>>17795059
>Did the Roman elite pay a load of people to go abroad and get martyred?
Just go ahead and say it
>The Apostles wouldn’t die for a lie.
Woohooo! Wowza! You got me.

The apostles didn’t die at all (well, they did, but everyone dies). They didn’t die unusual deaths, or, at least, we have no evidence of it. Basically all of that shit is just Catholic fan fiction that’s not even considered canon by the Vatican (although they still parade the stories while discrediting the sources they came from). Best we got is some off-handed remarks from Josephus, and he often just wrote shit that Christians told him. Even assuming what he wrote is true, I think he only mentions James. Congrats, you got one.

So no, the apostles weren’t martyred. I wish this talking point could just die already. It’s a waste of brain power.