The Resurrection
Dear Champions,
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
For the last hundred years, scholars have tried to say that the gospels were written so late (100 years after the fact), that there were no eyewitnesses left to contradict. But now the latest scholarly findings show that the gospels were written within the life-time of eyewitnesses so they could not be fabrications. Secondly, if these were fabrications, they were the stupidest fabrications in history because the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection were women. Women were of such low estate in that society and culture that their testimony was not admissible in court. If you are going to make up a story to try to show that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, you would never have women be the first eyewitnesses. Why are all the documents saying that women were the first people that Jesus appeared to? Because He did! That is just like Jesus. The Gospel destroys stereotypes and expectations. There is nothing about the gospels that look like fabrications. It is also hard to believe that if there were ringleaders for this hoax they all would have died for the hoax. The evidence is mighty overwhelming, so here is the question. Why did not everyone believe?
If the resurrection is true, then I lose control of my life. It means that if Jesus is Savior, then He is Lord. It means I cannot live the way I want to live. This is still the reason that people cannot be objective about the evidence. If the resurrection is true, you lose control with what you do with your money, sexuality and life. It makes everything else unimportant. But get this. If the Gospel of the resurrection is not true, then everything is unimportant anyway.
If you do not believe in the resurrection, doubt your doubts. Be skeptical about your skepticism. Spend the time. You have gambled everything on it not being true. You better be sure. Look at the evidence. Do the exploration. If you do not want to believe in Christianity, do not just shrug and laugh at it because you have taken your life into your own hands.
1 Corinthians 15:14,19 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith, and we are of all people most to be pitied.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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