“Jesus did not die on the cross. He recovered from the effects of the poison, was helped to escape from the tomb by friends, and stayed with them until he reached Rome, where he was present in AD 64. This is not conjecture.”[1] For Barbara Thiering and many others, the resurrection of Jesus is merely a myth. It never happened. The early church made it up. In fact, Thiering states that “the New Testament does not support any assertion that the resurrection is the central event of Christianity.”[2] In order to explain away the resurrection, mythologist James Frazer states that “the resurrection of Christ was a spurious imitation of the resurrection of Attis” created in an attempt to “conquer the world” through “widening a little the narrow gate which leads to salvation.”[3] To Frazer, the resurrection is no more than a Christian myth based on ancient pagan superstition. However, recent research has demonstrated that far from being a copy of the ancient myths, Jesus “was bodily raised from the dead,” and the arguments supporting this hypothesis possess “unrivaled power to explain the historical data at the heart of early Christianity.”[4] In fact, the dissimilarity between the narrative elements of the ancient myths and Jesus’ resurrection, the differences in theological contexts between the resurrection stories, and the historical evidence surrounding Jesus’ resurrection all indicate that the resurrection of Jesus was not based on ancient pagan mythology.
Resurrection Narratives: Adonis
The resurrection narratives found in pagan mythology are fundamentally different than the resurrection described in the New Testament, even though Frazer asserts that Christianity “absorbed more and more of those baser elements” of the pagan religions around it.[5] The earliest example of a dying and rising god is Tammuz of the Babylonians. Tammuz, or Adonis, was the Babylonian/Greek god of “the reproductive energies of nature.”[6] It was thought that he would die every year at the end of autumn and then rise from the dead each spring.[7] This death and resurrection more resembles a journey rather than literal dying and rising. For instance, his transitions from death to life and vice versa were contained within trips to and from the underworld.[8] In fact, the Babylonian story of Adonis rising with Ishtar, his goddess lover, evokes images of being rescued from prison rather than being physically resurrected. Ishtar is “sprinkled with the Water of Life and [allowed] to depart … with her lover Tammuz that the two might return together to the upper world and that with their return all nature might revive.”[9] In the Greek recounting of this myth, Adonis is said to “abide with Persephone in the underworld for one part of the year, and with Aphrodite in the upper world for another part.”[10] Death and resurrection have been completely removed in this version of the story, replaced by a mere transition of living quarters.
These myths of Adonis’ cyclical departing and rising stand in stark contrast with the physical death and resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew was a horrific event during which Jesus was hit “multiple times on the head” prior to his public execution.[11] Additionally, Alan Whanger asserts that Jesus suffered “many dumbbell shaped wounds which were inflicted by a type of Roman scourge known as … [the] terrible scourge.”[12] The purpose of crucifying Jesus was to turn him into “a pathetic bloody sight”.[13] On top of the physical reality of the experience, the resurrection was also a real event after which people actually saw, spoke with, ate with, and interacted with Jesus.[14] Thus, unlike gods who mysteriously transport between realms, Jesus died in front of people and was seen after his death by the same people, making his resurrection a real event in history, not a mythological creation of the church.[15]
Resurrection Narratives: Attis
The story of Attis of Phrygia, a God of Rome since 204 B.C., also involves a death and resurrection myth. His death is decidedly different than Jesus’ death. Depending on the reference used, Attis was either killed by a boar or by hemorrhaging after self-castration.[16] Thus, his death was either an accident or an unintended suicide; he did not die for anyone nor did he sacrifice himself. By contrast, Jesus underwent severe torture and punishment at the hands of his enemies; his death was neither accidental nor self-inflicted. Secondly, Attis’ death did not accomplish anything; it was merely a note in history. In contrast, Jesus’ death is inextricably linked with atonement for the sins of humanity. Worshippers of Attis engaged in a ritual where they bathed themselves in the blood of a bull to be “born again to eternal life” and have one’s sins washed away.[17] Since the author of Hebrews writes that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” and that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”, it is clear that these two stories could not be further from each other.[18] Attis’ self-mutilation is a far cry from the self-sacrificing death of Jesus in both method and motivation.
