Sorry, no video cameras or recording devices at the time, so we have to go by the reported history of people like Luke... And go by the known history of the rapid expansion of Christianity during the brutal Roman regime. As one writer J P Moreland basically put it, something very big was going on for 10,000 Jews to come to Christianity within 5 weeks of the Resurrection.
Actually 10,000 is a conservative number, he said "over" 10,000. The praised physician/historian Luke reported 3000 on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:41). Then he reported 5000 more "men" in (Acts 4:4). That's 8000. Remember woman were second class citizens in that era and weren't even counted in tallies (as weren't children). So if you add women and children, one estimate has been 15,000.
And as the book in post #1 points out these were people who were brought up in the Jewish customs all their life. So they're going from strict monotheism to now Jesus the God man. This was a huge change for them. Man worship has always been punishable by death as the book says on page 291. So something huge is going on for all these people to be converted so shortly after the resurrection.
Also if they become Christian there going to have a new Sabbath. This is also a big change because as the above book says Jews of that day believed breaking the Sabbath was punishable by death (Ex. 31:14).
The above all relates to Reason #10 in post #1:
Reason #10
"The New Testament Writers Abandoned Their Long Held Sacred Beliefs and Practices, Adopted New Ones, And Did Not Deny Their Testimony Under Persecution Or Threat Of Death"
And we're not only talking the NT writers who are making these changes, we're talking 8000 (and most likely at least 10,000) Jews, according to Luke, within weeks of the Resurrection. Yes, something big is going on for this many people to change their lifetime religion and customs. One can now see why Christianity spread so fast if this many people converted within such a short period after the resurrection.
