Truth of resurrection and death of the apostles (for Willowtree)

Jim,You said:
"When Xians are debating the resurrection issue, inerrantists like to forget the principle of argumentation that says, "He who asserts must prove." They insist that their opponents have an obligation to prove that the resurrection did NOT happen or at least to offer a better hypothesis for the "data" than their claim that the resurrection literally happened."Proving the Bible is first of all, impossible. All we can do is like in a court of law, look at the evidence and see if it sufficiently supports the claims or not. Opinions will vary on this and you are free not to believe. I happen to believe. The resurrection is impossible to prove either way. What does the evidence say? If you have a better hypothesis for the "data" then please put it forward. I think a literal resurrection best fits the facts and I believe it actually took place. One of piece of data that contributes to this belief for me is the martyr of the disciples.You claim that all religions have martyrs and so the Christian martyrs, if they even happened, prove nothing. You are overlooking one very important point.IN THE CASE OF THE APOSTLES, IF THE RESURRECTION WASN'T TRUE, THEN THEY KNEW IT!Jesus stressed truth his whole life. He predicted His death and even His resurrection. He told his disciples to take this message into the whole world. Was He telling them to spread a lie? Do you think the disciples would actually dedicate their whole lives to spread a boldface lie after all the teaching and training they received from Jesus?Now, if lying about the resurrection somehow benefitted them, then perhaps they would have had a motive to lie. For instance, if they got rich or greatly prospered through their lie, but I find it hard to believe that anyone would welcome persecution, leave family and friends, travel around the globe, suffer all kinds of personal hardships, etc. all for a lie. Go to II Corinthians and read about Paul's life. Would you have lived a life like that if you knew it was all for a lie? No way. These eyewitnesses knew it was true. So your portrayal of the Christian argument on the resurrection is not right. It may not persuade you, but it seems pretty powerful to me.Sure all kinds of religions have martyrs. But I doubt that any of those hijackers that smacked into the WTC if they were religious martyrs, did it believing that their religion is really a lie. It may be a lie, but they don't think so. They actually believed that they would spend heaven surrounded by many beautiful virgins. I think you get the idea of what I'm trying to say.Regards,Tokyojim

Fine, I was just responding to the argument that all religions have martyrs so the disciples of Jesus, if they were martyred are nothing special. There is a difference as I pointed out in my post.I don't have that evidence for you, but as I said in my first post, even if they were not martyred, their lives were greatly changed by something. Scripture says it was seeing the resurrected Savior. They gained nothing by going throughout the world on difficult, tiring, and dangerous missionary journies to spread lies. All they got for their hard work was a bit of persecution. That alone is still strong evidence. I think it would have been virtually for 12 disciples and the other early believers to keep such a lie a secret. No one ever gave in under stress of persecution? Come on.Well, that's my quick reply.Regards,TJ