(July 6, 2016 at 12:57 pm)Vicki Q Wrote: With apologies, but I'm really not up for thoroughly researching every fringe theory. Three I can do off the top of my head- Gospel of Peter, no (for the reasons it never became canonical); Matthew's pre-resurrection appearances would need a long answer; appearances of the BVM dunno.
One final, inevitable, one:
Loch Ness monster, no. ( Go there- it's a lovely place to visit, and you can find out why not at the display).
I find it absolutely incredible that you would discount modern-day claims to encounters with the supernatural, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary's supposed apparitions at Fatima and in Egypt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Zeitoun
And, yet, you think that there is a historical case to be made about a man (Paul) whose experiences are entirely consistent with temporal lobe epilepsy and then appeal to the Gospels, which were authored by anonymous, non-eyewitness Greek speaking Christians some 40 to 100 years after the events that they purport to narrate, which are full of historical inaccuracies and contradictions, and which themselves went through a century or more of embellishments, redaction and modifications.
Sorry, but I don't buy it; I don't think that anyone else should, either. By the way, you never answered my question about the multiple resurrection appearances in Matthew; do you believe those to be historical? And, nothing that you said in your reply above contradicts the modern scholarly consensus that the Roman persecutions of Christians were sporadic and episodic events and were more political than religious persecutions.