>>720280220
I think you’re misrepresenting what I actually said and what Christians believe. No one is claiming “being eaten by animals” is the same as Jesus being crucified—that’s a strawman. The idea is that Jesus fulfilled specific Old Testament prophecies (like from Isaiah, Micah, Psalms, etc.), some directly and some typologically, which was a common Jewish interpretive method long before Christianity existed.
On the apostles, you’re right that not all their deaths are equally documented, but early sources like Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, and Eusebius give us solid tradition for several of them—especially Peter, Paul, and James. To say the rest were just “fanfiction” ignores the way early Christian history actually developed.
As for your point about Joseph Smith, yes, dying for a belief doesn’t make it true—but the argument about the apostles is different. They were in a position to know if what they preached about the resurrection was true or not. If they made it up, why would they be willing to suffer and die for something they knew was a lie?
Yeah, ok. There are plenty of people who when faced with the option to deny truth to save their lives would, so the fact that they didn’t makes it all the more credible. Especially seeing as they gained nothing.
