Tuesday, April 14, 2009

What Happened to the Twelve Apostles? How Their Deaths Evidence Easter

C Michael Patton @ http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/ reviews the deaths of the Apostles to illustrate the truths of the Easter message he notes:

  • When boiled down to their least common denominator, it is very feasible to believe that all but one of the Apostles suffered and died a martyr’s death, even if we can’t be sure of the exact details.
  • They were killed because they proclaimed to have seen Christ die and then to have seen Him alive. They all died because of an unwavering, unrelenting claim that Christ rose from the grave. They died for Easter.

Personally, in my mind, the gruesome death of the Apostles as recorded below was one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave to the Church. It contributes much to Christian apologetics by answering the “how do you know?” question concerning the resurrection of Christ.

About the Apostles’ deaths

in their deaths they sealed their testimony in blood making our faith in the risen Christ built upon a solid foundation.

He gives the details of each of the Apostles with a grade of probability from A (highest probability) to D (lowest probability) on the account of their death.

(1) The Apostle James

(2) The Apostle Peter

(3) The Apostle Andrew

(4) The Apostle Thomas

(5) The Apostle Philip

(6) The Apostle Matthew

(7) The Apostle Nathanael (Bartholomew)

(8) The Apostle James the Lesser

(9) The Apostle Simon the Zealot


(10) The Apostle Judas Thaddeus

(11) The Apostle Matthias

(12) The Apostle John

(13) The Apostle Paul

Download PDF (with family discussion questions)

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