THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION Series: The Reason for God Prezi link: The Reality of the Resurrection

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1 Page 1 THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION Series: The Reason for God Prezi link: The Reality of the Resurrection I. WE ARE ALL CALLED TO REASON (recap series) a. There are no non-believers we all believe in something i. Every doubt is an alternate set of beliefs ii. Example: Saying, I doubt what the Bible says about marriage being only between a man and a woman has underneath it an alternate belief that it isn t about a man or a woman and/or a belief on equality or justice which stems from our culture, background, etc. iii. Behind these beliefs are presuppositions: which are not obvious and need to be dug out and examined in the light of Scripture: why do you believe this? How did you get this idea? We often take these for granted and accept that they just are but they aren t and we have to ask good questions to dig these up. b. Everyone has a Worldview: Worldviews Answer 4 QUESTIONS 1. ORIGIN Where did we come from? 2. MEANING PURPOSE Why are we here? 3. MORALITY How should we live? 4. DESTINY Where is this all going? These must be correspondingly true as well as cohesive and coherent. To say, Save the whales, treat the earth kindly isn t cohesive if we also declare, We evolved from nothing, and are going to turn into nothing. If we say, Our ultimate purpose is to be happy and fully express ourselves, but then shout, People should and shouldn t do certain things, then our ideas do not correspond. They might sound good separately but do they connect to a cohesive whole? We need to help move people to an intersection of data and decision. We are called to present others with Truth and the urgency of making a decision. Jesus invites to Come and see and then pointedly asks, Who do you say that I am? II. RESURRECTION A recent Pew Research Poll found Majority asked said they believed in the historical accuracy of the Christmas story, including the miracles. Daniel O'Connell, senior minister at Houston's First Unitarian Universalist Church, expressed surprise at the poll results, contending it was "unreasonable to think Jesus was born of a virgin or raised from the dead." "It's not so much about how Jesus was born and died as about the religion of Jesus, what he taught - love thy neighbor," O'Connell said. "Christmas for us is not dependent on the miracles. Christmas is about really paying attention to the sense of wonder and making family and heart connections."

2 Page 2 a. RESURRECTION IS TROUBLING i. A highly influential scholar who claims the Christian faith by the name of John Dominic Crossan - The Real Jesus or The Historical Jesus After the crucifixion, Jesus corpse was probably laid in a shallow grave, covered with dirt, and subsequently eaten by wild dogs the story of Jesus entombment and resurrection was the result of wishful thinking (Crossan 1994:154) ii. Islam is unique in that it doesn t just simply have other beliefs but directly counters Scripture, doctrine and Christian belief namely with the death of cross and resurrection- The Qur an says, They killed Him not, it was made to look like it. God raised Him to Himself. For Muslims there was no cross for Jesus, thus no resurrection and of course no deity. The Resurrection is a 2 FOLD PROBLEM For those Inside and Outside the Church. iii. COMMON BELIEFS: OUTSIDE CHRISTIANITY 1. The Church had to make up a Jesus resurrection myth so that He wouldn t look like a condemned criminal, blasphemer, and one rejected by God, a failure, a loser. 2. Stories were concocted, doctored, edited, added to hundreds of years later, the legend grew and grew until we had a resurrected Jesus. The resurrection accounts of the 4 gospels were devised to bolster these beliefs. 3. Only the Bible talks about this 4. People back then believed stuff like this 5. There are many similar stories of God-men who died and were resurrected Jesus story is just another in that genre 6. Any kind of resurrection is a miracle and we all know that miracles simply don t happen iv. COMMON BELIEFS: INSIDE CHRISTIANITY 1. The resurrection is a parable of Jesus being greater than Rome Rome couldn t kill His teachings, His message 2. The disciple didn t actually see Jesus but he lived on in their hearts, SOME MIGHT HAVE EVEN BELIEVED HE APPEARED TO THEM IN VISIONS 3. There was no bodily resurrection, but just a spiritual one 4. The resurrection isn t important we should be focusing more on Jesus teachings, open table fellowship, and his subversive, counter-cultural and political/social concepts to feed the poor, right injustices and be radically inclusive. v. TROUBLING AND HISTORY This will be troubling for us and for those we share but it absolutely necessary we understand the very nature of the resurrection, its cost and its truth

