Object of Faith - Jesus' Resurrection

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Introduction to an Object of Faith
Believing the Resurrection Story of Jesus Christ

In this issue of ITW (1), it is our intent to sound the trumpet long and loud that we believe Jesus is alive. We want to make it clear that our faith rests securely on the testimony that, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3,4 NASU). We believe that Jesus walked this earth in the first century AD, lived the life as testified to in the New Testament gospels, was crucified, died, was buried, and was raised to life. This has been the proclamation of the body of Christ throughout the centuries, and it is the theme of our statement of faith today. Jesus is alive.

An Amen and a Grunt

While I can imagine all of the Christians saying, "Amen!" in agreement with the above, I can also imagine a somewhat annoyed grunt coming from the skeptics. This issue of ITW is all about our Christian belief in the midst of that annoyed grunt. A little translation of that sound is not difficult. It simply means that these people do not believe that Jesus is alive and they have several objections to not only the claim of His resurrection, but to just about everything that goes along with Jesus and what the New Testament says about Him. These people are annoyed that we believe this "stuff" (another mild translation) that seems to contradict all of their own reasonable thoughts and objections. I am reminded again of what Lee Strobel wrote in "The Case for Faith":

But faith isn’t always that easy, even for people who desperately want it. Some people hunger for spiritual certainty, yet something hinders them from experiencing it. They wish they could taste that kind of freedom, but obstacles block their paths. Objections pester them. Doubts mock them. Their hearts want to soar to God; their intellects keep them securely tied down. (Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, page 8.)
Lee Strobel, , page 8.)

In the midst of all that will be written in this issue of ITW on the side of faith, we first want to kindly acknowledge the plight of those who may struggle to have the kind of faith that allows them to respond positively to the Christian claims. Their immediate response may be some sort of "annoyed grunt", but these intelligent folks have many things to share (with words, not grunts) regarding the doubts and objections that stand in the way of their belief. First, I’m going to reference a couple of critical articles on the topic of Jesus’ resurrection written by some of the more thoughtful skeptics. After that, I will provide a summary of many of the criticisms that I’ve run into on the subject of Jesus’ resurrection.

Two very challenging critical articles on Jesus’ resurrection are found at the following locations:

Richard Carrier covers the issue in detail at Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/resurrection/index.shtml).
Peter Kirby, who has authored several informational web-sites concerning historical details of Christianity, has an article-set on the resurrection called The Historicity of the Empty Tomb Evaluated: A skeptical examination of the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/peter_kirby/tomb/index.shtml).

We recommend those free reading materials to anyone who wishes to view a good challenge to the Christian claims.

Briefly, then, I’d like to list and comment on several lines of reason why it is difficult for some skeptics to believe the resurrection of Jesus, acknowledging that these may also represent reasons why Christians may sometimes doubt as well. This will not be an exhaustive list. After all, I can’t speak for every doubt that anyone has ever had. Hopefully, however, I will identify the most important ones.

The Christian Claim that Jesus was Resurrected is Doubted by Some Because…

…we have all experienced the reality that some people lie, misrepresent facts, or misunderstand what really happened. This first point represents the problem that we all have for believing anything that we have not experienced personally. For any historical claim that is made, one is always left with determining the credibility of the source making the claim. Not everyone is honest about everything. Sometimes people distort facts or embellish to make a case for something they want another person to believe. And so we know that distortions are possible when considering the testimony of a few that Jesus rose from the dead.

…the length of time between the present and the days when Jesus is said to have lived, died, and resurrected is wide enough that physical evidence is non-existent. With many claims there is residual evidence that can be observed in order to check someone’s testimony. But regarding Jesus’ resurrection, we simply have no pictures, no DNA samples, and no reports from a scientific and unbiased CSI team in that 1^st century AD. We have no way of investigating the credibility of the supposed "eyewitnesses" on the basis of the evidence that they say they observed.

…there are no unbiased witnesses who reported anything about Jesus walking around Jerusalem and Galilee after His crucifixion - aside from the believers who claimed such. Given that I have problems picturing anyone remaining unbelieving after seeing Jesus walking around these regions after they knew He had been crucified, I acknowledge still that some sort of additional witness would be helpful – something outside of our New Testament pages.

