Date post: | 27-Jul-2015 |
Category: |
Education |
Upload: | bodie-quirk |
View: | 43 times |
Download: | 2 times |
What’s at Stake?
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the
dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your
faith is also empty.
What’s at Stake?
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God
that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is
not risen.
What’s at Stake?
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins! Then also
those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
What’s at Stake?
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
God will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed.
He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
What’s at Stake?
Acts 17:31
I serve a risen Savior He’s in the world today. I know that He is living, Whatever men may say.
“He Lives” Hymn Lyrics
I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him He’s always near.
“He Lives” Hymn Lyrics
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
“He Lives” Hymn Lyrics
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
“He Lives” Hymn Lyrics
He lives within my heart.
• Top Christian debater in the world • Holds M.A Ph.D & D.Theol • Author of 30 Books • World Expert on the Resurrection • One of my personal heroes • The person I am stealing most of this content from
Dr. William Lane Craig, Talbot School of Theology
“Suppose, then, that we approach the New Testament writings, not as inspired Scripture, but merely as a collection of
Greek documents coming down to us out of the first century, without any
assumption as to their reliability other than the way we normally regard other
sources of ancient history…
We may be surprised to learn that the majority of New Testament critics investigating the gospels in this way accept the central facts
undergirding the resurrection of Jesus. I want to emphasize that I am not talking about
evangelical or conservative scholars only, but about the broad spectrum of New Testament critics who teach at secular universities and
non-evangelical seminaries.
Amazing as it may seem, most of them have come to regard as historical the
basic facts which support the resurrection of Jesus.
- Dr. William Lane Craig
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. Why Does This
Matter?
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
This was a location anyone could go
investigate
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
It would be pretty hard to proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead when anyone could go visit his tomb and see Him still lying
dead there.
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
The burial story is a very early claim, not something
that got made up later.
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
. . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he
appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the
group that killed Jesus.
“As a member of the Jewish court that condemned Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to be a
Christian invention. There was strong resentment against the Jewish leadership for their role in the
condemnation of Jesus (I Thess. 2.15).
It is therefore highly improbable that Christians would invent a member of the court that
condemned Jesus who honors Jesus by giving him a proper burial instead of allowing him to be
dispatched as a common criminal.” -WLC
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a
tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Why Does This Matter?
1. Location of tomb known 2. Burial story very early tradition 3. Joseph of Arimathea inclusion
“The burial of Jesus in the tomb is one of the earliest and best-attested facts about Jesus.”
- John A. T. Robinson of Cambridge University,
FACT #2:On the Sunday following the crucifixion,
Jesus’ tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers.
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
This was also part of the earliest source
material of the Bible.
Why Does This Matter?
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
The story is simple and lacks legendary embellishment.
Why Does This Matter?
“And in the night in which the Lord's day was drawing on, as the soldiers kept guard two by two in a watch, there was a great voice in the heaven; and they saw the heavens opened, and two men descend from thence with great light and approach the tomb.
And that stone which was put at the door rolled of itself and made way in part; and the tomb was opened, and both the
young men entered in.
…When therefore those soldiers saw it, they awakened the centurion and the elders; for they too were hard by keeping
guard. And as they declared what things they had seen, again they see three men come forth from the tomb, and two
of them supporting one, and a cross following them…
…and of the two the head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him who was lead by them overpassed the heavens. And they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou hast
preached to them that sleep. And a response was heard from the cross, Yea.”
The Gospel of Peter 2:10 (Apocraphal Gospel)
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
The story is simple and lacks legendary embellishment.
Why Does This Matter?
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
Women’s testimony was worthless in the first
century.
Why Does This Matter?
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
Any made up legend about Jesus rising from the dead and women
finding the empty tomb first would have been laughable in
that time.
Why Does This Matter?
Why Does This Matter?
1. Earliest Source Material 2. Simple and Lacks Embellishment 3. Women’s testimony worthless
““By far most exegetes hold firmly to the reliability of the biblical statements concerning the empty tomb.””
- Jacob Kremer, Astrian specialist in the resurrection
FACT #2: On the Sunday following
the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty
by a group of his women followers.
FACT #3:On multiple occasions and under various
circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus
alive from the dead.
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
Why Does This Matter?
There are multiple independent claims of Jesus being seen alive
after dying.
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
Why Does This Matter?
Each of the gospels contain resurrection appearance that
totally separate from appearances in the other gospels.
They are not retelling of the same event.
Why Does This Matter?
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
. . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he
appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
Why Does This Matter?After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen
asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time
1 Corinthians 15:6-8
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
Why Does This Matter?
Jesus’ brothers were unbelievers until after the resurrection, where they
became leaders and eventually martyrs.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO CONVINCE
YOU THAT YOUR BROTHER IS THE
LORD TO THE DEGREE THAT
YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO
DIE FOR THAT BELIEF?
Can there be any doubt that this remarkable transformation in Jesus’ younger brother
took place because, in Paul’s words, “then he appeared to James”? - WLC
Why Does This Matter?
1. Multiple Resurrection Claims 2. Independent Resurrection Claims 3. Conversion of Jesus’ brothers
“It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus
appeared to them as the risen Christ.”
-Gerd Ludemann, Critic of the historical resurrection story
FACT #3: On multiple occasions
and under various circumstances, different
individuals and groups of people experienced
appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
FACT #4:The original disciples believed and preached that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having little to gain and much to lose.
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
Their leader was dead. Nobody at that time
believed in a dying and rising messiah.
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
Jesus’s execution on the cross was viewed as someone who was
cursed by God.
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
“his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury
him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”
Deut 21:23
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
Imagine the dismay and discouragement of the disciples after Jesus’ death, thinking they had left everything to follow an
accursed criminal. They were wrong and the Pharisees were right. Ouch.
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
They had given up everything for Jesus
and He was gone.
DESPITE ALL THIS, THE DISCIPLES DEVOTED THEIR
LIVES AND DEATHS TO PREACHING THE MESSAGE OF
THE RESURRECTION
“Some sort of powerful, transformative experience is required to generate the sort of movement
earliest Christianity was.”
- Luke Johnson, a New Testament scholar ,Emory University
FACT #4: The original disciples
believed and preached that Jesus was risen
from the dead despite their having little to
gain and much to lose.
Why Does This Matter?
1. Hope gone after Jesus’ death 2. Nothing to gain much to lose 3. All disciples died to proclaim this!
“That is why, as a historian, I cannot explain the rise of early Christianity unless Jesus rose again, leaving an empty
tomb behind him.”
- NT Wright, British Theologian and Author
FACT #1: After His Crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
FACT #2: On the Sunday following the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers.
FACT #3: On multiple occasions and under various circumstances, different individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus alive from the dead.
FACT #4: The original disciples believed and preached that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having little to gain and much to lose.
Is “God raised Jesus from the Dead” the best explanation of these facts, or
are there others?
What are the biggest objections to the resurrection of Jesus?