re did he really rise in article apr athos rutgers edu ata hfsi hfsi com john ata writes i think you are vastly oversimplifying things we know that early christians suffered totures because of their witness to christ for example act it appears that the jewish rulers of that time had a particular aversion to even hearing jesus s name finally the first apostle s death james of zebedee was certainly not by rome s hand any more than the first martyr stephen the problem was that if one believed in the resurrection then one must believe in jesus as truly being the son of god and what he stood for and preached during his ministry on earth that would have been extremely difficult for some people especially those that had plotted to kill him the basic problem with your argument is your total and complete reliance on the biblical text luke s account is highly suspect i would refer you to the hermeneia commentary on acts moreover luke s account is written at least years after the fact in the meantime everyone he mentions has died and attempts to find actual written sources behind the text have come up with only the we section of the later portion of acts as firmly established moreover pauls account of some of the events in acts as recorded in galatians fail to establish the acts accounts what we need therefore is a reliable text critically appreciated which documents the death of christians for belief in the resurrection i would suggest you look at some greek and roman historians i think you will be disapointed randy
