Archaeological Discoveries of Baalis, King of Ammon
Critics claim the Bible is largely a work of fiction. However, archaeological discoveries of Baalis, king of Ammon help to prove the Bible’s authenticity.
“Now Johanan, son of Kareah, and all the military leaders in the field came to Gedaliah in Mizpah and said to him, ‘Surely you are aware that Baalis, the Ammonite king has sent Ishmail, son of Nethaniah, to assassinate you?’ But Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, would not believe them”—Jeremiah 40:14 NAB
Even in minor details, the Bible proves true, when examined in the light of external evidence. “Baalis, the Ammonite king” is mentioned only once in the Bible (Jeremiah 40:14), and that in a very incidental way. A seal and a seal impression with the name of Baalis have been discovered.
The seal, which was acquired on the antiquities market, is of Baalis himself. It has a winged sphinx with the words: “Belonging to Baalis” above it, and the letters for “king” on either side and “Sons of Ammon” below it.
The seal impression was unearthed at Tell el-Umeri, just south of Amman in Jordan. It reads: “Belonging to Mikomor servant of Baalis.”
There are also three royal inscriptions that have been found which may relate to “Baalis, the Ammonite king”: (1) “King Ba’lay,” as his name is written on an early sixth century BCE bottle discovered in Jordan; (2) “Ba’al/Yasha,” an Ammonite king whose name appears on a stamp seal was found at Tell-el ‘Umeiri in Jordan in 1984, and (3) “Baalis king of the Ammonites,” as his name reads on an Ammonite stamp seal that came to light in 1998.
“In receiving the word of God . . . you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God”—1 Thessalonians 2:13 NAB
These archaeological discoveries of Baalis, king of Ammon, are just a handful of examples of the great volume of archaeological evidence which supports what is written in the Bible, which is what we would expect of something that “truly is, the word of God.”. By comparison, other prominent sacred books, such as the Book of Mormon and the Koran, have no archaeological evidence to support them.
19 thoughts on “Archaeological Discoveries of Baalis, King of Ammon”
BA1: Even in minor details, the Bible proves true, when examined in the light of external evidence.
GW1: The Bible is factual on some minor and some major details, and it is false on others. For example, the major detail about the alleged origin of our universe stated in the first verse of the Bible is false. Where there is a contradiction of verses, at least one and possibly both verses are false.
BA1: “In receiving the word of God . . . you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God”—1 Thessalonians 2:13 NAB
GW1: The NAB is not well respected among scholars and other experts. The verse itself is false. God does not exist, and this has been proven. If God did exist, he would make himself obvious to ALL PERSONS! This has not occurred. Therefore, God does not exist. There are many other proofs.
BA1: These are just a handful of examples of the great volume of archaeological evidence which support what is written in the Bible, which is what we would expect of something that “truly is, the word of God.”.
GW1: If the Bible were the word of God, then we would expect it to include no falsehoods, contradictions, or moral atrocities. But this is not the case. It includes all three! Therefore, either God does not exist or the Bible is not the word of God. There is already proof for the former.
BA1: By comparison, other prominent sacred books, such as the Book of Mormon and the Koran, have no archaeological evidence to support them.
GW1: None? There are written testimonies that people observed the Golden Tablets from which the Book of Mormon was derived. Therefore, your claim here is refuted.
We’ve already discussed much this previously, and your claims have been soundly refuted.
There is no exact equivalence when translating from one language to another, and there are also widely differing opinions on the accuracy of various Bible translations, even among “experts”, and no translation is perfect. That being said, we’ll put the NAB up against any other translation regarding overall accuracy, and overall faithfulness to the original texts, the views of your “experts” notwithstanding.
The Book of Mormon claims to be a “translation” by Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, who claimed he used virtually magical spectacles to translate into 1769 KJV English from the “original” “Golden Plates,” supposedly written in an otherwise unknown language he called “Reformed Egyptian.” Smith claimed these original “Golden Plates” were subsequently “taken to heaven.” Thus, the original language documents are not available for textual analysis. The Bible has many very early manuscripts in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages, which can be viewed publicly and are are available for textual analysis. There is no archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, but a voluminous amount for the Bible.
