The Worst Thing That Ever Happened Turned Out to Be the Best Thing When Jesus Rose Again

Christianity's cadre conventionalities is that the Son of God took on human form, died for our sins, so rose from the expressionless to give us eternal life. But if Jesus Christ didn't come back to life, it undoes His claim to be the all-powerful, eternal Son of God, Savior, and Messiah.  So, Christianity hangs on the Resurrection.

To believe the events around that beginning Easter, you pretty much have to believe that Jesus did indeed exist and that the New Testament can be trusted.

At the Bear upon 360 school in Pino Mountain, Georgia, Prof. Jonathan Morrow preps college-leap Christians in how to fight with the facts of their faith.

Jesus Isn't Simply in the Bible

He told CBN News, "Investigating the Resurrection is a historical question that you tin can do with eyes wide open up; it's not a blind organized religion kind of matter, like believing in the Easter Bunny or a lucky rabbit's foot.  This is real-world kind of stuff.  And you lot tin investigate the data for it."

Morrow added, "And then when it comes to the Resurrection, we say 'Well, how do nosotros know Jesus existed?' Some people even doubt that.  The fact is, nosotros have far more than sources for Jesus of Nazareth than we do for many historical figures in the first century.  We have at least 18. Twelve of those are non-Christian sources."

There's more evidence Jesus existed than Julius Caesar. Anyone doubt Caesar existed?

As for the Scriptures, Prof. Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary explained that any piece of a surviving ancient work is called a manuscript. And more than ancient pages or fragments of the Bible have survived by far than any other book from artifact.

"It's exceptional," Bock said. "You're talking about over v,800 Greek manuscripts, over 8,000 Latin manuscripts. Most books that nosotros work with in the ancient earth accept perchance at best a dozen manuscripts."

Jonathan Morrow is a defender of the religion, the literal pregnant of "apologist."  Just he says Christians shouldn't just defend the faith and the Resurrection. They should embrace it and let it alter their lives but like it changed the ancient world. Watch beneath:

Christians: If Jesus Is Dead, So Is Your Faith

For some people, they might be ready to believe the Bible is legitimate, merely they take a hard time believing Jesus Christ could have actually risen from the dead.

The problem with that, as far every bit Morrow is concerned, is that everything hangs on that fact.

This author of Questioning the Bible explained, "Paul made the argument in I Corinthians 15, maxim 'Await, you can test this: if the Resurrection didn't happen, Christianity is false. Whether you believe information technology or not, whether yous're sincere near it, if the Resurrection didn't happen, Christianity's false - go to the next religion."

If He's Dead, Then They Lied

Some suggest that the apostles all lied in a vast conspiracy to turn the arrears of Jesus' death into the positive of a risen Lord. Merely biblical apologists insist when y'all examine information technology all the style through, it's really easier to believe in the Resurrection than its alternatives.

Such Bible experts say that to dismiss the Resurrection, any theory you come upwards with to explain the historical happenings has to explain away iii historical facts:

1. That there was an empty tomb 3 days after Jesus'south body had been placed in it, though it had been constantly guarded by Roman soldiers;
2. Jesus appeared to hundreds of people in numerous places for well-nigh seven weeks after His crucifixion;
3. And something huge did happen to suddenly and forever plow all the cowering, cowardly disciples into bold believers, proclaiming a risen Messiah they were willing to exist tortured and die for.

Top biblical experts point out all the holes in these and other anti-Resurrection theories. Watch below.

Did Jesus Dice, or Simply Near Dice?

Still, culling theories alive on.

Some theorize that Jesus didn't die on the cross but just went into a death-like land that fooled anybody who checked His trunk. Then nether this theory, He awoke in the tomb, got upward and walked out.  Proponents say that explains His many appearances after His supposed death.

What this doesn't explain is how in a well-nigh-death country and with exceedingly crippling wounds, He could work His style out of tightly-wrapped, glued-on burial garments and so ringlet away the massively heavy rock sealed onto the tomb by the Romans.  And information technology doesn't explain why He'd of a sudden disappear after several weeks among His disciples, never to exist seen once again.  Nor does it explain how so many people saw Him ascending up into the heavens.

Oops, Incorrect Tomb

Some suggest the female disciples who outset found the empty tomb might accept just had the wrong 1, and the other disciples took advantage of that, concocting a Resurrection myth to explain the empty tomb. But surely the Jewish leaders who'd had Roman guards placed by Jesus' burial identify, and Joseph of Arimathea who owned the tomb where Jesus' body had been laid, would accept quickly displayed the body and corrected the mistake if indeed the women had gone to the incorrect tomb.