On further examination of these paralleled storylines, it becomes clear that Attis’ story was a blasphemous counterfeit of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Upon his death, pagan mythology holds that Attis was preserved instantaneously as a pine tree.[19] During the first day of the spring festival, a pine tree would be cut down and an effigy of Attis was buried in a sepulcher.[20] Over the next 3 days, priests castrated themselves, cut themselves, and engaged in various blood rituals to give power to Attis in order to hasten his resurrection. Frazer gives the following recounting of the resurrection on that third day: “For suddenly a light shone in the darkness: the tomb was opened: the god had risen from the dead; and as the priest touched the lips of the weeping mourners with balm, he softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation. The resurrection of the god was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave.”[21]
Several glaring differences indicate that Attis’ story is a warped imitation of Jesus’ death and resurrection. For instance, the New Testament records that the Holy Spirit carried out the resurrection of Jesus.[22] Far from depending on followers who whipped themselves into a bloodied frenzy, Jesus did not require human belief, followers, or rituals in order to be resurrected.[23] Additionally, the utilization of an effigy as a core component to the cyclical myth would have been repulsive to the Jewish people who were commanded “Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in… the earth below.”[24] In contrast to Attis’ story, Jesus’ resurrection stood as a pillar against the ancient gods who needed human worshippers in order to be powerful.
Aside from these differences, it is interesting to note that the story of Attis contains a tomb, a three day waiting period between death and resurrection, and an escape from the “corruption of the grave.”[25] One might assume that Attis’ tale forms the basis for the story of Jesus. However, as Licona and Habermas point out, “there are no accounts of a resurrection of Attis, the Phrygian god of vegetation who was responsible for the death and rebirth of plant life, until early in the third century A.D. or later.”[26] In all likelihood, Attis’ resurrection is based on Jesus’ resurrection and not the other way around.
Resurrection Narratives: Osiris
A third death and resurrection myth that is often cited is that of Osiris, “the most popular of all Egyptian deities.”[27] Osiris was the god of the harvest, also known as “the Lord of All.”[28] He was married to his sister Isis and was murdered by his brother Set who tricked him into a coffin and threw him out to sea.[29] In the story, Set later finds the coffin and chops Osiris’ dead body into fourteen pieces.[30] Isis then scatters the pieces of the body, burying them throughout Egypt. Osiris’ revivification was actualized through the collection and stitching together of all of his body parts, followed by various rituals. Through this resurrection, Osiris gained the title of “Lord of the Underworld” and began judging the dead “who made their solemn confession before him, and, their heart having been weighed in the balance of justice, received the reward of virtue in a life eternal or the appropriate punishment of their sins.”[31] Frazer argues, “In the resurrection of Osiris, the Egyptians saw the pledge of a life everlasting for themselves beyond the grave.”[32]
The differences between Osiris’ reassembly and Jesus’ resurrection are profound. First, upon Osiris’ reassembly, he was made Lord of the Underworld where he would judge the dead. In contrast, Jesus was given “the keys of death and Hades” but is never known as Lord of Hades. Rather, He is known as “the living one” and the “Lord of Heaven and Earth.”[33] Jesus was resurrected unto life whereas Osiris was reassembled unto existence in the underworld. Another major difference is that Osiris judged man based on his or her own merit whereas Jesus judges man based on his or her acceptance of Himself.[34] These discrepancies are too jarring to assume the myth of Osiris had anything to do with the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus.