The 11 “witnesses” who claimed to have “observed the Golden Tablets” are dead, and never produced any documentary evidence. The are thousands of artifacts supporting the Bible, but none for the Book of Mormon. There are hundreds of physical locations and geographical features supporting the Bible, but none for the Book of Mormon.
BA2: We’ve already discussed much this previously, and your claims have been soundly refuted.
GW2: Nope. None of my claims has been refuted.
BA2: There is no exact equivalence when translating from one language to another, and there are also widely differing opinions on the accuracy of various Bible translations, even among “experts”, and no translation is perfect.
GW2: But even if there is no “exact translation,” there is still a “best translation.” And I will rely on the consensus of experts, not you, to make that judgement.
BA2: That being said, we’ll put the NAB up against any other translation regarding overall accuracy, and overall faithfulness to the original texts, the views of your “experts” notwithstanding.
GW2: I am going to go with the experts on this. The NAB is second rate.
BA2: The Book of Mormon claims to be a “translation” by Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, who claimed he used virtually magical spectacles to translate into 1769 KJV English from the “original” “Golden Plates,” supposedly written in an otherwise unknown language he called “Reformed Egyptian.” Smith claimed these original “Golden Plates” were subsequently “taken to heaven.”
GW2: You are leaving out part of the story here. Before these supposed plates were supposedly taken to heaven, Smith showed them to several witnesses. At that point in time they constituted “archeological evidence.” Thus, this fact refutes your original claim.
BA2: Thus, the original language documents are not available for textual analysis.
GW2: But the original language documents for the Bible are also not available for textual analysis.
BA2: The Bible has many very early manuscripts in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages, which can be viewed publicly and are are available for textual analysis.
GW2: “Very early” according to whom? By what standard? Which ones? Anyway, “very early” does not equal “original.”
BA2: There is no archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, but a voluminous amount for the Bible.
GW2: I already refuted this claim. See above. The Golden Tablets were archeological evidence at the time Smith showed them to his followers.
BA2: The 11 “witnesses” who claimed to have “observed the Golden Tablets” are dead, and never produced any documentary evidence.
GW2: The documentary evidence is a paper they signed in which they attested to seeing the Golden Tablets. There is nothing comparable with respect to the original manuscripts of the Bible.
BA2: The are thousands of artifacts supporting the Bible, but none for the Book of Mormon.
GW2: Thousands? I doubt that. That would mean at least two thousand. I am very skeptical of that claim. Can you present any evidence for this? Is there a comprehensive inventory? But I refuted your claim anyway, since the Golden Tablets seen by eleven people constituted an artifact in support of the Book of Mormon. By analogy, it only takes one black swan to refute the claim that all swans are white. You consistently get yourself into difficulty when you make claims with the words “none” or “always.”
BA2: There are hundreds of physical locations and geographical features supporting the Bible, but none for the Book of Mormon.
GW2: Now you are making a new claim. A location is not an artifact. First acknowledge you were mistaken on your original claim before you move to a new one.
GW2: Why do you bother with these trivialities anyway? There are only two important claims in Christianity: 1) God exists. And 2) Jesus came back to life. We now know that the first is certainly false and that there is insufficient evidence to confirm the second and it is very probably false. Whenever I bring up my Holocaust argument against the existence of God, or really any other similar argument, you just evade it. Why? We know why.
Due to its overall high degree of accuracy and faithfulness to the original text, this website will continue to use the very “first rate NAB as one of our main translations, while continuing to use other translations as well.
The “Golden Tablets,” that Joseph Smith and 11 others claim they saw and existed on earth briefly 200 years ago, do not exist. Something that does not exist cannot be archaeological evidence.
There is abundant extant evidence of thousands of Biblical archaeological artifacts. If you’re really interested, it is very easy to check this for yourself. Also, many physical locations and geographical locations, and various people groups, inc., mentioned in the Bible have been documented, confirming the Bible’s accuracy. In contrast, while the Book of Mormon mentions the Americas, similar specific claims in the BoM have never been documented. For starters, the BoM claims Jews came to America and built flourishing, highly populated civilizations, and most notably, claims Jesus came to America and appeared to many. The BoM claims to have been written between about 500 BCE to about 400 CE, and has zero documentary evidence supporting these claims. The
Bible, in contrast has thousands of extant manuscript copies, some of which have been radiocarbon and paleographically dated to very close to the time of original composition.
