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Paul writes like a modern essay writer. He really tells you what he thinks. He keeps coming back to his main issue, which is that he’s saved and redeemed through his faith in Jesus.
I believe if Paul had doubts about 500 people seeing Jesus at once he would have declared his doubts. You, yourself, said Paul tells you what he thinks. Or, if Paul really did doubt this event, he would not have brought it up at all. Why cast a doubt on something you’re proclaiming? Why would he risk being exposed as a fraud by claiming something he could not 100% defend? I don’t believe Paul had any hesitation at all about his claim.
 
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I brought up the topic of grief hallucinations,
This is a very interesting phenomenon. I've heard it used a lot to explain the post-mortem experiences of Jesus, esp. those involving the large group of witnesses. I question though how it works and if there are other examples. I've found this explanation so far that gets into how it starts:

In most cases, mass hallucination refers to a combination of suggestion and pareidolia, wherein one person will see, or pretend to see, something unusual (like the face of Jesus in the burn-marks on a tortilla, or the face of a kidnapped girl on a blank billboard) and point it out to other people. Having been told what to look for, those other people will consciously or unconsciously convince themselves to recognize the apparition, and will in turn point it out to others.
Source: https://psychology.fandom.com/wiki/Mass_hallucination

Of course though, I'd be against slapping that label on any experience just because it is of something supernatural. We first need to look into any objective evidence, like if we could see Jesus or his body today.
 
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We first need to look into any objective evidence, like if we could see Jesus or his body today.
Some Catholics believe that we have. :)

Alright, I think grief hallucination(s) are a good explanation for some of the 12 disciples believing that they have heard they have seen, heard, or felt the presence of Jesus. And if we run the numbers, 12 disciples and 25% experiencing a grief hallucination, that’s 3 disciples.

As far as the claim of more than 500 witnesses. On the face of it, it’s absolutely preposterous than even 2 people could have the same hallucination at the same time, much less 500 persons ? ! ? :p

But the source which you give . . .

which talks about if something is suggested and people have something to look for. And

Our Lady of Fátima

in Portugal in 1917, people were super primed for something to happen. A lot of the people were engaged in the highly dangerous activity of staring at the Sun. So, when it was later claimed that the Sun had momentarily come closer or zig-zagged, sure, a lot of people gave their agreement to that.

All the same,

At this time I’m more comfortable saying that the claim of more than 500 seeing Jesus is “urban legend” without diving too far into the details of what type of urban legend.

Urban legend is a big Universe and often involves a surprisingly little amount of lying.

Although after Christianity started becoming popular, of course you’re going to get a certain number of grifters. That’s human nature.
 
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Paul made the claim that 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus. Where is the contemporaneous objection to this claim? Why didn’t anyone come forward and refute this claim? When the Sanhedrin council commanded Peter and John not to preach that Jesus was alive, why didn’t they simply drag out Jesus’ dead body to silence the apostles? Grief hallucinations and urban legends are interesting hypotheses, but is there any evidence to support them? We have numerous ancient manuscripts that say 500 people saw Jesus after He arose, but not a single shred of evidence the story is false. Not one person from the time period to refute the claim. If He did not arise, surely someone would have come forward to deny the claim.
 
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Why didn’t anyone come forward and refute this claim? When the Sanhedrin council commanded Peter and John not to preach that Jesus was alive, why didn’t they simply drag out Jesus’ dead body to silence the apostles?
Okay, I don’t feel the burden of proof is on me.

And maybe it’s not on you either. We certainly have different world views.

But I’ll jump in.

Why didn’t Jewish authorities dig up the dead body of Jesus?

Maybe because it had been 10 years and it would be a punishment to order one of your top assistants to dig up an old, rotting corpse.

Or, maybe because Jesus was buried anonymously as was common for criminals and rebels, in spite of what one of the Gospels say.

Or, maybe most jarring of all, the Christians just weren’t that much of a priority. There were a variety of end-time preachers and mystics and rebel political movements,

and at the time in question, the Christians were small potatoes. I’m sorry, but that certainly is a possibility.
 
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Why didn’t Jewish authorities dig up the dead body of Jesus?

Maybe because it had been 10 years and it would be a punishment to order one of your top assistants to dig up an old, rotting corpse.

Or, maybe because Jesus was buried anonymously as was common for criminals and rebels, in spite of what one of the Gospels say.

Or, maybe most jarring of all, the Christians just weren’t that much of a priority. There were a variety of end-time preachers and mystics and rebel political movements,

and at the time in question, the Christians were small potatoes. I’m sorry, but that certainly is a possibility.
Peter and John were arrested within weeks of Jesus’ resurrection and told to stop preaching that Jesus was alive. I believe if the Sanhedrin could have produced the body to silence the apostles, they would. They knew exactly where He was buried because they had a Roman guard placed there to keep anyone from stealing His body. Christians were insignificant to the Romans, but to the Jews they were a huge thorn in their flesh.

Anyway, I have evidence that 500 people saw Jesus alive after He was crucified. I have the Bible that states this. If there is any evidence to the contrary, I’m open to examine it.
 
There are over 5000 manuscripts and portions of manuscripts of the New Testament.
But only 1st Corinthians, chapter 15 makes the claim that “more than 500” saw Jesus after his death and resurrection.

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5 “He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.” 6 “After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.”

— New Living Translation

———————

And this claim of “more than 500” witnesses is made nowhere else in the entire New Testament.
 
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