Fact 1: After His crucifixion, Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a tomb. See here.
Fact 2: On the Sunday after the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty by a group of His women followers. See here.
Fact 3: On multiple occasions, and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups saw Jesus alive after His death.
William Lane Craig writes, "This fact is almost universally acknowledged among NT scholars for the following reasons:
a) Given its early date as well as Paul's personal acquaintance with the people involved, the list of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection appearances that is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 guarantees that such appearances occurred.
b) The appearance narratives in the Gospels provide multiple, independent attestations of the appearances.1
Atheist New Testament scholar Gerd Ludemann puts it well:
"It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus' death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ."2
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
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Footnote:
1. William Lane Craig, "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead," The Apologetics Study Bible, p. 1728.
2. Gerd Lüdemann, What Really Happened?, p. 80.
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