(October 19, 2012 at 5:14 pm)pocaracas Wrote:(October 19, 2012 at 3:47 pm)Godschild Wrote:100 years ago, there were places in this country (Portugal) where old roman roads (yes, the real 2000 year old things) were the best the people had to go somewhere. Back then, it was common for people never to travel more than 50km away from their home town/village.
Sorry but your analogy does not hold up, first there were churches in Israel, second there was mass trade all through those areas. Rome made this easy by land with all the roads they built and sea travel had been going on for a very long time, so you see that part of the world had shrank because of the easier travel.
My claim is that none of the original witnesses would have, most likely, never traveled to where these "leading churches" were located. Thus, there was no way to verify/discredit the writings they received from any self-entitled authority on the subject.
People believed what they wanted to believe... The story was good and appealed to human decency. That's why it stuck.
As John V points out the Jews were traveling back to Jerusalem from far off places, and it's important to remember that Paul was setting up these churches or as said earlier communities of believes. Paul was also leaving people in charge of these churches and the Gospel spread in these areas through these churches. God knew when to send His Son, during the time of Roman domination and innovation, this allowed the Gospel to spread quickly.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