"If you're going effectually preaching Jesus was physically raised from the dead and people knew where He was buried and knew where they could find His bones, that message wouldn't even become off the ground," insisted Bock, writer of Truth Matters.

Not Smart to Prevarication Where Anybody Knows You're Lying

Josh McDowell, author of New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, said the disciples knew this well.

"In the Resurrection, where was the hardest place in the world to convince anyone it was true if it was simulated?  Jerusalem, where a xv-minute walk by anyone could confirm the emptiness of the tomb," McDowell said."

Matthew 28 points out the Jewish leaders bribed the tomb's guards to say they'd fallen comatose and the disciples and then stole Jesus' torso. Simply if these guards were asleep, how would they know it was the disciples?  And how could they take slept through the disciples rolling away the huge rock that covered the entrance to the tomb, a stone some accept suggested was and so heavy, it may have taken more than than a dozen men to button information technology away?

Debunking this conspiracy idea, Morrow said, "Conspiracy theories unravel very quickly because people volition eventually tell what they know. And the more than people who are involved, and the more people who saw the effect, you multiply your chances of the story getting out. Then that's the offset affair. The second matter is the Gospels, the primeval historical tape nosotros have, don't evidence the tales of being doctored to say the same affair, like they got their stories straight. They had the ring of truth to them."

Would You Dice for a Prevarication You Made Upwards?

And if the disciples were making up Jesus' Resurrection, would they take lived and died for Him and a fiction they themselves made up?

McDowell explained, "They said afterwards He was crucified and buried, He was raised from the dead and for 40 days — not 40 hours, not four days — for forty days, they lived with Him and walked with Him, with overwhelming proof that He'd been raised from the expressionless."

McDowell concluded, "If the Resurrection was a prevarication, they had to know it. And if they knew information technology, so you'd have to say hither were these men who not only died for a lie, but they knew it was a prevarication. I challenge you to find others in history who that's true of. It's not."

Morrow added, "The primeval disciples would have known - not only believed, but would have known - that either Jesus was who He claimed to exist and was actually raised from the dead or they were making this affair up. And yet history tells united states that nosotros have adept reason to think they all went to their decease with the exception of i for that cadre belief: that Jesus was raised from the dead. They didn't recant that. Conspiracies suspension downward under pressure.  And this conspiracy would take cost them their lives."

What Would Cause Such Radical Transformations?

These and other experts say that in truth, it would take something every bit radical every bit Jesus' Resurrection to completely transform the disciples like cowardly Peter, who was so scared just earlier the crucifixion, he swore he didn't even know Jesus. Watch below.

But merely a few weeks later Morrow pointed out Peter went from hiding away, fearful the Jewish leaders might have him killed as well, to boldly preaching salvation through Christ before a oversupply of thousands, including some who sought Jesus' death.

Morrow explained, "You see Peter with this radical transformation, going from coward to this courageous champion who'south saying 'Expect, here I stand, this is what I'g saying, this is what's true. You crucified this guy, but this is what He offered.' You've got that radical transformation right at the eye of what's going on effectually that earliest Christian movement."

From Christ-Hater to Christian Martyr

Morrow pointed out Jesus' doubting brother James was as well instantly inverse.

He said, "James – the brother of Jesus —didn't follow Jesus during His earthly ministry; thought He was crazy."

McDowell agreed, saying, "James despised his blood brother. Idea He was embarrassing the family. And and then Jesus appeared to him in James' ain word, and he became the leader of the church of Jerusalem."

Morrow added, "And after the fact, James becomes an early leader in the Church building, and was persecuted and eventually killed for that belief."

And biblical apologists say it could only be a resurrected Jesus showing up forcefully and vividly two to three years later that could transform the church's worst persecutor into its chief missionary.

Greatest Murderer Turned to Greatest Missionary

"Saul of Tarsus was anything but a follower who believed in Jesus," McDowell said. "He went from metropolis to urban center casting his vote to have them imprisoned and executed. But in his own words, Christ appeared to him. Whether y'all believe that or not, something took.  One of the greatest murderers into i of the greatest missionaries.  A Christian-hater to a Christian-lover."

Morrow stated,  "What in the world would flip Paul - or actually, Saul of Tarsus - to Paul, the primary proclaimer in the early on Church?  He was a smart guy. He was holding the coats when people were killing the beginning Christians.  He was adamantly opposed to this movement. And then he became a Christian. What accounts for that?"

