Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: lindborg@cs.washington.edu (Jeff Lindborg) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Attempts to Prove the Resurrection Message-ID: Date: 30 May 91 04:04:54 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Washington Computer Science Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article MNHCC@cunyvm.bitnet writes: >Tom, The idea that Pilate faked the Resurrection to teach the Jewish >leaders, who had pressured him into approving the Crucifixion, a lesson >doesn't work. Pilate went along with the Crucifixion because he wanted >to keep things quiet. True enough... Although from what we know of Pilate from other, more reliable sources, he comes across as just the kind of hard nosed guy who would have any messianic pretender killed... It doesn't seem to me that he would be forced to do something like crucify Jesus just because the Jews 'pressured' him into it. Quite likely this was an embelishment of later Christian writers who had become more than just a little frustrated with the Jewish community who refused to recognize Jesus as Christ, like they did. Evidence of this is plentifull... MANY early Christian writers employed more than their share of blatant antisemitism in their works. > A disappearance of the body could only stir up >the people, as indeed it did. Excuse me? Jesus died a relatively obscure figure in history. Many historians, and myself, contend that Paul was largely responsible for the foundation of the Christian religion. The death of Christ stirred little... very little evidence of Jesus can be found outside of the Bible, let alone accounts of his body disapearing. I believe you overestimate the public response to Jesus during His time, as many Christians do. The Bible gives a very utopian model. In fact, things aren't really "stirred up" until some 70 odd years later when the Romans finally destroy the temple... that turned some heads indeed. >further, >after Pentecost the Apostles proclaimed the Resurrection of Jesus, causing >a lot of disorder. If Pilate had moved the body he would then have produced >it to quiet things down. Again, absolutely NO evidence of any 'disorder' at all can be found for this period in history as it relates to Jesus outside the Bible. As such, I doubt Pilate would have any motivation to produce a body to quiet things down... there was nothing to quiet down. Christianity doesn't gain a significant number of adherents until nearly a century after his death. Jeff Lindborg