Young Adult Café July 13, 2014

Transcription

1 Young Adult Café July 13, 2014 ANNOUNCEMENTS [11:00-11:10] YA Summer Study The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey o 7:00-8:30 pm o Room C, 3 rd floor of the Administration Bldg (building behind the guard shack) o $10 for the book Bonfire & Worship Coronado Beach o Friday, July 25, 7 pm o S mores, fellowship, and a time of worship Small Group Bay Day Mission Point Park o BBQ, Boat rides, Kayaking, Paddleboarding, Volleyball, & more! o Saturday, August 2, 10 am 3 pm o $5 register/pay online by July 25 at Post-YAC Lunch - 1:15 pm today - led by Joey o Oggi s Pizza: 9828 Mission Gorge Rd, Santee, (619) o Directions: 8 West > 67 North > 52 West Exit Cuyamaca and turn right onto Cuyamaca Turn right onto Mission Gorge Rd and then your first left into the Trolley Square Shopping Center. Oggi s is located next to Daphne s CONNECT TIME [11:10-11:25] 1. Just for fun If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why? 2. What s one thing you really enjoyed about this past week? And what s one thing you re really thankful for from this past week? 3. Why do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead? YOUNG ADULT SHADOW MOUNTAIN [for ages 23-33]

2 INTRO -Proof that God exists: 1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause 2. The universe began to exist 3. Therefore, the universe has a cause. And yet this does not prove that Christianity is true. But the resurrection of Jesus does. -The Importance of the Resurrection It proves that Christianity is true & It will make you a different person Romans 6:9-12: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. [12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17: And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain [ ] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 2

3 Argument #1: Two facts about the early Christians that make no sense at all unless Jesus rose from the dead 1. The first Christians were almost all Jewish, and they all claimed that Jesus was God. 2. They went around telling everyone that they were eyewitnesses to his resurrection. Acts 1:22: One of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. and Acts 2:32, Acts 10:34ff, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:10, Acts 17:30 Argument #2: The Minimal Facts Argument The minimal facts: 1. Jesus died by Roman crucifixion. 2. The disciples had experiences that they thought were actual appearances of the risen Jesus. 3. The disciples were thoroughly transformed, even being willing to die for this belief. 4. The Christian teaching of the resurrection began very early, when the church was brand new. 5. James, the brother of Jesus and a former skeptic, became a Christian due to an experience that he believed was an appearance of the risen Jesus. 6. Saul (Paul), the one who murdered Christians, became a Christian due to an experience that he believed was an appearance of the risen Jesus. 3

4 How we know they are true 1. All the scholars agree upon them These are data that a disinterested, neutral observer could have attested. -Robert Funk Non-controversial -Geza Vermes Unassailable data E.P. Sanders 2. They are found in key parts of the Bible and key sources outside of the Bible 1 Corinthians 15:1-8: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain. [3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Herodotus enables us to test the tempo of myth-making, [showing that] even two generations are too short a span to allow the mythical tendency to prevail over the hard historic core." A.N. Sherwin-White, from Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament How to explain the facts: 1. The disciples stole the body Doesn t fit with fact # s 2, 3, 5, or 6 4

5 2. The disciples hallucinated appearances of the risen Jesus Lots of problems 3. The disciples went to the wrong tomb Doesn t fit with fact # s 2, 5, 6 4. Maybe Jesus never really died and rescusitated in the tomb Fact #1: Jesus died by Roman crucifixion 5. The disciples just got the idea of the resurrection from ancient pagan mythology See fact # s 2, 3, 5, 6 "Learned men literally say that this pre-historic calamity cannot be true because every race of mankind remembers it." -G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy DISCUSSION QUESTIONS [11:55-12:15] 1. How do you feel about these arguments? Do they make sense? Are they convincing? 2. Do you know any other arguments that I didn t mention? 3. What does the Bible say about the importance of the resurrection (besides what was already mentioned)? 4. Why didn t God have Jesus rise from the dead in an era of video cameras so that there would be more proof? 5