Short of the risen Jesus appearing to Paul, Bock believes information technology'due south an unfathomable transformation.

Equally he put information technology, "So the principal thing is just explaining how someone like a Saul who becomes Paul even exists."

McDowell concluded, "Something happened in Paul's life that I've never establish any other explanation that even comes close to satisfying me intellectually except: 'And Jesus appeared to Paul later the Resurrection.'"

Liars Wouldn't Have Testified About the Female Disciples' Office

Another crucial cistron that debunks the idea all these disciples were trying to sell a faux Resurrection to the earth: the fact that they proclaimed it was females who found the empty tomb and let the male disciples know Jesus was missing.

The beginning century Jews believed women were second-grade citizens.  So if the disciples were lying about the resurrection, they fabricated their story all the harder to have past putting women at the forefront.

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - they all recount Jesus' earliest women followers finding the empty tomb," Morrow said. "In the get-go century, where a woman'south testimony would have been about the level just above a slave, that would not be your best foot forward."

Bock imagined being with the disciples plotting how they'll push a fake Resurrection.

The Criterion of Embarrassment

"'We're going to sell this hard idea, and the people we're going to get to sell it are people that the culture doesn't believe take the correct to be witnesses,'" Bock imagined them maxim.

But he insisted, "You'd never make up a story that mode.  This is what's called the Criterion of Embarrassment in historical Jesus studies: that yous'd never make upwardly the story this manner.  So the reason the story is this way is because it must be grounded in what happened."

Morrow completely agreed, stating the Gospel writers testifying near the women'due south role has "the ring of truth."

Morrow said, "That would take been an embarrassing particular you would have never led with UNLESS it actually happened. And the fact that all four (Matthew, Marking, Luke and John) say it happened just gives information technology that much stronger evidence that it actually did happen."

Difficult to Simply Dismiss 500 Eyewitnesses

Saying the disciples lied about Jesus' resurrection doesn't explain His post-Resurrection advent earlier 500 people. The Campaigner Paul in I Corinthians fifteen suggested doubters go talk to them.

Morrow said of that, "You've got living history. Y'all've got the people who were there to cantankerous-check whatsoever message is being put out in that location. And then, information technology's not as though these things could have been invented and no one would have challenged it. You've got this thought that 'there are witnesses; become investigate them.'"

He added about this call in I Corinthians to talk to witnesses, "Aboriginal historians loved eyewitness testimony. That's what they all wanted. Livy, Herodotus, Tacitus, Thucydides - they all wanted eyewitness testimony to get back to the original.  And that's what you have."

McDowell said of such eyewitness testimony, "I put a lot of weight on this.  You see, people today say, 'How do you know Jesus said that? How do you know He did that?' Well, they had the same question in the New Testament times. Even more than so than today considering they were dying for it. And they wanted to know: 'Is this truthful? Did Jesus actually do this? Did He really say this?' "

'Tin't Go Much Better Evidence'

McDowell pointed out, "In I John 1, how did John answer that? They said 'How do we know this is true?' John said, 'What our eyes have seen, what our ears have heard, what our hands take handled is what we're declaring unto you.' In other words, 'We were eyewitnesses. We were there.'  And so with their opponents, they would say, 'Yous were there, likewise. You saw Jesus do this; you lot heard Him do this.'  And yous tin't get much improve evidence historically than that.  And we have that in the Scriptures."

Morrow returned to how Paul pushed his readers in I Corinthians 15 to gather proof that Jesus rose from the expressionless: "He says, 'It'due south not a thing of wishful thinking.  Investigate this.' That's why he mentions the eyewitnesses. He mentioned that Jesus appeared to more than 500, and as well as His disciples, and to Paul himself and to others. Because eyewitnesses authenticated that event. And information technology was central to Christianity."

Morrow ended, "Information technology has all the ring of truth and not the ring of that conspiracy theory where they just made this thing up to invent their own faith."

Jonathan Morrow and Josh McDowell share more than of their insights regarding eyewitness testimony beneath:

Could 500 People Accept the Same Hallucination?

Some doubters effort to do away with all the post-Resurrection appearances past proverb those who thought they were seeing, talking to and touching Jesus were all hallucinating, fifty-fifty the 500 Paul discussed in I Corinthians.

McDowell told CBN News assertive that takes more than faith than simply accepting that Jesus really did rise from the expressionless.

