It is a take it or leave it proposition, keep in mind that the Roman soldiers were bribed in order to keep their mouths shut. Then the story was circulated that His disciples had stolen the body. There were 16 Roman troops guarding the tomb, and his disciples stole the body?
He rose, take it or leave it.
I don’t care how many people believe or convert to (or away) from it - none of that equates to ‘proof’ or ‘evidence’ of this alleged resurrection of this alleged ‘son of god’.
Let me see if I have this straight: the one thing you believe about that these guards is that they — could totally be bribed? Because I can explain a whole bunch of stuff about guards, if I have to grant that they’re of the Could Totally Be Bribed type.
(But, wait: if those guards were bribed to keep their mouths shut, who talked so that we know they were bribed to keep their mouths shut?)
I have read some of McDowell’s books and I find them to be absolutely scriptural, and I approach all sources in a discerning manner. That is what is important, ultimately. As a result, I do not have any problem with has conversion account, which is probably truth-based in my opinion.
C. S. Lewis is another famous Christian who was an atheist who wiki says, He became an atheist at age 15, though he later described his young self as being paradoxically “angry with God for not existing”…(He was) influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and Christian friend J. R. R. Tolkien, whom he seems to have met for the first time on 11 May 1926, and the book The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton. Lewis vigorously resisted conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, “kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape”
So, there is all this super-compelling evidence. But rather than show you the actual evidence, I’ll tell you about this guy who was really skeptical (he was a Professor of Skepticism at Oxford University) and he was convinced by the evidence that I’m not showing you! Amazing, eh?
Do Christians proceed in this way in any other aspect of their lives? I mean, when you’re buying a house, do you go and look at it? Or do you hire a guy who really hates houses, and get him to go and check it out for you?
You may mean that as humor - they were part of the “remnant” of God’s nation, per Romans, due to their belief in Jesus as the Messiah, which was in the earlier part of the post you quoted.
There is no grandfather clause. Your grandfather could have been Billy Graham, but what matters is, “Who is Jesus, to you?”
Indeed. I could write an account today of my having seen a lady sawed in half at a magician’s show, but I would no one a couple thousand years from now would find it and think that a lady actually had survived being sawed in half for real.
It proves that beliefs can change over time. Of course we all knew that. I hope those who are trying to prove the resurrection is a historical event put as much effort into feeding the hungry and clothing the naked (and there are certainly plenty of Christians, as well as nonreligious folks, who do just that).
And your main motivation for citing the book was apparently to emphasize just how skeptical the author was before he looked at all of this wonderful evidence.