Theological Context
In light of these examples of gods who seem to be comparable to Jesus, one must remember the overall context of dying and rising gods in ancient mythology is fundamentally different than the context of the resurrection of Jesus. Virtually all Ancient Near East resurrection myths revolved around the cyclical patterns of nature.[35] These stories, and the rituals surrounding them, were typically created to ensure that “the productivity of the soil … crops and offspring” would be guaranteed.[36] For the followers of these gods, the promised “new life on the other side of death” was not permanent.[37] These gods would die and be resurrected each year. Some have insinuated that Jesus was simply another version of the corn god or fertility god because of His command to observe communion, which contained bread and wine. However, while “the Eucharist is a pledge of eternal life,” it is not “the cyclic return of life” paired with death referencing “the growth of crops … livestock … or human reproduction.”[38] As a result, no one thought that “actual human beings, having died, actually came back to life.”[39] Adonis, Attis, and Osiris were gods who lived “‘once upon a time’ in a fairy tale world” where “the rebirth of various gods occurred in the richly symbolic but perplexing dreams of mythmakers.”[40] Jesus, in direct contrast, is depicted as a human whose story was a real lived experience. At its core, the resurrection of Jesus defies ancient myth.
Resurrection scholar Leon McKenzie cedes that “the resurrection of Jesus would be unacceptable … if it was not redolent of ancient structures of imagination and thinking.”[41] However, Jesus’ resurrection differs substantially from the myth of Tammuz in its purpose and substance. Whereas the ancient myths focused on cyclical aspects of nature, reproduction, and seasons, Jesus’ resurrection was concerned with the overthrow of death entirely. In his treatise on the resurrection, Paul elucidated this point by referencing Hosea 13:14, with his declaration that “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[42] Jesus’ resurrection was not another yearly cyclical event; rather, it occurred “one time, at the end of the ages, for removal of sin.”[43] Whereas the ancient resurrection myths supported polytheism and each merely represented “a different school of philosophical thought,” the resurrection of Jesus forced exclusivity.[44] Being heralded as a real historical event, the resurrection of Jesus stands as a testament to the one true God and a point of rejection for all others. Though the pagan myths show some similarity to Jesus’ resurrection, their philosophical, religious, and theological underpinnings are so different as to preclude any connection to the resurrection of Jesus.
Unlike the ancient gods, Jesus did not arise out of “a hero construct” based on “an unconscious mythic archetype.”[45] As highlighted by much of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus was “the very fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies” and barely resembled pagan gods.[46] In fact, to even refer to the pagan gods as having been resurrected is a grossly negligent “equivocation at its worst.”[47] The rising of the pagan gods “did not connote the same reality” that the resurrection of Jesus did.[48] In Jesus’ resurrection, we have a permanent defeat of the reality of death that all humanity must pass through. With the pagan gods, we simply have a temporary resuscitation followed inexorably by yet another death. As New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman says, “as Mettinger himself acknowledges, the differences between the dying and rising gods (which he has reconstructed on slim evidence) and Jesus show that Jesus was not modeled on them, even if such gods were talked about during Jesus’ time.”[49]
Another issue with the notion that the account of Jesus’ resurrection stemmed from pagan myths is that each story with direct parallels arose a minimum of 100 years after Jesus’ ascension.[50] For example, though Adonis is an ancient deity, his resurrection stories only “appeared after A.D. 150.”[51] The Phrygian god, Attis, is even worse off with no resurrection stories appearing in historical record until after 200 A.D.[52] As Habermas and Licona infer, “one cannot claim that the disciples were writing according to a contemporary literary style of dying and rising gods, since there is no literature contemporary to the disciples that this was a genre of that period.”[53] The combined evidence of the diametrically opposed historical context, discontinuities in purpose, and late dating of the myths all point to an understanding of Jesus’ resurrection as a unique event unconnected to ancient mythology.
