Apostle John, who watched Jesus die and days later had breakfast with him on the beach, told us about it. Luke, who thoroughly investigated the events, meticulously wrote em’ down, and interviewed eyewitnesses, told us about it. Apostle Paul…a Pharisee who hated Christians, who was going to arrest and persecute Christians, who was going to singlehandedly stop the Jesus movement, became a Jesus-follower and risked his life traveling all around the Mediterranean rim…documented it to make sure that we’d know about it.
And Jesus’ original followers were martyred not because of what they believed, they gave their lives because of what they saw. And the early Christian ekklesia defied the mighty Roman Empire and the powerful Jewish Temple because they were convinced of what they’d seen, and of what other eyewitnesses had seen.
To me, the historical context of the early Jesus movement and those that comprised it is/are credible and compelling.