3 Page 3 "God has given us minds to think; the question has been appropriately raised; Christianity appeals to history, and to history it must go. And the question of Jesus s resurrection, though it may in some senses burst the boundaries of history, also remains within them; that is precisely why it is so important, so disturbing, so life-and-death. We could cope the world could cope with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples minds and hearts. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God s new creation right in the middle of the old one." ~ N. T. Wright, from Surprised by Scripture THE RESURRECTION IS HISTORICAL IT IS RICHLY AND DEEPLY THEOLOGICAL BUT HISTORICAL. As we dig into the historicity of the resurrection, we also need to understand what in fact makes something historical. Historical critics and scholars tell us that historical claims are strong when supported by multiple, independent sources. Historians all call more accurately historical, the following: 1. Historical claims which are also attested to by enemies are more likely to be authentic since enemies are unsympathetic, and often hostile, witnesses. 2. Historical claims which include embarrassing admissions reflect honest reporting rather than creative storytelling. 3. Historical claims are strong when supported by eyewitness testimony. 4. Historical claims which are supported by early testimony are more reliable and less likely to be the result of legendary development. Therefore, when inquiring into a historical event the historian combs through the data, considers all the possibilities, and seeks to determine which scenario best explains the data. Either the bodily resurrection of Jesus actually occurred in history or it did not. Either the resurrection is the best explanation for the known historical data or it is not. Regardless, what we cannot do is simply dismiss it as supernatural or miraculous in an attempt to remove it from the pool of live options. John Warwick Montgomery provides helpful insight: The only way we can know whether an event can occur is to see whether in fact it has occurred. The problem of miracles, then, must be solved in the realm of historical investigation, not in the realm of philosophical speculation. And note that a historian, in facing an alleged miracle, is really facing nothing new. All historical events are unique, and the test of their factual character can be only the accepted documentary approach that we have followed here. No historian has the right to a closed system of natural causation PAUL WASN T SURPRISED PEOPLE BACK THEN WERE SHOCKED: 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, We will hear you again on this matter. 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. ACTS 17

4 Page 4 1. Notice the reactions. Why such mocking reactions? If it wasn t a physical resurrection, why the mocking? If just ideas or subversion passing on, carrying on, why mock that? 2. Later Festus calls Paul insane because Paul speaks of a bodily resurrection. CORINTHIANS 15:12-19 THE IMPORTANCE AND CENTRALITY OF THE RESURRECTION 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope [a] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. When it comes to Christianity, everything stands or falls upon the claim that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. His physical resurrection from the dead has always been the prime verification of that central doctrine. Therefore: no resurrection, no Christianity. It s that simple. Yet if the resurrection of Jesus is a fact of history, then the reverse is also true. All Jesus claims would be shown to be true and the world would have to deal with him, not as a teacher, but as God incarnate. Perhaps that explains why for twenty centuries some have attempted to explain away the very strong evidence for the resurrection. III. Let s look at THE TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE - ACTS 2:22-41 FROM PETER S FIRST SERMON YOU DON T SEE HIM TALKING ABOUT JESUS TEACHINGS OR INCLUSIVENESS OR SOCIAL JUSTICE BUT CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION 22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know 23 this Jesus, [a] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.

5 Page 5 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. 29 Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool. 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? 38 And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Most people think that when it comes to the resurrection, the burden of proof is on Christians to give evidence that it happened. That is not completely the case. The resurrection also puts a burden of proof on those who don t believe in it. It is not enough for skeptics to simply say that Jesus did not rise from the dead. They must also then come up with a historically feasible alternate explanation for the birth of the church. You must provide some other plausible account for how things began. We said many have offered alternate accounts that the resurrection was merely made up decades or centuries later, long after the events themselves. These accounts argue that the 2 main features of the Gospel resurrection narratives the empty tomb and the eyewitnesses were fabrications. But they simply can t be fabrications. Let s look at why: THE RESURRECTION IS HISTORICAL and TOO EARLY FOR MYTH The first accounts of the empty tomb and eyewitnesses were not in fact found in the Gospels but in the letters of Paul which historians date within years after the death of Jesus. a. Galatians 1:18-19: 3 years after conversion (5 yrs. after crucifixion) I met with Peter (history)-he did this historical investigation with Peter about Jesus.

