"Eric Miller" wrote in message et...
This is off the subject of evolution which is already off-topic for RAH
(especially since none of us here have evolved; we're all either flying
chimps, wrench monkeys or both ) but...

Actually, the discussion started on religion. Somehow got hijacked to
biology.

Corrie wrote:
I invite you to do your own investigation into the Empty Tomb. That's
what it all comes down to as far as I'm concerned. If the
resurrection can be proven false, the whole Christian worldview comes
tumbling down.

Again, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Nothing could be more extraordinary, so it doesn't have to be proven false,
it's assumed to be false.
Claimants have to prove it's true beyond a shadow a doubt.

Sorry, Eric, that's simply a cop-out. I don't have to prove it beyond
a shadow of a doubt, because then there would be no room for faith,
and faith is important. There *will* come a time when there is no
more doubt - when every knee will bow and every mouth confess that
Jesus is Lord. But at that point it'll be too late.

But back to the investigation, you're going at things backwards again.
Explain the empty tomb. That's not an extraordinary claim. It's a
puzzling phenomenon. What are the possible explanations? I've heard
four.

1. The resurrection was a Mithras story grafted on in the second
century. But that doesn't explain why Paul - writing in the mid-50's
- preached Christ crucified and risen. It also doesn't explain the
earliest copies of Mark ending with the discovery of the empty tomb.
The textual evidence eliminates this hypothesis.

2. Jesus just fainted on the cross and spontaneously revived over the
weekend. Utter rubbish. Apart from the idiocy of claiming that a
person could undergo so much trauma as to appear dead and then revive
enough to roll back a large stone, Jesus was certified dead by a
professional executioner. What we know of medicine eliminates this
hypothesis.

3. There was a conspiracy to steal the body. Doesn't match the
evidence OR what we know about human nature. The arrest and execution
of Jesus caught the disciples by surprise. They were in shock and
disarray, hiding in fear for their lives. This is a cabal that can
pull off the greatest heist in history and not get caught? Plus, a
conspiracy does not explain the documented sightings of Jesus by
dozens of eyewitnesses. Skeptics usually claim those were mass
hysteria. Unfortunately for them, modern psychological studies of
mass hysteria don't match the reported sightings. Psychology
dismisses this hypothesis.

4. Jesus rose from the dead. Really, historically, factually. It
seems a fantastic impossibility, but it's the only explanation left
standing. As Holmes said to Watson, when you have exhausted all other
possibilities, that which remains, no matter how implausible, must be
the truth.



Something like 71% of the world population is non-Christian; I'd say that
constitutes some doubt

We haven't reached everyone yet. :-D

It's a bit like the difference between assuming guilt or innocence in a
court of law.

No, this is a civil matter - preponderance of evidence prevails. We
start with no preconceptions either way and see where the evidence
leads. Inductive reasoning.