If I were to tell my children and grandchildren the resurrection story, harmonizing all of the accounts and adding some intervening puzzle pieces and some color it would go something like this. I would also do it with a [map], pointing out the places and routes as we go along. You may want to see Day 12 to review some of the footnotes and asides I would say along the way. Certainly, there are a...
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Matthew 28:17
Over the last several days, we have looked at some of the charges levelled against the resurrection accounts due to supposed conflicts in numbers, timing, events and places. I believe a rational view of these things, however, leads us to see them as harmonious rather than contradictory.
This is especially true when ...
After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. Acts 1:3
We have now come to what I believe is the most difficult of the resurrection issues. This has to do with the supposed contradictions associated with when and where Jesus met with the disciples and w...
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#14) He Must Have Existed
A recent survey in Britain showed that 22% of Brits don’t believe that there ever was a real Jesus… that it is all fake, some kind of a myth or made-up deception.
This is fascinating, for the vast majority of historians find the evidence compelling that there really was a Jesus of Nazareth. What is going on here? It...
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#15) He Must Have Been Dead and Buried
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Mythicists and skeptics attempt to debunk Jesus in a number o...
If Jesus Rose from the Dead, then (#16) the Tomb Would Have Been Empty
And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark 16:6
Apart from the actual appearances of Jesus, the empty tomb is probably the greatest physical evidence of the resurrection of Christ that we have. L...
(#17) The Resurrection Polemic
There are two key formal elements in the argument concerning the resurrection of Jesus. The first is the “resurrection polemic” and the second is the “early resurrection creed”. Both had been fully developed in the very early days of Christianity. And both must be understood by the Christian seeking to defend the resurrection of Christ a...
Marx died in 1883, but as Breese wrote (Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave), Marx ruled on. Pandora’s Box was open and a demonic package was unleashed upon the world. It rested upon naturalism and evolution, a dialectic view of history and a scathing atheism. In Marx’s doctoral dissertation, he emphasized his “hatred of all the gods”. But the deeper evil Marx so...
There are hearings going on today in the U.S. Congress where two sides are in a heated clash. On one side is the position that human sexuality is determined by one’s genetic make-up; the other is adamant that it is determined by personal whim. We are rapidly heading to a cultural war, because obviously these two can’t exist side-by-side. If a genetic male who identifies as a woman w...
It’s hard to stop looking at the photo: a dad and his daughter. She was gunned down while in school in Nashville this week. Nine years old. A horrible tragedy that I can’t get out of my mind. Not only because of what the parents are going through, but the stupidity of our culture.
I know that it is bad form today to use the word stupid. The Bible doesn’t shy from this:
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