Is Jesus relevant today? a continuation
Self-Prophecy
In advance of His death, Jesus told His disciples that He would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified and that He would come back to life three days later. That’s a strange plan! What was behind it? Jesus was no entertainer willing to perform for others on demand; instead, He promised that His death and resurrection would prove to people (if their minds and hearts were open) that He was indeed the Messiah.
Bible scholar Wilbur Smith remarked about Jesus:
When He said that He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the devotion of any disciples – unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that.
In other words, since Jesus had clearly told His disciples that He would rise again after His death, failure to keep that promise would expose Him as a fraud. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. How did Jesus die before He (if He really did die) rose again?
We all wonder what will happen to us after we die. When a loved one dies, we long to see him or her again after our turn comes. Will we have a glorious reunion with those we love or is death the end of all consciousness?
Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die. He made this startling claim: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.” According to the eyewitnesses closest to Him, Jesus then demonstrated His power over death by rising from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days. It is this belief that has given hope to Christians for nearly 2000 years.
But some people have no hope of life after death. The atheistic philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my own ego will survive.” Russell obviously didn’t believe Jesus’ words.
Jesus’ followers wrote that He appeared alive to them after His crucifixion and burial. They claim not only to have seen Him but also to have eaten with Him, touched Him, and spent 40 days with Him.
So could this have been simply a story that grew over time, or is it based upon solid evidence? The answer to this question is foundational to Christianity. For if Jesus did rise from the dead, it would validate everything He said about Himself, about the meaning of life, and about our destiny after death.
If Jesus did rise from the dead then He alone would have the answers to what life is about and what is facing us after we die. On the other hand, if the resurrection account of Jesus is not true, then Christianity would be founded upon a lie.
Theologian R. C. Sproul puts it this way:
The claim of resurrection is vital to Christianity. If Christ has been raised from the dead by God, then He has the credentials and certification that no other religious leader possesses.
All other religious leaders are dead, but, according to Christianity, Christ is alive.
Many skeptics have attempted to disprove the resurrection. Josh McDowell was one such skeptic who spent more than seven hundred hours researching the evidence for the resurrection. McDowell stated this regarding the importance of the resurrection:
I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR it is the most fantastic fact of history. McDowell later wrote his classic work, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, documenting what he discovered.
So, is Jesus’ resurrection a fantastic fact or a vicious myth? To find out, we need to look at the evidence of history and draw our own conclusions. Let’s see what skeptics who investigated the resurrection discovered for themselves.
Self-Prophecy
In advance of His death, Jesus told His disciples that He would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified and that He would come back to life three days later. That’s a strange plan! What was behind it? Jesus was no entertainer willing to perform for others on demand; instead, He promised that His death and resurrection would prove to people (if their minds and hearts were open) that He was indeed the Messiah.
Bible scholar Wilbur Smith remarked about Jesus:
When He said that He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if He expected longer the devotion of any disciples – unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that.
In other words, since Jesus had clearly told His disciples that He would rise again after His death, failure to keep that promise would expose Him as a fraud. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. How did Jesus die before He (if He really did die) rose again?
We all wonder what will happen to us after we die. When a loved one dies, we long to see him or her again after our turn comes. Will we have a glorious reunion with those we love or is death the end of all consciousness?
Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die. He made this startling claim: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.” According to the eyewitnesses closest to Him, Jesus then demonstrated His power over death by rising from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days. It is this belief that has given hope to Christians for nearly 2000 years.
But some people have no hope of life after death. The atheistic philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my own ego will survive.” Russell obviously didn’t believe Jesus’ words.
Jesus’ followers wrote that He appeared alive to them after His crucifixion and burial. They claim not only to have seen Him but also to have eaten with Him, touched Him, and spent 40 days with Him.
So could this have been simply a story that grew over time, or is it based upon solid evidence? The answer to this question is foundational to Christianity. For if Jesus did rise from the dead, it would validate everything He said about Himself, about the meaning of life, and about our destiny after death.
If Jesus did rise from the dead then He alone would have the answers to what life is about and what is facing us after we die. On the other hand, if the resurrection account of Jesus is not true, then Christianity would be founded upon a lie.
Theologian R. C. Sproul puts it this way:
The claim of resurrection is vital to Christianity. If Christ has been raised from the dead by God, then He has the credentials and certification that no other religious leader possesses.
All other religious leaders are dead, but, according to Christianity, Christ is alive.
Many skeptics have attempted to disprove the resurrection. Josh McDowell was one such skeptic who spent more than seven hundred hours researching the evidence for the resurrection. McDowell stated this regarding the importance of the resurrection:
I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR it is the most fantastic fact of history. McDowell later wrote his classic work, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, documenting what he discovered.
So, is Jesus’ resurrection a fantastic fact or a vicious myth? To find out, we need to look at the evidence of history and draw our own conclusions. Let’s see what skeptics who investigated the resurrection discovered for themselves.
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