He wouldn't have fit into the prophesy, so the writers had to make him come back. Although they disagreed on the details. I think it would have been more dramatic for him not to have risen actually. How can suffering for all the sins of mankind be done in less than three days? Would have been a better plot to have him remain in Hell suffering until the Rapture, at least that makes more sense.
You are correct, he didn't go to Hell, but to Hades, which is like a temporary holding for souls before judgment. Which makes my point even more, wouldn't my scenario be more suffering than what's written?
It hasn't been established that a person fitting the characterization of Jesus in the Bible ever even existed, so to say that the question of the impact of his death and resurrection assumes facts not in evidence is an understatement. What we can legitimately do is to ask what the world would be like if stories about his life and his deeds, as well as that and those of a number of other peripheral characters, were never written.
Well If we want to prove some thing that have happen 2000 years ago that will be similar as your believe in the Big Bang . But there are people trough 2000 years which believe and as I mentioned in the earlier post vere people were skeptical as you in Acts 5 34- 40 and those people were witnesses in their time . But is we chose not to believe there is no one going to convince us It is similar i you tell a blind man that and orange have an orange color.
An atheist (or a Hindu, or a Jew, or a Buddhist, or a Sikh, or a Muslim, or...) would say that the world wouldn't be any different from what it is today.
That we are not our bodies is the basis of eastern religious philosophy. Had Jesus not performed that pastime, what we regard now as militant atheism, would be the norm. jan.
A historical point of view probably isn't the intent of this subject, but certainly with no Christianity in place, a lot of major events would not have happened that shaped our modern world. Obvious ones are the Roman Empire and what religion it used in place. And the Crusades of course would not have happened in the same way, if at all. Maybe Islam would have been the main religion and the Dark Ages would never have happened, with more progress in knowledge and science. I guess the big question would be, would something like Christianity have occurred anyway, regardless of how the events may have been told? Or without certain elements that had been prophesied about, would they have just been small branches of Judaism that never got any traction?
Whether one of the many rebels and criminals crucified in Roman colonies arose or not isn't the point. Some almost certainly were taken down still alive but unconscious, and made no difference whatever to the world. Seems one of those rebels had a loyal and literate following - that was exceptional. Taking the underground cult to Rome was important. Having that cult picked up by a successful emperor was the crucial step. By then, the factuality - or not - of the original story was irrelevant. (PS Rhaedas: In the absence of Christianity, Islam couldn't have become dominant, and nor could Judaism. Of Judaism - the exclusive religion of a small, obscure middle-eastern colony - Europe would never have become aware, but for the bible. And Muhammad was inspired by the success of that book and its story in uniting disparate tribes; without Christianity, Islam wouldn't have been invented.)
I'm sorry. I took the question literally. You think he means what would the world be like if the legend of a resurrection hadn't arisen... My bad.
I think he probably meant it as that, assumption of the event as actual. Of course I disagree with that notion, but for discussion's sake I broadened mine as a more what if on the story and its historical significance.
I can see your point. That's one of the problems and the fun part of alternate history, trying to see where things are dependent on others.
I don't believe that he did rise. So my answer would be: The world would be just the same as it is today.