A) INTRODUCTION.

B) SUBSTANTIAL REASONABLE DOUBT.

C) TO THE TESTIMONIES.

D) FINALLY.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”  First Corinthians 15:17.  This is the bottom line of Christianity.  Without the resurrection all hope is gone and everything you believe about Jesus, God, and the Christian life, is a lie.

 

Once you establish Jesus as an historical personage then all of these arguments become overwhelmingly convincing.  Therefore, please see my Bible Study:  “Christ In Secular History.”

 

All historians agree that Christ existed; that He was crucified; and that He was buried.  Keep in mind that crucifixions were public events, designed as a deterrent for others.  Just as the Biblical “death penalty” could be if executed by the republic.  That would mean that they would be placed in a well-traveled area such that most would be witnesses of it. Plus, the crucifixion took place during “Passover,” where hundreds of crowds and Jewish people from various regions and countries over the known globe would be present.  And since Jerusalem comprises a very small area of property, it would be really stretching it to believe most of these crowds had no idea what was taking place.

 

 

B) SUBSTANTIAL REASONABLE DOUBT

 

 

1) Not many -- if any -- will die for a lie.  Unless family and money are involved.  No money was offered to any of the witnesses in order to have them recant their testimony.  Except for Judas, who did recant!

 

2)  The FACT of CHANGES in the lives and testimonies of all of the disciples and many followers of Christ -- many from cowards to martyrs.

 

3) Being murdered wouldn’t count.  But being killed for their verifiable evidence and testimonies; loss of family (Even Christ’s Own family rejected Him; Mark 3:20-21; John 7:5); loss of friends; crucified; stoned; impaled; flayed; beheaded; hung upside down; flogged to death; fed to lions; the list goes on-and-on.  Why would a person do this if it was all for just one big lie?

 

4) Worldly governments, peoples, etcetera, attempting by any means possible to shut up individual testimonies of a risen Christ.  In other words, the opposition lying to avoid or silence the truth is usually a great indicator that what you are hearing (testifying of) is truth.

 

5) If any non-substantiated evidence could have been given to refute the resurrection of Christ, it surely would have come out of the city of Jerusalem, where the followers were giving testimony that Christ did rise from the dead.  However, only lies (like the soldiers were asleep; Mat. 28:13) were given for proof against the event.  Sound like a conspiracy?

 

6) Had the body of Christ not risen, the Roman guard could have just presented it and silenced the testimonies of the followers of Christ immediately.  Thus, the second lie in secular history, that the body was stolen away; leading to the third lie; that Christ did not die at all (medically impossible after the “blood [mixed with] and water” John 19:34, came forth from Christ’s body).

 

7) The arguments by the hundreds have come about throughout the ages that Jesus was not really dead.  However, it is well established (and you don’t hear of this argument any more) that the Roman guard surely knew how to kill someone and knew whether or not they were dead.  Also, there is no historical record anywhere of anyone surviving a Roman crucifixion.  By the way, to argue about most or any of these arguments, stem on the FACT, based upon scholars even using such arguments, that Jesus was and is an historical figure.

 

8) Only the Muslim world still teaches that Jesus did not really die.  They silence their followers (brain washed) the same way the Sadducees and Pharisees silenced the testimony of those raised from the dead after the resurrection of Christ (Mat. 27:52-53).

 

9) The testimony of “women” in those days was not acceptable in a court of law.  For the Biblical writers of that day to be giving credit to “women” as discovering the empty tomb (Mat. 28:1 & 5-10; Mark 16:1-5; Luke 24:1 & 9-10; John 20:1-2), let alone seeing Him risen (Mat. 28:9-10; Mark 16:9; John 20:14-18), is remarkable evidence for the reliability of the events in question.

 

 

C) TO THE TESTIMONIES

 

 

Think about this.  If you wanted proof of the resurrection of someone you knew, what would you want to have happen in order for you to believe?

 

You would want to TALK TO THEM = See Matthew 28:9-10 & 17-20; Mark 16:12 & 14-18; Luke 24:17 & 19 & 24-25 & 36 & 38-49; John 20:15-17 & 19-23; 21:7 & 10 & 12 & 15-22; Acts 1:3; First Corinthians 15:5-8.

 

You would want to TOUCH THEM = See Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:39; John 20:17 & 27-29.

 

You would want to SEE THEM UP CLOSE, not from a distance = See Matthew 28:9-10 & 17-20; Mark 16:12 & 14-18; Luke 24:17 & 19 & 24-25 & 36 & 38-51; John 20:19-23 & 25; 21:1 & 7 & 10 & 12 & 15-22; Acts 1:3 & 22; 3:15; 10:40-41; 13:31; First Corinthians 15:5-8.

 

You might want to EAT WITH THEM = See Luke 24:30 & 43; John 21:12-13.

 

You could rely upon the testimony of 500 people at once seeing Him; and most of them are still alive to tell of it (under pain of persecution for their testimony) = See First Corinthians 15:6.

 

That when you did see your friend, that His body had not seen corruption = See Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27; 13:35.

 

 

D) FINALLY

 

 

Even the Muslim “Qur’an” acknowledges that Christ was resurrected (all-be-it, that He never really died) as found in “Yusuf Ali,” 4:157-158:  “That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’ -- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not--nay, Allah raised him up to himself.”  I bring this up because, although untrue, it still testifies that Christ was an historical figure.  See my Bible Study:  “Christ In Secular History.”

 

According to Roman law of the time, there was to be “Capital punishment for anyone moving a body from a tomb with wicked intent.”  “Rescript,” from Claudius Caesar (c. A.D. 40’s).  In an interesting side note, this law specifically mentions “sepulcher-sealing stones,” which, by-the-way, are only found in Israel.

 

As mentioned above, in those days, women’s testimonies were not acceptable in a court of law.  Therefore, if you were going to fake a resurrection testimony, why would you have women see the resurrection before anyone else (men).  See Mark 16:9 (Mat. 28:1; Mark 15:47; Luke 24:10; John 20:1 & 11 & 16).

 

Even all the sceptics and scholars at least believe or acknowledge that these testimonies are of people who believe and are certain of what they are testifying to.

 

The Fact that Jesus raised others from the dead, and none in His day disputed that FACT, proved that someone could be raised from the dead.  See Matthew 9:22 (same event in Mark 5:42; Luke 8:55) Luke 7:15; John 11:44.  And the FACT that the leadership wanted to kill Lazarus (John 12:9-11), so that his testimony could not be published about of his resurrection, is very telling.

 

Why would one spend their entire life attempting to disprove the resurrection of a nobody?  Think About It:  Why are sceptics more concerned about disproving the Resurrection of Jesus then Christians are about proving it?  Finally, a little “Common-Sense” would be well used occasionally.