…the claim of a resurrection is a more difficult kind of historical claim to believe. Nearly no-one has any experience with anything like a resurrection. Asking someone to believe the claim of Jesus’ resurrection appearances is nothing like asking someone to believe that He sat down with the disciples for an evening meal. The resurrection is a claim of the very unusual and miraculous. Aside from all of the New Testament claims of miracles, personally witnessing a resurrection appearance of anyone would be the kind of first-time experience that would have any of us doubting our own eyeballs (and/or sanity). The claim of Jesus’ resurrection appearances is the claim of very unusual events. It is very difficult to believe something that one has no experience with.

…there is a problem discerning what we should experience in the present regarding this "living Jesus", miracles, and so forth. If Jesus is alive, shouldn’t He appear to each of us as He did with those who claim they saw Him? Why not at least all of those who want to see Him? People today wonder about such things, and also what other sorts of miracles we should all experience given that some supposedly had this advantage.

…it is difficult to clearly know who came up with the initial claim of Jesus’ resurrection. As Mark McFall (ITW editor) has acknowledged on several occasions, the New Testament gospels were written anonymously and later attributed to particular authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) years after their apparent authorship. This raises the suspicion about whether these gospels were written by such persons, and how far removed they were from those who really observed anything just after Jesus’ death and burial. We have no certain knowledge due to the fact that the gospels contain no signature and date. Some skeptics pose that it was really Paul who came up with the whole idea since we can date some of his letters with some certainty. Anyway, let’s acknowledge that there are issues that hinder clear knowledge of the origin and date of the New Testament’s resurrection testimony.

…some people observe confusion in the early claims and doubt the reliability of the New Testament record because of such observations. Each of the gospels report different details and appearances, and certainly pose a confusing picture on the chronological sequence of all that happened after Jesus death and burial. There are differing details that cause one to wonder what sort of resurrection body Jesus had (this will be covered somewhat in the article "It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Superman!"). Nevertheless, these concerns cause doubts for some trying to read the New Testament details.

…other ancient stories tell of dying/rising characters. Although the comparisons are debatable concerning details and significance of parallels (keeping in mind several ITW articles on Osiris), the presence of these ancient stories give rise to the possibility that the Christian story is just as fictional as Christians believe these other ancient stories to be.

…of other problems beyond this list. I said that I wasn’t going to be exhaustive here. But I just wanted to remind readers that there are more reasons that I can, or care to, list at the present.

Now that this sample list of "reasons to doubt the resurrection" has been provided, I find it necessary to remind our readers that both Mark McFall and I face up to critical concerns like these with a stronger belief than we had before we ever considered such ideas. Therefore, at this point I’d like to reiterate that I believe that Jesus is alive – that He rose from the grave on the third day and remains alive – and I’d like to begin to share why I believe it. As I do so, let me ask the skeptics to relax. I’m going to share why I believe but have no reason to think that everyone should believe on the basis of what I’ll share. I’m also going to ask the Christians to relax (after reading the above list of reasons to doubt) and not expect me to try to provide an answer to the list of problems that I’ve mentioned above. Some of those "problems" may be tackled in this issue of ITW or in the remainder of this article, but others may not. Nevertheless, the following will serve only as a brief introduction to why I believe and accept the resurrection story as an object of faith.

An Introduction to Why the Author of this Article Believes the 2000 Year-Old Resurrection Story

Christianity’s claim that Jesus’ rose from the dead, and is alive, raises not only historical questions but questions about what is true at the present. An historical question about the resurrection is: "Did it happen as the New Testament said it did, or at all?" A question about what is true at the present is: "What evidence is there today that Jesus is alive and that what the New Testament says about Him is true?" Most people who begin to believe that the Bible has reliable information regarding Jesus historically (His life, death, burial, and resurrection) do so because they believe they have experienced the Christian God in life, and have identified that certain principles in the Bible are true by experience. Such is how I began to believe in the Christian claims, and why I became a Christian. It was very much about experiencing the living Jesus Christ in 1984 that brought me to my knees before Him, had me repenting of my sins for the first time, and motivated me to submit to the ordinance of Christian baptism.

