ABSTRACT
While many people throughout history would be willing to sacrifice everything (including their own lives) for what they believe to be true (even though it may not actually be true), no large group of people would be willing to sacrifice everything for what they do not believe to be true and be condemned by God after death for being false witnesses (cf. 1 Cor. 15:15). This chapter explains that the earliest Christians devoutly believed that such a God exists and for them to claim to have seen the resurrected Jesus risked suffering and death. Moreover, if they did not experience anything which they thought was the resurrected Jesus, during times of persecution they would not have appeared genuine and consistent in testifying that they had such experiences. Given these considerations, it is unreasonable to think that ‘more than five hundred brethren,’ the ‘other apostles,’ and sceptics like James and Paul as well as ‘the Twelve’ could have claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus without having seen anything like that and be willing to be persecuted. It can therefore be concluded that they did experience something which they thought was the resurrected Jesus.
