> Of course, that still leaves the fact that Josephus and the Bishop of Lyons were telling people to go down and look at her if they wanted verification of the story, which is the main thing I was trying to get across.

That's also true of the Apostle Paul's writings, too: he gives an open invitation to his contemporaries to investigate the accuracy of his account of Jesus' death and resurrection. He takes the time to name the individuals and groups who were witnesses of those events, and says in effect: "Go talk to those people if you think I may be misrepresenting the facts of the case." We can't cross-examine those witnesses today, of course, but it's impressive that Paul had such confidence in the veracity of his story that he invited people to confirm it for themselves.

Iss