Historical Evidence
The existence of resurrection myths in other religions cannot negate the positive evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. A primary line of evidence to combat the theory that Jesus’ resurrection was a myth is that it is historically demonstrable that Jesus died by crucifixion.[54] This fact is important because it is necessary for someone to actually be dead before they can be resurrected. In all of the mythical dying and rising god stories no one actually sees the gods die. Instead, it is assumed that they die in a metaphorical sense when winter arrives and things in nature die. This could not be further from the truth in the case of Jesus’ death, since crucifixion is the method by which He was put to death. Prior to being crucified, Jesus was scourged by the Romans, and many accounts of scourging report “people whose flesh were ‘so torn by whips’ that their ‘veins and arteries’ became visible.”[55] Additionally, whereas no one saw any of the gods actually die, Jesus’ crucifixion and death is attested multiple times “by a fair number of ancient sources, Christian and non-Christian alike.”[56] Through the historicity of Jesus’ death it is demonstrated that for any of Jesus’ post-death appearances to be true, a resurrection must have occurred.
A second line of evidence comes from the fact that while the pagan myths of gods dying and rising are not set in history, Jesus’ death and resurrection is firmly set in Jerusalem around 30 A.D. Written testimony of these events was recorded no later than A.D. 55 – only 25 years after the events themselves – prohibiting any legendization of the stories.[57] Further cementing the resurrection in history, a mere three years later Paul received and recorded a creed from the church in Jerusalem, detailing the resurrection appearances.[58] This creed contains attested references to multiple sightings of Jesus post resurrection. Jesus’ story stands out from seemingly similar ancient gods in that it occurred during a set point in history with multiple records confirming it.
A third line of evidence arises from the fact that the resurrection was a real physical event, not a metaphorical event precipitated through the coming of spring and the revivification of plant life.[59] In the stories of the ancient pagan gods people did not expect to see a god literally appear in front of them during the rituals; the hope of the ancient peoples was in having a good harvest or being reproductively fruitful. Initially, the disciples were not expecting to see Jesus either, but through many visitations, the disciples and all early Christians became convinced that Jesus really had risen from the dead.[60] For example, in Luke 24, Jesus is seen in a physical body made of “flesh and bones,” eating and drinking with people during a meal.[61] The author Luke also attests that Jesus’ body did not decay and that he made multiple appearances to the disciples and others over a 40 day period.[62] Unlike the dying and rising pagan gods, Jesus came back to earth and interacted with people, demonstrating the reality of His resurrection.
The fact that many of the resurrection accounts of Jesus include the presence of an empty tomb presents a fourth line of evidence that the resurrection took place.[63] At first glance, it may not seem like an important issue. After all, ancient myths are replete with places such as the storage sites for the body parts of Osiris where the gods were supposed to have interacted with earth.[64] However, the empty tomb of Jesus was different. Witnesses personally saw him buried there, and any evidence of His body being present after the resurrection moment would have been definitive proof that the entire story was a hoax.[65] In contrast, no one batted an eye at the fact that Osiris’ “head … was at Abydos as well as at Memphis, and his legs, which were remarkably numerous, would have sufficed for several ordinary mortals.”[66] In other words, no one took issue or denied the myth in the face of contradictory claims because the myth was not meant to be historical in the first place. However, had Jesus’ body been discovered in the tomb He was laid in “it would have been impossible for Christianity to get off the ground in Jerusalem.”[67]
In fact, Jesus’ enemies inadvertently lent support to the reality of an empty tomb by trying to spread false stories about the disciples having stolen the body; such claims are recorded in Matthew 28:12-13, Justin Martyr, Trypho 108, and Tertullian, Despectaculus 30. As Habermas and Licona put it, “there would have been no need for an attempt to account for a missing body, if the body had still been in the tomb.”[68] What is even more intriguing is that “Jewish, Roman, and all other writings are absent” of any record of Jesus’ tomb. The fact that “there is a total silence from Christianity’s critics … is not an argument from silence,” but rather a result of simply not being able to defend an alternate theory.[69] The attacks levied against the resurrection stand in proof of its validity, rather than negating it.