It is easy to see the huge differences between the authenticity of the Bible and the BoM.
BA3: Due to its overall high degree of accuracy and faithfulness to the original text, this website will continue to use the very “first rate NAB as one of our main translations, while continuing to use other translations as well.
GW3: The “original text” has not been found, so you are making an unwarranted assumption here. Nevertheless, you are entitled to use the second rate NAB for your citations. We know that there are better translations and versions recommended by experts.
BA3: The “Golden Tablets,” that Joseph Smith and 11 others claim they saw and existed on earth briefly 200 years ago, do not exist. Something that does not exist cannot be archaeological evidence.
GW3: That doesn’t matter since they did exist. They were seen by Smith and eleven others, according to their testimony. We now have a “Pilate’s coin” which supports stories about Pilate in the Bible. But if this coin were lost or destroyed, it would still have been archeological evidence. This would be analogous to the case of the Golden Tablets. Thus, your original claim is falsified.
BA3: There is abundant extant evidence of thousands of Biblical archaeological artifacts. If you’re really interested, it is very easy to check this for yourself.
GW3: So you have counted them? What is your proof that there are thousands? I don’t believe you. Maybe hundreds, but not thousands. I think here you are engaged in exaggeration and hyperbole.
BA3: Also, many physical locations and geographical locations, and various people groups, inc., mentioned in the Bible have been documented, confirming the Bible’s accuracy.
GW3: Again, locations are not artifacts of archeology. You are making a category error. Also, nothing “confirms the Bible’s accuracy”. Some claims of the Bible are accurate and some are inaccurate. You are making the error of overgeneralization.
BA3: In contrast, while the Book of Mormon mentions the Americas, similar specific claims in the BoM have never been documented. For starters, the BoM claims Jews came to America and built flourishing, highly populated civilizations, and most notably, claims Jesus came to America and appeared to many. The BoM claims to have been written between about 500 BCE to about 400 CE, and has zero documentary evidence supporting these claims.
GW3: I have no doubt that the BoM is inaccurate in some of its claims. And I have not doubt that the Bible is inaccurate in some of its claims. They are both inaccurate in the claim that God exists. We now know he does not.
BA3: The Bible, in contrast has thousands of extant manuscript copies, some of which have been radiocarbon and paleographically dated to very close to the time of original composition.
GW3: None of these copies are originals. “Very close” is a subjective judgement. Bart Ehrman has conclusively demonstrated errors in copying and even distortions.
BA3: It is easy to see the huge differences between the authenticity of the Bible and the BoM.
GW3: Here you are making the error of black and white thinking or all or nothing thinking. You think “authenticity” is a dichotomous concept, when it isn’t. It is a continuous concept. You would do better to claim that the Bible is greater in authenticity than the Book of Mormon.
GW3: Still you are focused on trivialities. Instead, focus on the claims that God exists and that Jesus came back to life. Tell us what morally justified reason God would have to allow the Holocaust, if he did exist. Share your wishful thinking with us.
“False messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones”—Matthew 24:24 NLT
So, you really believe the “Golden Plates” existed? The first 3 “witnesses” of the plates said they had to pray to even see the plates. Why would someone need to pray to see a literal material object? There are other statements by the 11 “witnesses” that indicate they saw the plates “through faith,” or “in a vision,” or “in a spiritual state.” Does this sound believable to you?
Joseph Smith is heralded by the LDS Church as a “prophet,” and they are right, he was a “false prophet.”
BA4: “False messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones”—Matthew 24:24 NLT
GW4: All messiahs and prophets are false! God doesn’t choose because God does not exist! We now know this. However, if God did exist, then he would not choose any messiahs or prophets to speak for him. He would do his own communication with human beings directly. I don’t know why you don’t understand this, except perhaps that you are thinking of a lesser god who could not be God.
BA4: So, you really believe the “Golden Plates” existed?
