Atheists interpret bible verses

[Esquilax]

The disciples and the other writers of the new testament were tortured and faced death threats throughout their ministry. Is it not reasonable to assume they were telling the truth or do you think they were defending a lie?

So, first of all, the authors of the new testament were anonymous, so you don't know what they did or what happened to them. Secondly, what you have here is a false dichotomy, because there are more than two options. It's not just "they were telling the truth or lying," because people can die for beliefs that are false, they do it all the time. It's so frustrating that so many christians roll out this "die for a lie," nonsense, because the response is so obvious: you don't think muslim martyrs died because islam is definitely true, do you?