Most respected scholars don't believe Jesus life was exaggerated, but accept that:Originally Posted by Juliet
- He died by crucifixion and was buried
- the disciples sincerely believed that He rose from the dead and appeared to them
- the church persecutor Paul (outsider skeptic) was suddenly changed
- the skeptic James (family skeptic), brother of Jesus, was suddenly changed
- the tomb was empty
- the disciples were in dispair, lost hope, but in seeing his resurrection, they became bold proclaimers
- the resurrection was the central message
- the church was born and grew from Jerusalem
The early documentation to support this is substantial. There has been no contrary account proposed by skeptics that have been deemed viable to explain the eyetwitness accounts of Jesus and the martyrdom of the apostles in their claims of the resurrection of Christ.
Though not everyone accepts Christ, the scholarly community agrees on these points and for that matter, they can find no logical explanation to provide a natural explanation. That is why Antony Flew who is considered himself the leading scholar in the world for atheism has turned to believing in an uncreated creator, though he still fights with believing in Christ.
All of those books, I recall, you mentioned are in the references and used and quoted by Gary Habermas in The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. He addresses all those books' major concerns. So you need to uplevel yourself to the response to their ideas by reading this book. He is most comprehensive and thorough, and who is considered by many to be the leading scholar on the resurrection. You will love taking the Resurrection Challenge on CD that comes with the book. This book is like his consummating work of many previous books. It is so precise in its delivery I highly recommend it.
Have you heard of the lawyer in the guiness book of records who is reported as having won 245 cases in a row. Well he said that he has never seen a better case than for the death and resurrection of Christ. In other words, if the resurrection is true, you won't be able to provide better evidence than the evidence that has existed these past 1900+ years.
The religio-historical context fits by 40 writers over 1500 years, the miracles, fulfilled prophecies (62 with amazing odds that only God could fulfill) and the reasonableness of it all that we are sinners and sin leads to death and the second death because our souls can't be annihilated in being made in God's image. Therefore, a redemption is needed and no better redemption can be achieved than the salvation of God Himself entering int creation to provide the perfect sacrifice for sins. If you believe in this man who is also God, you are going to be recruited by God into His kingdom to receive the glory of His eternal blessings.
For Christ to enter into His creation now for the first time would be utter confusion and logistically impossible. He would be killed in an instant, cutting short his 3 year ministry which was short enough as it was. I think in those days in Judea and Galilee at least Jesus could escape for a short while those who were trying to kill him. I have talked to a lot of non-Christians about Christ if He were to first enter creation today, and they say to me they feel the world would kill him right quick. What does that say of humanity, their sin nature, hostility to their creator and love for the god of this world who is Satan? Islam for example would kill him the first chance they get.
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