Did Jesus’ Disciples Die for Witnessing His Resurrection?
Many Christians cite church tradition but they don’t know how thin the evidence is
One common argument Christians often make to support the claim that Jesus rose from the dead is about his twelve disciples (“The Twelve”). They say that because these disciples were willing to die rather than deny their testimonies of witnessing Jesus’ resurrection, they were sincere in their belief.
I challenge this idea in another article I wrote, “Jesus’ Disciples Wouldn’t Be Willing to Die for Their Lies” (link at the bottom). I argue that sometimes, people risk their lives for things they know aren’t true.
But let’s assume for a moment that people only tell the truth when they’re facing death. Even then, we need strong evidence that those who said they saw Jesus after his death actually died for sticking to their story. It’s crucial for Christians to demonstrate that the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection were killed because they proclaimed it was true.
Surprisingly, many Christians aren’t aware of how shaky and unreliable the evidence is for the martyrdom of these eyewitnesses. A lot don’t even know where these stories come from. In this article, I’m going to break it all down for you.