The writer explained, "Here's the key: what is a hallucination? A hallucination is an internal experience, not triggered past anything externally.  This is why no two people ever accept the aforementioned hallucination. Considering it's all internal; subjective. Well, to have 500 people accept the aforementioned hallucination would exist 500 miracles equal to the Resurrection."

Speaking of miracles, Morrow called on people to not dismiss them as casually equally most folks do these days.

If God Exists, so Can Miracles

"When historians investigate this, in our modern mindset, in that location'due south this idea that 'Look, miracles are out of bounds.' Well, why? Because if it'southward at to the lowest degree possible that God exists, and so miracles become possible," he insisted.

But Morrow added, "We shouldn't believe merely any and every miracle. We then investigate them on a case-past-case basis. And when you look at the Resurrection evidence, it'south pretty remarkable how potent it is, and that'southward why it'due south at the core of Christianity. And so, I don't call back it's intellectually credible to rule out miracles before you lot investigate the event, out of mitt."

Bock insisted, "The faith is very, very defendable. That'due south why it'southward lasted for ii,000 years.  And not only that. At that place'southward a rationale that shows the uniqueness of what Jesus is that's of import to capeesh as well. And and so all the fourth dimension that's often spent on the Resurrection makes sense because that actually is the hub of the discussion."

Morrow added, "Christians don't believe that Jesus rose from the expressionless considering the Bible says and so. They believe He rose from the dead because that's what the earliest and best historical documents show, and that's what's the best explanation of the information."

Early Is Important

Just similar historians put great weight on eyewitness testimony, they also requite more than respect to early on historical writings done close to the events they hash out.

With Peter, John, and James, yous have both: They're eyewitnesses who wrote early.

"You tin push button the primeval core education of Jesus - His death, deity, and Resurrection - within months of the Resurrection. Because and so it goes dorsum to Peter, James, and John," Morrow said. "These people were eyewitnesses, they were there, and it was early."

Paul's see with Jesus came just 2 or three years after Christ's death and Resurrection, and not long after that, he interviewed Peter, James, and John.

"Then 18 years after he cross-checked himself over again," Morrow said of Paul. "In I Corinthians 15, he goes 'Look, I met with them again and they added nothing to my gospel. Nosotros're preaching the aforementioned verbal thing.' This is the cadre message. And you can trace information technology dorsum to the beginning, that in that location was never a Christianity without that at the heart of it."

Bock said that's crucial knowledge for those who might instead accept believed these key Christian doctrines were dreamed up much later.

He explained, "The effect that'south sometimes raised upward: 'well, these books were written many decades later on. So they reflect a theological development coming down the road.'  All that shrinks dorsum when you lot look at the person of Paul."

"He was writing within a few years of the time of Christ," McDowell added. "And this is why for many of the scholars will requite I Corinthians incredible credence: considering of its closeness."

The Resurrection Proves Jesus Was Who He Said He Was

Morrow said of Paul, "He understood why Jesus of Nazareth was unlike in the unique claims that He fabricated, simply that and then those claims were authenticated through His Resurrection that said 'What I said is what is real. This is who I am.'"

Morrow summed up, "These claims to forgive sins sound crazy unless you're the Son of God, you're the Son of Homo, you're the Messiah. And that'southward who He showed Himself to exist. And Paul is probably our primeval and all-time witness to that. And our critical scholars will grant the states Paul beingness that eyewitness."

McDowell spoke of evidence that can help readers believe the words of Paul and other New Testament writers, like archaeological findings.

He explained, "Right at present you can almost say every single reference in the Book of Acts has already been verified through archaeology: 600 some references to kings, people, places, everything. In Luke 3, in the get-go 3 verses, there are 17 historical references. Every single one now has been confirmed by archaeology."

'The Evidence Is Only Getting Better'

Biblical expert Bock flat-out stated, "These books are the all-time-attested pieces of aboriginal literature we possess."

Morrow added, "One of the fascinating things most New Testament manuscripts: We take over 5,700 Greek manuscripts alone. And more manuscripts are being discovered all the time."

He summed up, "I think what Christians need to know is that there's really skilful reason why we believe what we believe, and the evidence is only getting better. The more we observe and the more than nosotros find, the more confidence you lot tin have that this is really true."

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW You lot CAN Observe PEACE WITH GOD

This story was originally published on April 1, 2018.

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Source: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/april/why-you-can-believe-in-the-resurrection

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