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[Newbie]

Would you believe the resurrection claims if you heard them first hand from eyewitnesses? Suppose that you're walking down the street and a group of people approach you with a story about how their wise respected religious leader was recently raised from the dead. They all seem very sincere and they are providing details about how this person was killed, buried in the ground, and then was seen walking around three days later. They touched his body, he appeared to many people at once, he remembered them all from before he died. These people all claim to have seen this first hand and are able to answer all the questions you have about the situation in a convincing way. They tell you a bit about their guru's teachings and you find them agreeable.

There is no video footage of the event and their leader has since ascended to heaven and is no longer around. But you can confirm from external sources that there was a religious leader by this name who was known to have a small following. You can also confirm that this person was known to have died. You also can confirm that his body went missing from his tomb sometime after his death.

Given this information, what level of confidence would you place on the idea that a resurrection took place? Do you think you would be as convinced as you are about the resurrection of Jesus? Why or why not?

[jimwalton]

A lot of factors play into a scenario like this. First, I don't think any rational person would just accept testimony like that out of hand. It's too preposterous. Anybody but anybody would expect some kind of certification that such a thing has happened, because it's too out of this world. But if the testifiers were people that I knew and trusted, that would really make me wonder what was going on. Depending on their sincerity and insistence, it would motivate me to investigate the testimonies and material evidences for myself. But by now, according to your scenario, most likely all the material evidences have been moved and changed: the "crime scene" is corrupted beyond repair and the evidence is no longer there. What would it take for me to believe on testimony alone? That depends on who the people are who are doing the telling, how they are telling it, and what effect I see on them and others based on what they claimed has happened.

After all, the gospels and Acts tell the story that the disciples were extremely doubtful and skeptical, but they and others became radically changed people. I'm sure all of it would weigh in as I considered the credibility of the report.