and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
(1 Corinthians 15:5-8)
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)
Notice how Paul said anyone who preaches a different gospel then what he has then let them be cursed. Point one is that Mark, Matthew, Luke and John decades later preached a different gospel since not a single quotations Paul made about Jesus is found in any of the gospels. Point two the four gospels explicitly mention Mary Magdalene as a disciple of Jesus and allegedly for the first to meet Jesus after the so called resurrection event, which Paul never made any mention of. Clearly that a problem for Christians to solve.
The other problem we have with Paul's exaggerated number is that Peter statement contradicts with it.
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:15)
The above tells us Peter spoke to about 120 people not 500. Nor does the gospels speak of Jesus allegedly met with 500 people? Also one has to question why did Paul say 500 and did he expect to get caught out?. And the answer is no why because of many reasons below is a list of few reason why Paul could have lied written by Bob Seidensticker he makes some extremely valid point why the whole appearance to 500 witnesses cannot be accepted.
Let’s think this through. Imagine that we’re in that church in Corinth and we have just received Paul’s letter.
1. What does “appeared” mean? Jesus “appeared” to Paul as a vision (Acts 9:3–9), but Paul uses the same verb to refer the appearance of Jesus to Peter, James, and the 500 as well as to Paul. Could Paul think that the appearance to everyone was as a vision?
2. Who are these 500 eyewitnesses? Names and addresses, please? To find out, someone would need to send a letter back to Paul, at that moment 200 miles across the Aegean Sea in Ephesus. If a church member had the money, time, and guts to write this letter, why would Paul have deigned to reply?
Even if Paul had witnessed Jesus in front of the 500 (he hadn’t), it’s possible he wouldn’t have known a single person in that crowd. And even if Paul thought the number were accurate, “500 eyewitnesses” might be all he had heard, and he wouldn’t have been able to back it up with any evidence.
3. How many will still be around? Paul wrote this epistle in about 55CE about a supposed event that occurred over 20 years earlier. Of the 500 eyewitnesses, how many are still alive and still in Jerusalem, ready to be questioned?
4. Who could make this trip? Jerusalem is 800 miles away, and getting there would involve a long, dangerous, and expensive trip.
5. How many candidates for this trip? Paul had only started the church in Corinth a couple of years earlier. There would probably have been less than 100 members.* Would even one have the means and motivation to make the big trip to Jerusalem?
6. Who would challenge Paul? If the founder of the church says something, who’s likely to question it? There might well have been people who were unimpressed by Paul’s message, but these would never have joined the church. Others within the church might have become disappointed and left. Even if these people had wanted to embarrass Paul, they wouldn’t have been in the church community to learn of the claim.
7. What did the eyewitnesses actually see? Let’s imagine that we have the money and daring to make the trip, we have a plan for whom to interview in Jerusalem, and we’re rebellious enough to spit in the face of our church’s founder to see if he’s a liar.
After many adventures, we reach Jerusalem. What will the eyewitnesses say? At best they’ll say that, over 20 years ago, they saw a man. Big deal—that’s uninteresting unless they saw him dead before. Had they been close enough to the movement to be certain that they recognized Jesus? Human memory is notoriously inaccurate. There’s a big difference between the certainty one has in a memory and its accuracy—these don’t always go together.
8. So what? Suppose all these unlikely things happen: we make the long trip, we search for eyewitnesses, and we conclude that Paul’s story is nonsense. If we successfully make the long trip back, what difference will this make? Even if we had the guts to tell everyone that Paul’s story was wrong, so what? Who would believe us over the church’s founder? We’d be labeled as bad apples, we’d be expelled from the church, the church would proceed as before, and Paul’s letter would still be copied through the centuries for us to read today!
9. Why is this even compelling evidence? No gospel uses this anecdote as evidence. For whatever reason—that they’d never heard it or that they had and felt that it was uninteresting—the gospels argue that this is unconvincing evidence. Why should we think otherwise?
The above list made by Bob Seidensticker completely destroyed Pauls Lies to Corinthians.
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For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brothers at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present, but some are fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
Question :
1) Where in scriptures (Tanack) does it state, Jesus will die for sins?
2) Where in scriptures (tanack) does it state, Jesus would be buried and rise after 3 days?
3) Paul said Jesus met Cephas first? Where in the gospels does it say Cephas was the first to meet Jesus?
4) Paul after meeting Cephas, Jesus met the twelve. who was the twelve disciples since Judas was included?
5) Paul said Jesus was seen by 500 brothers. who exactly were these people, why didn't Paul give any names?
6) Paul said 500 brethren saw Jesus. Paul made no mention of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary's or the empty tomb? Didnt Jesus have any female disciples? Luke says he did?
7) If Paul was the earliest to write about the resurrection, why did he not speak of the empty tomb?
Paul was not aware of the empty tomb, nor was he aware of Judas Iscariot or Mary.
we conclude by Paul's own admission
But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, (Philippians 1:18)
we conclude by Paul's own admission
"If my lie is spreading the truth of God why am I judged a sinner " (Romans 3:7)
