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Questions on the 500
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Questions on the 500
New forums! Thought I’d start off a topic.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.” Cor 15:3-7
I have some questions for you regarding the 500 and this passage as evidence of Jesus Resurrection:
1. If Paul had said Jesus appeared to 1000 witnesses would this be more evidence, less evidence or the same as the original passage?
2. If Paul had said Jesus appeared to 250 witnesses on one occasion and then another 250 witnesses on another occasion, is this more evidence, less evidence or the same as the original passage?
3. If Paul had said Jesus appeared to 500 witnesses on one occasion and then another 500 witnesses on another occasion, is this more evidence, less evidence or the same as the original passage?
I’m interested in hearing your thoughts, especially from Christians.
If you would like to pose and discuss other interesting scenarios, feel free.
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4 Replies
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How about, “Jesus appeared to three persons, and here are their names. I’ve asked each to write a testimonial about the event to include in these proceedings.” Perhaps in those days they didn’t know about the value of a testimonial, or how to include lengthy quotes from someone else.
The miracles claimed in the Bible are known to be false by how little impact they had. Either that or it is human nature to laugh and shrug off miracles, as Paul seems to imply that some had seen Jesus but then “fell asleep,” i.e. no longer regarded the event as compelling or significant.
I mean, if someone, Lazarus or Jesus, is really coming back from the dead, it ought to have made a bigger immediate splash among a responsive race. As it is the lackluster response of the locals shows us the miracles were made up, or humans aren’t impressed with miracles, or both.
Were the Lord alive today then surely five hundred have seen Him; and they aren’t talking either.
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If Paul had said…
The problem, of course, is that we would need reason to believe Paul in the first place. Otherwise it doesn’t really matter what he says—none of it would be good evidence for anything about Jesus, or even just about the additional claims of a hypothetical group of 500 believers.
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Nothing Paul could have written would have made his account more believable. His account is only one account regardless of how many people he claimed saw it. You need corboration for the additional claims. We don’t have that.
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I’d agree with your perspectives. In the words of Gimli “That still only counts as 1!” – or not even 1, since it is hearsay. I would be interested in the perspective of Christians who do include the claim of 500 as evidence though. Are there any Christians on the new forums?
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