Honest questions
Did Jesus rise from the dead?
Christians say yes, bodily, and stake everything on it. Two things are close to uncontested: Jesus was executed by crucifixion, and within a very short time his followers were saying (and suffering for saying) that they had seen him alive. Whether the tomb was empty is argued about, and what best explains any of it is where the real argument happens.
What the earliest sources say
The oldest statement we have is not a Gospel but a short creed Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15, which he says he received rather than composed, and which is widely dated very early, within a few years of the crucifixion, though the dating is itself argued over. It lists the death, the burial, the raising and a series of appearances, including one to more than five hundred people, many of whom Paul says are still alive and can be asked. The Gospel accounts came later and differ in detail, which is what independent testimony usually looks like.
What is hard to dispute, and what is
That Jesus was executed by Roman crucifixion is about as secure as anything in ancient history. That his followers sincerely believed they had seen him alive afterwards is granted by most scholars who work on this, including many who think the disciples were mistaken. That the movement began in Jerusalem, weeks after the execution, in the city where the body could be produced, is not seriously contested. That women were named as the first witnesses is an odd detail to invent in a culture where their testimony carried little weight.
The alternative explanations
They deserve a real hearing. The body was stolen, which has to explain why anyone would die for a hoax they built. The witnesses hallucinated, which works less well for group appearances and for a sceptic like Paul. Everyone went to the wrong tomb, which the authorities could have corrected in an afternoon. The story grew as a legend, which strains against a creed this early. Each explanation solves something and leaves something unsolved, which is why the argument has lasted this long.
What is actually at stake
Paul is unusually blunt about it: if Christ has not been raised, the preaching is empty and so is the faith. He does not offer a fallback in which the teaching remains valuable as a philosophy. That is worth respecting from either side of the question, because it means Christianity has made itself falsifiable in a way most worldviews do not. The claim is about an event, and events either happened or did not. That is a more honest place for a disagreement to sit.
In the text
Where this comes from
Quoted from the World English Bible, which is public domain. Read the surrounding chapter in whatever translation you own.
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
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