(December 26, 2015 at 6:10 am)Delicate Wrote:(December 25, 2015 at 6:05 pm)Jehanne Wrote: You have no evidence that there was a "mass" to begin with. Large numbers of individuals may have claimed to have "seen" the postmortem Jesus at the same time, and later on, simply combined and embellished their experiences after that. The so-called "Miracle of the Sun" is an example of this; disparate accounts of individuals who claimed to have seen the Sun "dance" in the sky, while others claimed to have seen nothing at all, while others still vehemently denied that anything at all happened. And yet, "some doubted" (Matthew 28:17) speaks volumes as to the fact that nothing at all happened in the case of Jesus. After all, if Jesus truly rose from the dead then there should have been no doubts whatsoever as to that "fact".Unlike some others here I appreciate the concrete attempts to explain away the resurrection.
Many others on this forum cannot provide anything of the sort. You're already head and shoulders above the rest here in terms of intelligence.
But I'm not sure about your case yet. How do you explain mass hallucinations happening at the same time? Even people who take drugs together don't have the same shared experience.
The case about the sun is intriguing but unlike the sun, Jesus was purported to go around in very close proximity to people and for long periods of time. He wasn't at a distance or subject to visual distortions like the sun is relative to us.
Not to mention the mention of doubting suggests this event was recorded with history in mind, including embarrassing details that would have otherwise been left out of this was propaganda.
Not to mention doubting Thomas who ended up touching Jesus' wounds and believing.
Finally you suggest there should be no doubts. But I think it's always possible to doubt. Passers-by who saw Jesus in passing didn't have the chance to receive Jesus closely. Even if they did see the actual resurrected Jesus, on such a passing basis doubt is understandable.
So while I admire your attempt I think your account is quite weak due to the issues raised.
While I think one might be rational in not believing, if we concede there is no a priori impossibility of miracles established, believing in the resurrection given God's existence seems not terribly problematic one the anti miracle bias if dealt with.
We did. It is a myth. It never happened. You could claim Yoda is real it would be the same fucking thing. Nobody survives that kind of torture, dies and comes back as the fictional story intends the reader to believe. You are not going to peddle your superstition here.
