 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.279 for Christian persecution. Religion in the Roman Empire was a 348 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.480 largely local affair, and they were generally quite tolerant. The 349 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.799 first century Jews even had several exemptions specifically to accommodate 350 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.679 their religion, and for quite a while after Christianity's origin, 351 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.639 it was essentially a sect of Judaism, so the first 352 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.399 Christians had no reason to think that they'd be any 353 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.480 more or less persecuted than the Jews. It wasn't until 354 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.559 Nero needed an escapegoat for the fire in Rome in 355 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.600 sixty four CE that persecution actually began to specifically target Christians, 356 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.840 more than thirty years after Jesus would have been crucified, 357 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:01.960 and even then the persecution were local, not empire wide, 358 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:05.080 at least not until Diocletian began issuing edicts regarding Christians 359 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.720 than three zero three CE, meaning that, yes, Christians were 360 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.159 persecuted in the Roman Empire, but that persecution was sporadic 361 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.159 and local, meaning that most Christians could expect to live 362 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.600 relatively normal lives. So there is little to no evidence 363 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:20.879 that the disciples were martyred, and the average Christian of 364 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:23.240 the time could reasonably expect to be left alone by 365 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.799 the authorities. So yeah, there's really not much here, is there. 366 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:29.879 How do we explain they resolve in the face of 367 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:33.600 such persecution or the subsequent sweep of Christianity across the 368 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:36.159 Roman Empire that went on to reshape the world as 369 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:36.879 we know today. 370 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:39.600 The resolve of the average Christian is explained in the 371 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:41.960 same way as the resolve of modern examples of religious 372 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:44.559 people dying for their beliefs. The nine to eleven hijackers 373 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.799 died for their beliefs. Does that mean Islam is true? 374 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:49.039 But the result of people who would have been in 375 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.639 a position to know if the whole thing was a 376 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:53.799 lie is pure speculation. As to it sweeping through the 377 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:56.200 Roman Empire, that's not really much of a mystery. Once 378 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.399 the Roman Emperor converted to Christianity, How on earth could 379 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.759 Christianity we have spread so fast. It's not like it 380 00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:03.960 was being propped up by the most powerful military force 381 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:04.960 in the world or anything. 382 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.279 However, you explain that, I'd submit to you that deception 383 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:10.440 at the heart of it all by Jesus' friends and 384 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.279 followers is an unlikely reason. 385 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:14.839 I don't think it's unlikely. I just think that a 386 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.200 handful of his followers being honestly convinced by some sort 387 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:20.200 of experience like a bereavement hallucination is more likely than 388 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.119 them being dishonest s grifters. But hey, it's not like 389 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.480 Christianity suffers from a lack of dishonest s grifters, So 390 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:28.119 it wouldn't actually be all that surprising to me if 391 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.680 that were indeed how it started. 392 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:32.599 So that leaves us now with a second possibility. If 393 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.799 Jesus followers weren't deceivers, maybe they were simply deluded. 394 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:39.720 Again, I'd prefer mistaken to dilute. It covers more bases 395 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:41.759 that way, But yeah, I am a fan of pology 396 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.680 as minimal witnesses hypothesis the idea that potentially as few 397 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:46.759 as one of the disciples had an experience of some 398 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:49.279 kind that they interpreted as being arisen Jesus, and this 399 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.039 experience was the spark that started the fire of Christianity. 400 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:55.079 On this score, a number of popular theories have been 401 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:57.759