Yeah, there were lots of people outside the Gospels in the 1st and 2nd century that said Jesus raised the dead. None of them gave this particular detail that Matthew gives, but it's not significant compared to Jesus himself coming back, which is the core claim that either is completely true or is so amazing that it would take a Jesus to invent it fresh. It wasn't a "massive" number, probably a dozen or so would suffice. And the Talmud demonstrates that the Jews are constantly expecting, and mythologizing, that their fathers are often returning to them bodily to give advice, so all those testimonies also reflect the Matthaean event.
There was no party among the seven or eight Jewish political divisions and many subdivisions that had incentive to popularize these particular "Elijah sightings" as opposed to any others more in line with the emerging Pharisee consensus. Except the new completely unfunded movement, the Messianics (the Way). So it's natural that the Messianics are the only ones to be specific about that resurrection. But about healing, raising the dead, and doing wonders in general, there are many such contemporary testimonies, starting with Tacitus, listed in the link I gave.
You call me "false on every count" and then provide no proof, even though all I did was ask questions. This is an inquiry board but you seem to have your mind made up. Feel free to give evidence rather than circumstantial inference about something I didn't say.
Yeah, there were lots of people outside the Gospels in the 1st and 2nd century that said Jesus raised the dead. None of them gave this particular detail that Matthew gives, but it's not significant compared to Jesus himself coming back, which is the core claim that either is completely true or is so amazing that it would take a Jesus to invent it fresh. It wasn't a "massive" number, probably a dozen or so would suffice. And the Talmud demonstrates that the Jews are constantly expecting, and mythologizing, that their fathers are often returning to them bodily to give advice, so all those testimonies also reflect the Matthaean event.
There was no party among the seven or eight Jewish political divisions and many subdivisions that had incentive to popularize these particular "Elijah sightings" as opposed to any others more in line with the emerging Pharisee consensus. Except the new completely unfunded movement, the Messianics (the Way). So it's natural that the Messianics are the only ones to be specific about that resurrection. But about healing, raising the dead, and doing wonders in general, there are many such contemporary testimonies, starting with Tacitus, listed in the link I gave.
You call me "false on every count" and then provide no proof, even though all I did was ask questions. This is an inquiry board but you seem to have your mind made up. Feel free to give evidence rather than circumstantial inference about something I didn't say.