What I am saying first is that I began to trust Christianity’s claims and its written source which contains testimony of Jesus’ life and resurrection (the Bible) due to experiencing Christian claims in life. Since then, the claims and doctrines of the Bible continue to be found true. I have identified the Bible as a reliable source of truth in the things that can be tested and experienced. This is an important examination whereby I continue to find the Bible credible and also believe that I experience the living Jesus.

Secondly, but not of any less importance, I find that the Bible is a credible source of information historically. Some of its historical claims and statements can be verified by historical inquiry. I grant that there are several historical items in critical dispute. Nevertheless, I examine the Bible and find that it is essentially credible in any detail that one can judge in the midst of other historical sources. It is written in connection with verifiable history rather than myth or fantasy. Also, as far as the life of Jesus Christ is concerned, I find that the similarities and differences between the four gospels hint at a sincere process to account for accurate history of an actual historical Jesus. In view of such, let me clarify that what I mention about the Bible’s credibility does not amount to a reason why someone should or must believe the Bible’s testimony that Jesus ever lived, or that Jesus rose from the dead. However, because I consider the Bible to be essentially credible and reliable in historical aspects, set in a real historical framework, I trust that it is reliable in its testimony about Jesus and His resurrection and have less reason to believe that it is unreliable in this instance. Historical inquiry and academic Bible study does not offer reason to believe the New Testament’s claim that Jesus was raised from the dead, but it defends against the accusation that its claim is a myth, a lie, a misunderstanding, or a misrepresentation.

Third, although the claim of Jesus’ resurrection is of an event that nearly nobody else has ever claimed to experience, I am able to believe that unique (or very uncommon) events can occur. Just as I am able to believe the testimony of a few men who said that they landed on the moon (the only people who really know that the pictures and stories are not a big hoax), I am also able to believe the testimony of Jesus’ resurrection appearances originating from only a few people. Specifically, I trust that the unique experience of both groups need not be personally experienced, nor commonly experienced, in order to be possible. The New Testament testimony is that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to certain people in a very unique way. Although I have never experienced a resurrection, or some experience identical to the New Testament resurrection appearance claims - and don’t expect that such a thing is a normal occurrence (as well as other miracles) - my lack of experience with such is no indication that Jesus’ resurrection never happened. The uniqueness of a claimed event is not proof that something could never happen. The uniqueness of a claimed event lends only enough to support suspicion that it may not have happened. Therefore, belief that Jesus rose from the dead is rational on the basis of reasons to trust in the source claiming such a unique event.

My introductory reasoning above offers no argument why anyone should believe the New Testament’s claim of Jesus’ resurrection, but it is some defense against the notion that a few men (and/or women) conjured up a story that is not, or cannot be, true.

Conclusion to an Introduction

So, I’m going to conclude here knowing that I haven’t argued anyone into believing that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is alive. I have shared only a couple of points as to why I view the New Testament claim as believable. The purpose of such is merely to provide a brief introduction to why Jesus’ resurrection is something that I believe. The other articles in this issue (2), by Mark McFall and myself, will likely do only the same – offer a few points as to why either of us views the New Testament claim as believable in the midst of reasons to doubt. But this is our statement of faith that we want to communicate loud and clear: "Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and He is our living Lord, the Son of the God worthy of our worship every day".

…and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. – 2 Corinthians 5:15, NASU

FOOTNOTES:

(1) This article was written for the purpose of introducing the Spring 2004 ITW printed newsletter with articles on the topic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(2) Along with this "intoduction" article, the Spring 2004 ITW Newsletter included: A Believer Objectively Comments on the Resurrection of Jesus - by Mark McFall, and It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman! - by Brian Lawson

* See also ITW articles:
Resurrection Narratives - Fabrication, Contradiction, or Reliable Core?
Do Extraordinary Events Require Extraordinary Evidence? - Off-site Article by Brady Lenardos (http://home.earthlink.net/~gbl111/extraord.htm)