MERGED: The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Part 1) & (Part 2)

[Mudhammam]

But Paul says he visited and stayed with Jesus' brother and his best friend!!! ;-)

Yes, because there was only one dude with that name in all of Palestine.

An even better way to come at is that, apart from Acts and the Gospels, which mainstream academia admits don't record reliable history, we know little to nothing about the historical lives, including characters and reputations, of Jesus, James, or Peter, their relationships to one another or the population at large, or THE SPECIFICS OF THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. The best we can say is that the latter two were possibly "pillars" or leaders in the first "Nazorean" or Jewish Christian "church" in Jerusalem which had an innovative, syncretic, new, popular religion to sell, and that Paul was perhaps it's most enthusiastic, influential, and interesting convert.