More Reasons to Believe the Accounts of Jesus’ Message and Miracles (Apologetics for Teens Part 10)

When examining the historical sources contained in the New Testament to determine if they accurately portray Jesus' life and message, we can look to the fact that these sources are dated very early to right after the time that Jesus lived. In other words, the New Testament authors gave their testimony soon after the events took place. Some of the New Testament books even contain creeds that go back even earlier, to around the AD 30s, within two to five years of Jesus' death. Additionally, the fact that the New Testament authors were wiling to suffer and die for their testimonies indicates that they believed they were telling the truth. Since many of them were eyewitnesses, they were also in the best position to know whether or not what they were saying was really true. The New Testament authors also included embarrassing details in their accounts that made them look bad, something that a person making up a story isn't likely to do. Finally, Jesus’ resurrection is the best explanation of the well-attested historical facts about Jesus that we learn from these historical sources. The "minimal facts argument" shows that alternate explanations that deny Jesus' resurrection simply don't fit the historical data we have as well as simply believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead.

To watch Adam explain more about Reason #7, that the disciples included details that made them look bad, see here: https://youtu.be/PhnSAAOCjhU?si=KxbzPa65RCKNyrXu&t=2977

To watch a more in-depth explanation of the minimal facts argument how it responds to alternate explanations of Jesus' resurrection, see here: https://youtu.be/9_LH73HYm4A?si=5AsQvuo4_MDdCN-W&t=2376

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0:00 How Have We Been Examining the Evidence?
6:58 Why Does Bart Ehrman Reject Christianity?
9:41 Reason #5: These Sources Are from Soon After the Events Occurred
19:50 The Book of Acts Contains Early Material in Its Speeches
31:03 Paul's Letters Contain Early Material
37:25 Paul's Letters Also Contain Extremely Early Creeds from the AD 30s
44:03 1 Corinthians 15 Contains a Famous Creed
49:29 Reason #6: The Lives of Jesus' Disciples Were Transformed
56:29 Reason #7: The Disciples Included Details that Made Them Look Bad
57:15 Reason #8: Alternative Explanations Don't Fit with the Historical Evidence