The fifth line of evidence supporting the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection is that the story of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus did not originate with acclaimed authors and priests but with the least reputable people in the Ancient Near East: women. While the stories and myths of the ancient gods came from the religious centers of society and major writers like Hesiod and Homer, women first presented the story of Jesus’ resurrection.[70] Judaism in particular was hostile toward women as bearers of truth, for the Talmud states “sooner let the words of the Law be burnt than delivered to women.”[71] Josephus, a major Jewish historian, also denigrates the testimony of women when he states that it should not be admissible in court “on account of the levity and boldness of their sex.”[72] Additionally, the Jews believed that “a woman’s testimony was given the same regard as that of a robber.”[73] It did not behoove Jesus to proclaim His resurrection through women first. In fact, the disciples did not believe the testimony of the women and counted it as “nonsense.”[74] If the resurrection were based off of myth, the authors would not have used women as the first witnesses; they would have made the disciples or even the religious elite the first people to witness the risen Lord. The fact that women were the first to visit the empty tomb makes it “historically credible in light of the principle of embarrassment” and is good evidence for the veracity of the resurrection of Jesus.[75]
If the resurrection of Jesus was not a real event but merely based off of earlier pagan myths, it would be hard to explain why Saul of Tarsus and Jesus’ brother James converted to Christianity. Saul was one of the most steadfast persecutors of the Christian church.[76] Yet, he converted to Christianity after having an encounter with the resurrected Jesus.[77] Even more compelling is that Paul’s conversion was not for his gain. He “suffer[ed] continuously for the sake of the gospel, even to the point of martyrdom.”[78] Though it is true that people convert from one set of beliefs to another all the time, it is not usually true that they do so from personal experience with the god or gods of a religion. Paul’s conversion happened because of a primary source. In other words, he experienced the reality of the resurrection and converted, instead of simply being told about it by someone else.[79] In comparison, all of the experiential aspects of the pagan myths involve working oneself into a frenzy, but eventually leave one feeling “passionate sorrow and lifelong regret.”[80]
The conversion of James the brother of Jesus also contributes to the historicity of the resurrection. James occupied a unique place in history: he grew up with the Son of God. If anyone was impervious to a resurrection hoax, it was James. He did not believe that his brother was the Messiah while Jesus was engaged in ministry on the Earth.[81] Additionally, upon death Jesus left His mother in the care of John the disciple rather than the next eldest brother. The only reason Jesus had for doing this was His knowledge of James’ lack of belief in Him.[82] Surprisingly, in Acts 15:12-21 and Galatians 1:19, James is identified as the leader of the Jerusalem church! The question is how did this happen? Power was not his motivation; Jesus had thousands of followers while he walked the Earth and that did not garner support from James.[83] In fact, James died as a martyr, which “is attested by Josephus, Hegesippus, and Clement of Alexandria”.[84] The answer does not lie in being told a lie or myth but in the fact that James had a personal encounter with Jesus after the resurrection as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7. Nothing that Jesus did on Earth or that people said about Jesus after death was able to convince James; only meeting with the Lord himself was able to overcome his unbelief. Myths could not have garnered such conviction or conversion. Both James and Paul stand as powerful testimonies of the validity and reality of the resurrection since their actions do not speak of belief in a myth.
The ancient myths of dying and rising gods did not factor into the narrative of the resurrection of Jesus. The detailed differences between the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection and ancient pagan gods demonstrate that Jesus’ resurrection was not a mere pirated form of the ancient myths. The substantial differences in their theological ramifications demonstrate that the resurrection of Jesus was fundamentally different than the resurrections of the ancient gods. Additionally, the existence of the ancient myths cannot account for the extraordinary body of historical evidence surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. It is comforting to know that despite the assertions of the skeptics, “Christ has been raised from the dead,” and as a result, Christians may boldly proclaim: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”[85]
[1] Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of The Dead Sea Scrolls, (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 116.
[2] Ibid., 117.
[3] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, (London: MacMillan and Co: 1922), 361.
[4] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 15764, KIndle.
[5] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 362.
[6] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7081, Kindle.
[7] Ibid., 7081.
[8] Ibid., 7081.
[9] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7081, Kindle.
[10] Ibid, loc. 7116.