6 Page 6 b. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 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. CREEDAL STATEMENT: Paul recounts what biblical scholars recognize as an early Christian creed dating to within a few years of the crucifixion. The early date of this creed rules out the possibility of myth or legendary development as a plausible explanation and demonstrates that the disciples began proclaiming Jesus death, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances very early. Christian philosopher and theologian J. P. Moreland elaborates: There was simply not enough time for a great deal of myth and legend to accrue and distort the historical facts in any significant way. In this regard, A. N. Sherwin-White, a scholar of ancient Roman and Greek history at Oxford, has studied the rate at which legend accumulated in the ancient world, using the writings of Herodotus as a test case. He argues that even a span of two generations is not sufficient for legend to wipe out a solid core of historical facts. The picture of Jesus in the New Testament was established well within that length of time Paul speaks of the empty tomb and resurrection on the third day (which shows he s talking history and not metaphor or symbolism) and cites the eyewitnesses. Jesus appeared to individuals, small groups, and 500 hundred at once, most of whom were still alive at the time of the writing and could be consulted for corroboration. This was a public document to a church written to be read aloud to a large group. Paul was inviting anyone who doubted that Jesus had really appeared to people after His death to go and check it out go interview these people as he says he had done himself. This would have been a bold challenge. Paul simply could not have made this declaration if those eyewitnesses didn t exist. Paul is sharing too that the testimony is what had been handed to him. He is claiming that this is eye-witness testimony that could not have been altered because too many people knew about the facts. We sometimes have snobbish ideas about ancient people and think their oral transmission of stories is something like our game of telephone but cultural anthropologist have noted that historical accounts were not allowed to be changed when told in ancient cultures and there was a self-correcting system people would say, no it didn t go like that, remember it was like this. EMPTY TOMB ALL WENT DOWN IN JERUSALEM Paul s letters show that Christians proclaimed Jesus bodily resurrection from the very beginning. This meant that the tomb had to be empty. *Remember the church kicked off in Jerusalem not some distant place far from the scene. The crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection and the proclamation of all of this all happened in the same place to the same

7 Page 7 people in the same time period. No one in Jerusalem would have believed the preaching for a second if the tomb was not empty. Skeptics could have gone and produced the corpse and that would have been the end of that. THE RESURRECTION IS TOO PROBLEMATIC TO BE FABRICATION A. The first eyewitnesses were women. Their testimony was not admissible in court. No possible advantage to the church. It would only have undermined the credibility of the testimony. B. The only possible reason why women were depicted as meeting Jesus first is that it actually happened. You simply would not make this up. There must have been enormous pressure on the early believers and proclaimers of Jesus resurrection to delete the women from the accounts. But they felt they could not do so not only because it was the truth but because the accounts were too well known! Remember these accounts of the first eyewitnesses would have been shocking, lifechanging and urgently and carefully passed along more than any other stories about Jesus. IV. RESURRECTION GETTING BEHIND IT Some could still argue, well OK the tomb was empty and hundreds of people say they saw him, but maybe someone had stolen the body and those who saw him suffered under wishful thinking, delusions and others just went along with the story because it was an amazing tale and they really liked Jesus message and wanted to help it live on. Again, don t be coaxed into thinking us moderns have it all figured out and ancients were stupid. From our place in history we imagine that we re the only ones who would be skeptical of resurrection stories we imagine dumb ancients readily believed in silly supernatural tales. Quite the contrary. TO ALL THE DOMINANT WORLDVIEWS OF THE TIME INCLUDING JEWS AND GREEKS/ROMANS, AN INDIVIDUAL BODILY R E S U R R E C T I O N W A S ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE GRECO-ROMAN: As we talked about with the incarnation, the soul or spirit was good but the physical and material was bad to Greeks. The body, the flesh was weak, corrupt, and defiling. Salvation was conceived as liberation from our physical bodies. In such a worldview resurrection was not only impossible, it was completely unattractive the very concept was ludicrous. Why on earth would you come back to a defiling body once you ve been set from it? To come back to a body was outlandish and unthinkable. JEWS: Jews didn t see material as bad but good. Death was not liberation but tragic. Many