GW4: You are missing the point. I believe that some “archeological artifact” called “Golden Plates” existed that these witnesses observed, and its existence refutes the exaggerated claim you made. Was this thing delivered by an angel? Well of course not! Angels don’t exist, period.
BA4: The first 3 “witnesses” of the plates said they had to pray to even see the plates. Why would someone need to pray to see a literal material object?
GW4: It doesn’t matter. They signed a statement that they saw the Golden Plates. Whatever they saw is properly classified as an “archeological artifact,” whether you like it or not, whether it came from an angel or not.
BA4: There are other statements by the 11 “witnesses” that indicate they saw the plates “through faith,” or “in a vision,” or “in a spiritual state.” Does this sound believable to you?
GW4: There are stories that disciples saw “the risen Jesus.” Does that sound believable to you?
BA4: Joseph Smith is heralded by the LDS Church as a “prophet,” and they are right, he was a “false prophet.”
GW4: But there are no true prophets.
GW4: Again, you are wasting time talking about these trivial issues. Get to the main ones – the alleged existence of God and the alleged event of Jesus coming back to life.
Joseph Smith was a “false prophet” (Matthew 24:11,24), a fraud, deceiver, and a con-artist.
The “Golden Plates” were fakes.
The 11 “witnesses” were duped by Joseph Smith’s con-artistry concerning the faked “Golden Plates.”
In contrast to the thousands of Bible manuscripts and Biblical artifacts, which are extant and available for public viewing, the Book of Mormon and the “Golden Plates” have no independent documentation or evidence.
BA5: Joseph Smith was a “false prophet” (Matthew 24:11,24), a fraud, deceiver, and a con-artist.
GW5: All prophets are false since they all claim to relay God’s communications. God does not exist; this has already been proven.
BA5: The “Golden Plates” were fakes.
GW5: They probably were, but they are still correctly classified as an archeological artifact in support of Momonism. This fact refutes your original claim. I’m confident that the Gospels are fakes in the sense that they do not accurately describe reality.
BA5: The 11 “witnesses” were duped by Joseph Smith’s con-artistry concerning the faked “Golden Plates.”
GW5: Smith may have been a charlatan and con man, but the Gospel writers and Paul may have been also. Were they delusional, lying, or a bit of both?
BA5: In contrast to the thousands of Bible manuscripts and Biblical artifacts, which are extant and available for public viewing, the Book of Mormon and the “Golden Plates” have no independent documentation or evidence.
GW5: False. There is a document signed by the witnesses of the Plates. Stop presenting disinformation to your readers!
Please see the article “Does the Bible Reference The Book of Mormon?” on this website.
People claim to have seen to have seen all kinds of things, such as “apparitions” of the Virgin Mary, etc., but that doesn’t make it so.
The 11 “witnesses” were either duped, or lying!
As most religious people tend to do, you use a double standard for the evaluation of evidence. You use one standard, a lenient one, to evaluate evidence for your own religion, i.e. Christianity. But then you use another standard, a harsh one, to evaluate evidence for other religions, e.g. Mormonism. That is what is going on here.
God does not exist, and this has been proven. And so, both Christianity and Mormonism are mistaken since they both assert that God does exist.
You’ve got it backwards, friend, “a double standard” (Proverbs 20:10 GWT) is your modus operandi, not ours. We use “honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures” (Leviticus 19:36 GWT) in all our assessments.
You ignore the facts of the Bible’s thousands of extant, publicly available manuscripts and artifacts compared to zero for the Book of Mormon, and then have the audacity to place the Bible in a category equal to the BoM.
Numerous scholars and archaeologists have unanimously concluded that there is absolutely no archaeological evidence for the BoM. For example:
“The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archaeologists see no direct connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.” (“Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon,” Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1986).
BA: Numerous scholars and archaeologists have unanimously concluded that there is absolutely no archaeological evidence for the BoM.
GW: But there is, and I gave you one example. So this statement is refuted.
BA: For example: “The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archaeologists see no direct connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.” (“Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon,” Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1986).
