[Gamecock]

The problem with this as an argument is that other causes, which most of us would consider untrue or evil, such as Nazism and Marxism, have elicited similar dedication from their proponents.

Difference is the Nazis and Marxists spent years being indoctrinated and display a rabid devotion from early on.

While the disciples spent years with Christ they were as cowardly as rabbits one day, and a few days later they had a total transformation in their lives. That transformation led them to boldly preach Christ risen.

[Campion]

There's another difference.

The resurrection is a proposition of fact. It's either true or false.

Marxism is a theory. It's a conjecture that the world would be much better if X, Y, and Z; and that thus-and-such explains history, and so on.

True believers in theories die for those theories all the time. They don't die knowing those theories are false; they believe them to be true.

However, if the resurrection is a falsehood and the apostles knew it (and were not deceived), they died for something they knew to be a lie. Sane men don't do that. So either they were all very skillfully deceived, or they were insane, or they were telling the truth and the resurrection is a fact.