Jesus did not rise from the dead -- My debate opening statement.

[Jehanne]

I reread that post and nowhere do you answer the question as to why the so-called witnesses of the New Testament (most of whom are anonymous, such as the supposed '500 brethren') are to believed over the thousands of known witnesses alive now who claim that they have been physically abducted by aliens.  As for the so-called 500 brethren, it's very strange that none of them wrote any accounts of their so-called experiences!  Still, I doubt very much that even you, Drich, accept the so-called Miracle of the Sun were 70,000 saw the Sun "miraculously" move from one quadrant of the sky to another before plunging to the Earth.  So, even if the historicity of the so-called 500 is accepted, I can point to other examples from history of mass hallucinations which you no doubt reject, also.

And you still don't get it...

Let me put it to you in your terms.

What if I was abducted and tested on, and told you that if you want proof all you need do is A,B,C and the aliens would 123 you.

Would seeking and obtaining proof for yourself be enough?

That sport is what God offers everyone from then till now. That is why the words of the 500 are more valid. because their words were not ment to convert but to tell people who God is and where to find them for themselves.

Again the bible is not a historical document that simply tells of what things were, but an active map as to where to find God.

Let's do this -- tomorrow night I will flip a coin 100 times.  Between now and then you write down the ordered sequence of heads & tails that I get.  I'll do the same after each coin toss.  And, then, let's compare.  If our lists agree, I'll convert to any religion that you want me to!  Deal?

As for the so-called 500 witnesses, I don't believe that they were authentic.  No one, either secular or Christian, after the time of Paul ever recorded who these individuals were or what they saw and neither did they, themselves, ever identify themselves as being part of the "500 hundred".  Paul, like the Gospels, had a trait of embellishment to him and tended to exaggerate things, as was the case with many writers in the ancient World (size of armies, numbers of deaths, etc.)  Of course, he was writing to a group of individuals who were 500 miles away, with the express goal of strengthening their faith in this supposed "miraculous" event, an event which the Gospels themselves fail to record.

But, even assuming that it happened, it would just be another "mass delusion" in the history of the World.  Lots of those have occurred; I mentioned earlier just one category of such events, the so-called "sun miracles".

By the way, I never mentioned the X-files and have never watched that series or movies.  I do know that Fox used to place one of the X-file characters in some of its other shows, though.  Just Google that; quite interesting!