GW: And the same institution has never used the Bible as a scientific guide either. Both Christianity and Mormonism are mostly mistaken. You must use the same standards to evaluate both. But you don’t. You have a double standard. You use a lenient standard for Christianity and a harsh standard for all other religions. In the end, however, all religions which assert the existence of God are wrong. Why? Because it has now been proven that God does not exist.
BA: You’ve got it backwards, friend, “a double standard” (Proverbs 20:10 GWT) is your modus operandi, not ours.
GW: Nope. I use the same standard of Reason to evaluate all claims, especially religious ones.
BA: We use “honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures” (Leviticus 19:36 GWT) in all our assessments.
GW: But you don’t follow this verse. I gave one example where you didn’t.
BA: You ignore the facts of the Bible’s thousands of extant, publicly available manuscripts and artifacts compared to zero for the Book of Mormon, and then have the audacity to place the Bible in a category equal to the BoM.
GW: That’s partly false and partly true. I agree that there are hundreds, but not thousands, of manuscripts and artifacts in support of the Bible’s claims. I refuted your claim that there are NO artifacts supporting the Book of Mormon. There was at least one. But yes, I have the audacity to place the Bible and the Book of Mormon in the same category of “Mostly False.” If you list the top ten beliefs of these two religions, you will see that they are all certainly false, probably false, unfounded, and/or irrational. The first premise of both is “God exists” and we know that is certainly false.
GW: Let’s look more closely at the example I gave and compare it to a similar Christian claim. Christians claim that Moses climbed up Mt. Sinai, climbed down, and brought back the tablets of the Ten Commandments TWICE! They claim that God inscribed the tablets or caused Moses himself to inscribe them. What is the evidence for this? Only a storybook. There is not a single first-person, author-identified, low-bias, promptly written, eye witness report of Moses bringing down the tablets or of the tablets themselves. There is no existing set of these tablets which has been preserved. There is no AV recording of the event. There has so far been no time travel back to the alleged event and subsequent report. And so the evidence is extremely weak.
GW: Mormons claim that Joseph Smith received the Golden Tablets inscribed with the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni and that he showed these tablets to at least eleven persons. We have a document which describes this showing and it was signed by these eleven. And so we essentially have ELEVEN first-person, author-identified, low-bias, promptly written, eye witness reports of the event and the tablets. We have no AV recording or time travel, just as was the case with the Ten Commandments. So, here the evidence is still weak for the Golden Tablets, but not extremely weak, as was the case with the Ten Commandments.
GW: But you are blinded to this difference because you are using a double standard, one for Christianity and one for Mormonism, as I have clearly pointed out. Of course, both of these religions are mostly false and irrational. They are collections of superstitions which we can now disregard and move on.
If you will check the facts, the first 3 “witnesses” of the golden Plates claimed an angel showed them the “Plates.” All three were later excommunicated by the LDS Church. The 8 witnesses claimed the Joseph Smith showed them the “Plates,” and were all Whitmers and Smiths. Three of them were later excommunicated by the LDS Church.
BA: If you will check the facts, the first 3 “witnesses” of the golden Plates claimed an angel showed them the “Plates.”
GW: Well, that’s even better support for the original hypothesis of Mormonism.
BA: All three were later excommunicated by the LDS Church.
GW: For what?
BA: The 8 witnesses claimed the Joseph Smith showed them the “Plates.” were all Whitmers and Smiths.
GW: Doesn’t matter. The Whitmers and Smiths are people too.
BA: Three of them were later excommunicated by the LDS Church.
GW: For what?
GW: Even if you exclude six, that still leaves five, which is five more than you have for the Ten Commandments. Bazinga! Your double standard is still showing.
Biblical Christianity has a mountain of evidence. Mormonism and the BoM have none!
“Christ died for our sins . . . he was buried . . . on the third day he was raised to life . . . he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us . . . then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared to me” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NJB), Paul wrote.
The majority of NT critics concur that Jesus was publicly executed and was buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a tomb.
Even the most skeptical critics acknowledge that the disciples saw Jesus after his death.
The original disciples suddenly came to believe so strongly that God resurrected Jesus that they were willing to die for that belief.
The best explanation for these facts is that “God has resurrected this Jesus” (Acts 2:32 HCSB).
