I Peter 3:15
... Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.
Reason Number One:
The argument from witnesses' testimony, historical facts and reasonable certainty.
1. Jesus died by Crucifixion. This is a historical fact, as sure as any. No one ever survived a full crucifixion. Therefore, when the soldiers took him down, they were positive that he was dead.
2. His disciples preached, on Shavuot, that Jesus rose from the dead, having appeared and taught them in his transformed body. This could have gotten them arrested, and stoned for preaching heresy. Why would anyone make up a story that would get them killed?
3. Unbelievers, who had not followed him during his lifetime, soon came to believe he had risen from the dead, even testifying to having personally encountered the risen and living Christ ... and one of these was his brother, James, who had previously thought he was crazy.
4. The enemies of the Christians soon stepped forward to testify to personal encounters with the risen Christ, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and God. And they too are willing to die for their belief. Yet again, liars make poor martyrs.
(e.g., Paul, I Corinthians 15:3-5.)
5. If you rule out miracles even before you begin to investigate Jesus, you are not giving him a fair hearing. You are bringing your own biases. You are demanding a sign, even though he has already given you one.
6. The asserted hypothesis, that Jesus actually rose from the dead, is the only reasonable explanation for what we know happened after the Crucifixion. All of the alternative theories fail:
a. mass hallucination theory
b. stolen body theory
c. survival, not death, theory
d. "evil twin" theory
e. "super alien" theory
These don't fit the historical facts of the responses of his followers after his death. These people were ready to proclaim that the impossible had actually happened, and call it the "good news" that would change everything!
Without the experiential evidence of the resurrection, Jesus' followers would simply have dispersed and gone into hiding, or even denied that Jesus was ever important. The followers of previous false rebel messiahs had done just that before.
If therefore Jesus died and rose from the dead, as he told his close disciples would happen, then what does that mean for you?
a. Jesus has the power to forgive your sins.
b. Jesus values you enough to die for you, so that you can be saved.
c. God has claimed Jesus as his true "only begotten" Son.
d. Our response to Jesus does matter, and we should follow him, and love one another as he has loved us.
e. God has the power to raise you also from the dead, and to take you to Heaven.
Now, what can you honestly say to that? Such evidence, coming from eyewitnesses, would even stand up in our own courts, if it wasn't for the explicit bias of refusing to believe in miracles or anything that can't be explained by reason or science.
"May Adonai bless you and protect you! May Adonai deal kindly and graciously with you! May Adonai lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace!" (Torah, Numbers 6:24-26) And Jesus said, "Allow the little children to come unto me. Forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God. Truly, I say unto you, unless you receive the Kingdom of God as a little child does, you shall not enter therein." (New Testament, Mark 10:14-16)
Sojourning at an Oasis Paradise
My purpose for living this life, and for writing this blog, is to understand the faith that links us to God. I wish to explore and discuss the reality at the heart of all of the world's religions. This is an immense task, but I know that God also has faith in us, trusting that we do desire the truth, as well as freedom, love and wisdom. Thus, as always, He meets us halfway. Even as God has given us individual souls, so we must each of us trace out an individual pathway to God. Whether we reside in the cities of orthodox religion, or wend our solitary ways through the barren wastelands, God watches over us and offers us guidance and sustenance for the journey.
Most of what you will see here is the result of extensive personal study, combined with some careful speculation. Occasionally, I may simply offer some Scripture or an inspirational text. I am a wide reader, and the connection of some topics and ideas to matters of faith and religion may not seem immediately obvious, but perhaps I may spell it out in the end... or maybe, you will decide that it was just a tangent. Anyway, I hope that you will find my meanderings to be spiritually enlightening, intellectually stimulating, or at least somewhat entertaining.
Most of what you will see here is the result of extensive personal study, combined with some careful speculation. Occasionally, I may simply offer some Scripture or an inspirational text. I am a wide reader, and the connection of some topics and ideas to matters of faith and religion may not seem immediately obvious, but perhaps I may spell it out in the end... or maybe, you will decide that it was just a tangent. Anyway, I hope that you will find my meanderings to be spiritually enlightening, intellectually stimulating, or at least somewhat entertaining.
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