[11] Matthew 27:30 (HCSB).
[12] Mary Whanger and Alan Whanger, The Shroud of Turin, (Franklin, TN: Providence House Publishers, 1998), 10.
[13] Ibid., 11.
[14] John 20:11-18, John 21 (HCSB).
[15] 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (HCSB).
[16] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7543, Kindle.
[17] Ibid., 7641, Kindle.
[18] Hebrews 10:4, 10 (HCSB).
[19] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7581, Kindle.
[20] Ibid., 7561, Kindle.
[21] Ibid., 7602, Kindle.
[22] Romans 8:11 (HCSB).
[23] John 20:9 (HCSB).
[24] Exodus 20:4 (HCSB).
[25] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7602, Kindle.
[26] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2004), 806, Kindle.
[27] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7865, Kindle.
[28] Ibid., 7865, Kindle..
[29] Ibid., 7882, Kindle.
[30] Ibid., 7922, Kindle.
[31] Ibid., 7962, Kindle.
[32] Ibid., 7962, Kindle.
[33] Revelation 1:18; Acts 17:24 (NASB).
[34] John 3:16 (HCSB).
[35] N.T. Wright, The Resurrection and the Son of God, 2015, Kindle.
[36] Ibid., 2015, Kindle.
[37] Ibid., 2015, Kindle.
[38] Leon McKenzie, Pagan Resurrection Myths and the Resurrection of Jesus, (Charlottesville: Bookwrights Press, 2012) 39.
[39] N.T. Wright, The Resurrection and the Son of God, 2015, Kindle.
[40] Leon McKenzie, Pagan Resurrection Myths and the Resurrection of Jesus, 38.
[41] Leon McKenzie, Pagan Resurrection Myths and the Resurrections of Jesus, 71.
[42] 1 Corinthians 15:55 (HCSB).
[43] Hebrews 9:26 (HCSB).
[44] Leon McKenzie, Pagan Resurrection Myths and the Resurrections of Jesus, 47.
[45] Ibid., 39.
[46] Ibid., 39.
[47] Ibid., 39.
[48] Ibid., 40.
[49] Bart Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist?, (New York: HarperCollins, 2012), 230.
[50] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 801, Kindle.
[51] Ibid., 801, Kindle.
[52] Ibid., 801, Kindle.
[53] Ibid., 816, Kindle.
[54] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 3037, Kindle.
[55] Martyrdom of Polycarp, 2.2 as cited in Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, 3037, Kindle.
[56] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, 3037, Kindle.
[57] Michael Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, Loc. 3059.
[58] Ibid., Loc. 2294; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (HCSB).
[59] Ibid., 3202, Kindle.
[60] Ibid., 3216, Kindle.
[61] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, 3350, Kindle; Luke 24 (HCSB).
[62] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, 3350, Kindle; Acts 10:39-41; Acts 2:30-32; 13:35-37; and Acts 1:3 (HCSB).
[63] Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-20; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-31 (HCSB).
[64] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7925, Kindle.
[65] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 616, Kindle.
[66] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7925, Kindle.
[67] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 616, Kindle.
[68] Ibid., 629, Kindle.
[69] Ibid., 616, Kindle.
[70] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7925, Kindle.
[71] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 642, Kindle.
[72] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 642, Kindle; Talmud Sotah 19a; Josephus, Antiquities 4.8.15.
[73] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 642, Kindle.
[74] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 642, Kindle; Luke 24:11 (HCSB).
[75] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 654, Kindle.
[76] Ibid., 565, Kindle.
[77] Ibid., 575, Kindle.
[78] Ibid., 575, Kindle.
[79] Ibid., 575, Kindle.
[80] James Frazer, The Golden Bough, 7604, Kindle.
[81] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 602, Kindle; Mark 3:21, 31; 6:3-4; John 7:5 (HCSB).
[82] John 19:26-27 (HCSB).
[83] John 6:1-14 (HCSB).
[84] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 602, Kindle.
[85] 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 55 (HCSB).
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