These facts are not ad hoc or contrived, as is the case with the “Golden Plates.”
GW: Why do you say “Biblical Christianity.” That is redundant. One premise of Christianity is reliance on the Bible. Christianity has some evidence in support of it and some evidence against it. I have already refuted your claim that Mormonism has no evidence in support of it. Your statements are self-defeating whenever you use terms like “none, no, always” etc. It is easy to refute them, as I have done here.
BA: “Christ died for our sins . . . he was buried . . . on the third day he was raised to life . . . he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us . . . then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared to me” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NJB), Paul wrote.
GW: It is irrational to think and very probably false that Jesus died for our sins, that he came back to life, that he met with more than 500 at a time, and that he met with others. First, since God does not exist, sin does not exist. If God did exist, he would never set up a system of atonement based on unfounded belief. That would be unethical. Next, there is no good evidence at all that Jesus came back to life, and we have discussed this ad nauseam. Regarding the 500, not a single one was named and we have not a single report from any of them. The alleged appearances to James and other apostles are best explained by hallucination, illusion, mistaken identity, hoax, or lying. Also, as we have seen, the alleged appearance of Jesus to Paul was clearly a hallucination. Even the three different reports of this incident are inconsistent.
BA: The majority of NT critics concur that Jesus was publicly executed and was buried by Joseph of Arimathea in a tomb.
GW: I agree that this has been the majority position for at least the last two hundred years, since modern scholarship began in the 1800s, but the percentage of advocates for this position is declining. In his most recent book, Bart Ehrman, the best of the living scholars, has said that he believes that Jesus was crucified but was buried in a common pit rather than in a tomb, as claimed in the Gospels. But even if your claim here were true, it is not evidence that Jesus came back to life. If he was placed in a tomb and later the tomb was found empty, what are the most rational explanations for this? A resurrection is not among them.
BA: Even the most skeptical critics acknowledge that the disciples saw Jesus after his death.
GW: False. The Gospel authors CLAIM that the disciples “saw” Jesus after his death. But is this true? What does “saw” mean? I believe it is likely that one or two of Jesus’ disciples had grief hallucinations of him, regardless of whether he was buried in a tomb.. I have published an article about this: Here is the proper citation:
Whittenberger, Gary. “On Visions and Resurrections: Can Hallucination
Account for the Post-Crucifixion Appearances of Jesus?” Skeptic.
Vol. 17, No. 1, 2011, Pg. 40-45
BA: The original disciples suddenly came to believe so strongly that God resurrected Jesus that they were willing to die for that belief.
GW: This claim has been soundly debunked. Watch these three videos:
Did Disciples Die Saying Jesus Rose? (with Mike Winger). Paulogia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecGCVgyxs4o
What Happened to the Apostles of Jesus? (Sean McDowell Response). Paulogia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb4w4xoei2o
3 Things Every Christian Martyr Must Have. Paulogia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBAFD8XI5DI
GW: However, there are cases in which people die for their false beliefs. The suicides of the 9-11 hijackers is a good example.
BA: The best explanation for these facts is that “God has resurrected this Jesus” (Acts 2:32 HCSB).
GW: Pure nonsense! The best explanations for the story that Jesus came back to life are grief hallucination, illusion, mistaken identity, and lying. You have no good evidence at all that Jesus came back to life. In the deaths of 110 billion people in the last 200K years, there has never been a single confirmed case of a person coming back to life.
BA: These facts are not ad hoc or contrived, as is the case with the “Golden Plates.”
GW: They are necessarily ad hoc and many of them are probably contrived. As I have reminded you many times, there is not a single first-person, author-identified, low bias, promptly-written, eye witness report of any event in the life of Jesus or its aftermath, period. To present an effective defense of your position, you would need at least three corroborating but independent reports of this nature. And it would help to have AV recordings and/or remnant or trace evidence of his coming back to life. And you have none of this. Maybe you could arrange for Jesus, supposedly still alive according to you, to meet with us tomorrow. Huh? Nah, you aren’t going to do that. Why? Because Jesus is dead and not coming back. Oh, and by the way, God does not exist, and this has been proven.