Eyewitnesses

If Christ has not risen from the dead, there is no reason to embrace the Christian faith. There is no reason to believe there is life after death.

If Christ has not risen from the dead, we are alone in this vast universe. We are a fluke...an accident.

If Christ has not risen from the dead, then his eyewitnesses...his disciples lived...and died for a lie.

I am joyful today, because I believe the records that have been passed down...

I trust Peter's words (2 Peter 1:16) in his letter written around 65,66,67 AD. "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, BUT WE WERE EYEWITNESSES OF HIS MAJESTY."

And John says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have HEARD, which we have SEEN with our eyes, which we have LOOKED AT and our HANDS HAVE TOUCHED....The life appeared; we have SEEN IT and TESTIFY to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. I John 1: 1-3.

One of my favorite books is "A Ready Defense" by Josh Mc Dowell. He discusses the evidences pointing to the reliability of these eyewitness accounts. The Jewish culture into which Jesus was born did use literary documents, but primarily, it was an oral-tradition-based culture. In the time of Christ...to learn by heart and recite were two normal ways of transmission of a text. A number of rabbinic quotations are cited showing how important it was in Jewish culture to receive and transmit oral tradition accurately. In one quote, a pupil is described as having learned it from his teacher "forty times and it became for him as though it lay in his purse." One of the rabbinic quotes advises to sing the words every day.

I think I'm drifting off topic...but the above inspires me to memorize more scripture.
Filling one's mind with scripture can keep one grounded.