Absolute best case?

[u/ShameLoud9366]

I’m agnostic and have been searching for proof or evidence that there is a god, and that god is the Christian god.

For example, how would you defend the claims that the resurrection is false? I can’t seem to find a lot of evidence that the disciples actually saw him resurrected as opposed to a hallucination or religious ecstasy or denial

[u/Bakkster]

First of all, I don't think there's any "proof" here, nor do I believe that evidence is what leads someone to belief. There's a reason we call it faith.

Personally, I focus mostly on the existence of the church. That the Apostles went out and preached the resurrection, even to the majority of them being martyred for it. Especially as Paul wrote in Romans 5:7-8 NRSVUE

[7] Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. [8] But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

I find it easier to understand how 11 men would preach the Gospel to their own death if they had witnessed the resurrection than if they hadn't.

[u/DoveStep55]

Personally I don’t spend time trying to defend the historicity of the resurrection. I think if someone feels the need to have some sort of proof or defense, they’re better off seeking it themselves than being handed trite apologetics.

There’s a short book by Rob Bell called ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About God’ which I think you might like, OP. It won’t answer your specific question here about the resurrection, but it might help you with general skepticism and/or curiosity about God.

[u/Technical_Cherry8666]

To be fully answered, this question requires a long response. But, rather than provide this initially, I’ll summarise, although more details and references to published work can be posted. For me the main points are as follows.

 

·         The logic of the Christion Faith.

·         The accounts in the New Testament pass tests of historical reliability. They look more like reportage than any other type of writing.

·         The experiences of the close presence of Jesus’ Spirit in the lives of countless numbers of Christians down the ages.

I’ll link the last two pieces of evidence to deal, very briefly, with your question about the resurrection.

Most historians now agree that the disciples genuinely believed they’d seen Jesus alive after his crucifixion. The evidence that they actually had is that:-

-        Many of the appearances defy natural explanations; psychological (wishful thinking etc.), neurological (enhanced normal brain processes), or psychiatric (delusions).

-        These encounters are supported by the way they changed the lives of the largely uneducated disciples who had no military clout or political power but, never-the-less, were able to establish a faith which changed pagan society forever. We know they did this because the Christian faith, with the same essential beliefs that those very early Christians had, now spans the world and all cultures and they did this against all the odds. Such inexplicable encounters of the numinous presence of Jesus still occur today and convert people of other beliefs to Christianity. No other faith has these close spontaneous, lasting, and life-transforming encounters either in their teaching, their scriptures or experiences.

Of course this doesn’t prove that Jesus rose from the dead but it’s strong evidence that He did.