(January 8, 2024 at 11:52 pm)Angrboda Wrote:(January 8, 2024 at 11:33 pm)JJoseph Wrote: Jesus Christ was not a grifter. He came back from the dead and testified to it. 10 Men saw Him Alive after His Death, and they convinced St. Thomas the Apostle who still doubted it. Later, St. Thomas, and all the Apostles, after placing their hands in His Pierced Heart, or eating with Him, or in other ways, being convinced of the fact of His Resurrection, preached it to all.
Neither St. Paul nor any of the Apostles were "grifters". They didn't make money from their preaching, but preached out of love, even amidst the violence of persecution done unto them. How was St. Paul grifting for e.g. when he had a nice comfortable position in the Synagogue, but left it to join the Church, and then, like the other Apostles, suffered immense persecution for doing so?
Only the fact of the Risen Christ having appeared to him can account for such a dramatic 180 degree change. And there are numerous such witnesses like Him, including the 500 eyewitnesses to the Resurrection. As the Catholic Encyclopedia neatly sums up the Evidence for the Resurrection: "Briefly, therefore, the fact of Christ's Resurrection is attested by more than 500 eyewitnesses, whose experience, simplicity, and uprightness of life rendered them incapable of inventing such a fable, who lived at a time when any attempt to deceive could have been easily discovered, who had nothing in this life to gain, but everything to lose by their testimony, whose moral courage exhibited in their apostolic life can be explained only by their intimate conviction of the objective truth of their message.
Again the fact of Christ's Resurrection is attested by the eloquent silence of the Synagogue which had done everything to prevent deception, which could have easily discovered deception, if there had been any, which opposed only sleeping witnesses to the testimony of the Apostles, which did not punish the alleged carelessness of the official guard, and which could not answer the testimony of the Apostles except by threatening them "that they speak no more in this name to any man" (Acts 4:17). Finally the thousands and millions, both Jews and Gentiles, who believed the testimony of the Apostles in spite of all the disadvantages following from such a belief, in short the origin of the Church, requires for its explanation the reality of Christ's Resurrection, for the rise of the Church without the Resurrection would have been a greater miracle than the Resurrection itself."
Bring forth these witnesses so that they may be cross-examined. Testimony without cross is worth nothing.
Ok, let's play that game, but let's play it like this. I will play-act for any of the Apostles, based on their writings, their records, history etc.
We can start with Saint John or Saint Paul, since they are the most prolific NT Writers, though Saint Peter or Saint James would work too, as they were very close to Jesus. You can cross examine me - play-acting as the Apostles - and I will share for the most part their own written testimony.
For e.g. Saint John says: "We have seen and do testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 Jn 4:14)
And likewise St. Peter and the other Apostles often recall the things they were eyewitnesses to, and which they confirmed in their own blood.
May God Bless and guide all to Heaven/Salvation in Eternity. In Jesus' Name.
