Deeply Grieved to the Point of Death

Jesus Saying to the Point of Death

Salome is present at the death scene and the empty tomb, but absent from the burial scene (only the two Marys watch where Jesus is laid). This inconsistency would have been smoothed over in a fabricated account. The simplest explanation is she wasn't there for the burial — a subtle but significant mark of historicity.

The inconsistency of Salome's appearances as evidence of historical accuracy rather than legend

The Digesta (summary of Roman law, ~500 AD appealing back to Augustus) states that "the bodies of those condemned to death should not be refused their relatives" for burial — and this was the general rule, not the exception. Ehrman presents a selective picture by quoting only sources showing executions without burial, ignoring Roman legal provisions that allowed it.

Roman law (Digesta) as evidence that burial of crucified persons was permitted and practiced

Winger shares from his own childhood: an absent/indifferent father, an abusive stepfather, and poverty — all three conditions the note-writer listed as grounds for abortion. His life was redeemed and transformed through Christ. He argues the pro-choice logic, applied to him, would have called for his death, yet God demonstrated that suffering circumstances do not determine a life's value or potential.

Personal testimony used to refute the claim that bad circumstances justify abortion

The note-writer describes death as a tragedy but then proposes death as the solution to potential suffering. This self-contradiction reveals the deeper issue: pro-choice reasoning treats the baby as "not yet in the world" because they haven't crossed the threshold of the womb — a distinction without moral significance, since the baby exists and has biological life inside the womb.

Internal contradiction in the note: death as both tragedy and solution; the "not yet in the world" fallacy

The maximal data argument for the resurrection has two steps: (1) establish that the gospel and Acts accounts represent genuine eyewitness testimony, then (2) evaluate what best explains the content of those claims. The apostles voluntarily suffered imprisonment, persecution, and death for their testimony — making the conspiracy/lying hypothesis highly implausible (William Paley, 1794).

The maximal data argument: apostolic suffering establishes sincerity; conspiracy hypothesis fails

The Christological trilemma (Lord, Liar, or Lunatic — associated with C.S. Lewis, likely originating with G.K. Chesterton) is built on the historical evidence that Jesus made both messianic and divine identity claims. He cannot have been lying — he made his violent death by the very authorities whose power he claimed to supersede a core part of his mission, which an impostor would never do. Mark 8's double rebuke (Peter rebukes Jesus; Jesus rebukes Peter as "Satan") shows this is not a later invention.

The Christological trilemma: Jesus's self-claims were not those of a liar or madman