8 Page 8 did believe in a future resurrection that would be bodily which gave them hope. God was going to heal the entire world, undo death, wipe away tears and suffering and resurrect the righteous. This human resurrection though was just one part of the complete world restoration the idea of an individual being resurrected in the middle of history, while the rest of the world continued in suffering, sickness, decay and death was inconceivable. a. No Worldview Believed in This Kind of Resurrection: Keller points out: If anyone had said to a first century Jew, So and so had been resurrected from the dead, the response would have been Has disease and death ended? Is true justice established in the world? Was the wolf lain down with the lamb? Ridiculous. The very idea of an individual resurrection in the middle of history would have been as impossible to imagine to a Jew as to a Greek. If both Jews and Greeks would not be able to comprehend such a resurrection then this also kills off ideas that people imagined Jesus speaking to them because that supposes that such an imagination was a possible option that it would have logically entered into a first century Jew or Gentile s head. Same for snatching the body and making up a lie that supposes that people would have believed it. You don t snatch a body and pretend Jesus resurrected if no one anywhere around you even believes in resurrection in the first place you simply don t have motivation to make that up. b. Other Messiahs For 100 years before and 100 years after Jesus there are stories of would-be Messiahs who had movements and they were killed or executed. But there isn t a single case where the followers claimed that their hero had been raised from the dead: they knew better because resurrection was not an individual, private event in their worldview historians note that Jewish followers of such revolutionaries had 2 options when their leader was killed give up the whole revolution or find another leader. Claiming that the leader was alive was not an option that would have entered their minds to make up. So why, when dozens and dozens of other messianic pretenders had their lives and movements end in the same way as Jesus, would only His disciples decide to make this up and conclude that His crucifixion had actually been a triumph and not a defeat. Why do we know Jesus name but not any of the other leaders who were also crucified? V. WORLDVIEW EXPLOSION & MARTYRDOM We ve said this was a radical concept that didn t spring out of any single worldview at the time. We need to be students of culture. Think about sexual beliefs today we can say, Oh this wicked generation! but we don t have the beliefs we have today suddenly because of Miley Cyrus. These have been developing, evolving over long periods of time. This generation is the product of the developments in previous generations. That is how worldviews shift and cultures change. Massive shifts happen over long periods of time and include discussions, debates, protests, rallies, treatises, op-ed pieces they do not emerge overnight.

9 Page 9 Yet, with the resurrection we see something amazing there is an overnight, radical shift that exploded in the midst of worldviews that had no working definition or imagination for the concept of an individual bodily resurrection and yet that is what is being proclaimed and believed right away, from the very beginning. There was no process of development. There was no debating or discussing, just the immediate sharing and reporting of what people had seen and heard for themselves. Suddenly people who never had a working concept of individual resurrection in the middle of history are proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus and putting their lives on the line for this belief. NO ONE HAS COME UP WITH A PLAUSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO THIS CLAIM: THE RESURRECTION WORLDVIEW BURST INTO DISTINCT CULTURES OVERNIGHT BECAUSE IT HAPPENED. Even if you think one or two of Jesus disciples got into their heads to make up a story that Jesus had resurrected how did they get a movement off the ground to other Jews who would never have bought into such an idea? The only explainable answer is that this movement got off the ground because there were undeniable, multiple, inexplicable but plausible and repeated personal encounters with the risen Jesus. There are other massive cultural difficulties here: How did a group of Jews who strongly believed in a single, transcendent and personal God who could not be drawn or imagined in any form suddenly start worshipping a human being as divine? Not only are Paul s letters early, but they include hymns like in Philippians 2 which is considered to be written just a few years after the crucifixion *(which is amazing in ancient documents) and worships Jesus as God how did this happen? What enormous event broke through such strong monotheism to overnight so radically change beliefs? If you don t believe the resurrection you have to offer another plausible historical account. We also have the historically solid data that Jesus foes converted: a. Paul, was critic who converted through a post-resurrection appearance of Christ. An early hymn and testimony attributed to this he that persecuted the church now promotes it. b. James. Historians believe and give credence to embarrassing data. Here we have Jesus brother (and all of His brothers) who were unbelievers up to the crucifixion (which is why He gives Mary to John s care). But then it is post resurrection that we see James not only become a believer but he becomes a leader in the church of Jerusalem. 3 non-biblical sources say James was willing to die for this belief. MARTYRDOM Pascal said, I believe those witnesses that get their throats cut. Virtually all of the apostles and early Christians leaders suffered and died for their faith in Jesus being the resurrected Lord. Many people have died for something they simply thought was true. Many people have

