RE: The Historical Reliability of the New Testament
May 25, 2015 at 10:25 am
(This post was last modified: May 25, 2015 at 10:38 am by Angrboda.)
(May 25, 2015 at 8:03 am)robvalue Wrote: You may find this video interesting regarding the "die for a lie" argument.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHEiBvB-Xu0
This has been bugging me for some time. The would not die for a lie claim imagines justice in the ancient world anachronistically. People were no doubt executed after being coerced into confessing a false confession, executed even though they recanted, and didn't recant because doing so would have had no effect. There probably were cases where they weren't even asked to testify before being convicted and executed. People who were opposed by authorities probably not infrequently ended up executed as miscarriages of justice solely to satisfy a flawed process or one influenced by political motives. Justice in the ancient world was not at all the clean, fair process we have today. I suspect that martyrs would have been executed in spite of their testimony.