What if Jesus did not rise from the dead?

Over the past week or so I have been thinking about this question. I have been living a bit too much in my head. I desire to understand my faith from a none emotional perspective, but rather from a rational point of view.
How does the divinity of Jesus affect who I am, what I believe and the way in which I should live?

If Jesus was not divine and therefore did not rise from the dead, then he is at best a good teacher and another example of how we ought to live. We might put him in a list with Gandhi and other people who have lived extraordinary lives.

In the first century there are records of other rabies who clamed messiahship and who most likely had a number of disciples. But, ultimately they died and their followers dispersed. (I must confess that my knowledge of this is limited to a few books primarily “A Brief Introduction of the New Testament”) Why did anyone take the time to record the life and teachings of Jesus? I find it interesting to look at the volume of literature that is recorded about this Teacher from Nazareth. If Jesus’ disciples did not see Jesus after he was executed and yet they still devoted the remainder of their lives to his cause, I would say they were loony. Those men were either seriously brainwashed or believed in something that was real and ultimately worth dying for.

Are these the only men/women to die for something they believed in? No. Will they be the last? Doubtful. But, I think there is a difference between Jesus’ disciples and other martyrs. The disciples were starting something new; they were not scared into following Jesus or pressured by a religious group or the government. The followers of Jesus believed in something radical and I believe that thing was the risen Christ Jesus.