10 Page 10 been martyred for their religious beliefs just think of Muslims. But how many have died for something they knew was a hoax? If they disciples were martyred, then they willingly endured torture and death for something they knew wasn t true. This important point should not be confused by an appeal to modern-day martyrs who willingly die for their religious beliefs. Making this comparison is a false analogy: Modern martyrs act solely out of their trust in beliefs that others have taught them. The apostles died for holding to their own testimony that they had personally seen the risen Jesus. Contemporary martyrs die for what they believe to be true. The disciples of Jesus died for what they knew to be either true or false ANSWERING HISTORY It is not enough then to say, The resurrection couldn t have happened. The skeptic must face all of these historical questions: 1. Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly and with such power? 2. No other band of messianic followers in that era concluded that their leader had been resurrected so why did this group? 3. No group of Jews before or after ever worshipped a human being as divine so why did this group? 4. Jews did not believe in individual resurrections in the middle of time and Greeks/Romans would have found the very concept repulsive and ludicrous so why did they suddenly believe it and give their lives for this truth? 5. How do you account for the hundreds of eyewitnesses that lived on for decades? 6. Why if this was just a lie or myth, were there no ancient documents refuting the claim? 7. Why is it that we don t know where Jesus tomb is today? Saints and major leaders tombs are remembered, marked off, venerated why do we have none of his remains or a shrine if the body was not resurrected? CONCLUSION: We have a choice here we can short-circuit the process of real historical research by saying, I simply won t believe in anything that sounds miraculous or we can do the work of answering these very tough questions and follow the answers where they lead. Nothing in history can be proven the way we would like, as something might be proven in a laboratory. Yet, the resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact that is more fully attested to than most other events in ancient history and one that stands up to scrutiny and research it is also the best possible explanation for the data we have about church every other effort to explain the rise of the Christian church apart from the resurrection contradicts all we know about first century culture and history. NT WRIGHT points out: No one was expecting this and no one no matter how guilty or forgiven they felt, no matter how much they loved Jesus, no matter how much they pored over the Scriptures would have ever come up with this. TO SUGGEST OTHERWISE IS TO STOP DOING HISTORY AND ENTER INTO A FANTASY WORLD OF OUR OWN We have to sympathize with people who say, The resurrection just couldn t have happened. So what if I can t come up with a better explanation for the data I won t believe it.

11 Page 11 Remember though that first century people felt the same way. The Bible even says that some who saw Jesus after His resurrection chose not to worship Him. Some saw the data and believed. Some saw it and rejected Jesus. THE ONLY WAY ANYONE WOULD HAVE BELIEVED IS IF THEY LET THE EVIDENCE CHALLENGE THEM AND CHANGE THEIR WORLDVIEW AND ALTER WHAT THEY ONCE THOUGHT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO POSSIBLE. THEY HAD JUST AS MUCH TROUBLE WITH THE CLAIMS OF THE RESURRECTION AS YOU DO. YET, THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS AND THE RADICALLY CHANGED LIVES OF CHRIST S FOLLOWERS WERE TOO OVERWHELMING AND THESE FACTS BROKE OPEN THEIR RESISTANCE AND T H E Y W E R E C O N V I N C E D Resurrection means there is infinite hope and reason to pour out our lives for the needs of the world that all this matters because all injustice is getting undone. The resurrection is sign that Jesus is God, that death is over, and it is also the model of what will happen to us and the world the whole world, all of us are going to be resurrected. That is hope because it means all of this life, this world, all of creation matters.

12 Page 12 The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in any other religion. It s outstandingly different in quality and quantity. Antony Flew The Minimal Facts To preface the remainder of this article, it is important to lay out the facts that serve as the foundation for the minimal facts argument. They are as follows 1. Jesus died by crucifixion 2. The disciples of Jesus were sincerely convinced that he rose from the dead and appeared to them 3. Paul (aka Saul of Tarsus), who was a persecutor of the Christians, suddenly changed his beliefs towards Christianity 4. James (brother of Jesus), who was a skeptic of the Christian faith, suddenly changed his beliefs towards Christianity 5. The Tomb of Jesus was found empty three days after the crucifixion of Jesus (Habermas and Licona 2004, 48-76) These are the facts that a majority of New Testament scholars consider to be historically accurate. As stated before, these scholars are not solely believers of Christianity but also include skeptics who aggressively question the notion that the resurrection actually happened. However, their skepticism of Jesus resurrection does not prevent them from acknowledging that there are certain facts that can be known regarding the life, ministry, crucifixion, and post-death happenings of Jesus.