Easter? The Proof.
There is but one thing, one thing only that you must decide upon. So forget everything you know or think you know about Christianity. There is but one important event that you must decide upon. Upon this event, all of Christianity is hinged around, and without it, our hope would be none. Jesus lived, died, AND rose again. The celebration of Easter is to celebrate Jesus conquering death. If this did not happen, Christianity is dead. If it is true, it is the only hope for man-kind. For any sin, big or small, requires a penalty be paid, but only a perfect man could become our substitute for the punishment. That man is Jesus Christ.
He lived. We know this extra-bibilically because Greek and Roman historians wrote about him, as well as non-Christian Jewish historians. We also know from these extra-biblical sources that he died for no other reason than for jewish jealousy. From the extra-biblical sources we can also say with clarity that a bunch of lowly fishermen were dramatically changed by the life of Jesus and spread this idea that Jesus had come back from the dead across the whole Roman empire and even further. Even to the point of death (which all but one disciple was murdered, I mean martyred), not one recanted. We know that no one in their right minds would die for a lie that they know to be a lie, which means these men truly believed with their whole being that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. And when they say they saw him after the crucifixion, they really believed it to be him.
But it is more than just that. Those who originally opposed Jesus, had a dramatic and drastic change of heart. Jesus' own brother was a harsh skeptic of Jesus, but after his death, became an ardent follower and leader of His church. Not because of power, for the church was dramatically persecuted at the time. No, but because he claims he saw the resurrected Christ. Paul (originally named Saul) was the most ardent enemy of Christians; persecuting, killing, and hunting them down to throw them in jail. He met the resurrected Christ after every one else did, but his life was drastically turned around to the point that he would risk jail, whipping, stoning, drowning, etc. all multiple times just to tell other people about Jesus. Not because of how he lived, not because he was some good moral teacher, but because He rose from the dead, proving he was the Messiah and that he had successfully paid for our debt. For Jesus' own words proclaimed that the proof that He was who He said He was was going to be the sign of Jonah, entering the whale for three days, and then to come back up. Which he entered the earth for three days, and then came back up.
We can trust the new testament narrative to be accurate: what we see is what it was two thousand years ago, because of a massive wealth of archeological findings. Over 20,000 manuscript copies from all across the Roman empire, the earliest being written within the same lifetime as the first generation Christians. This wealth of manuscript documentation is like a gold mine for archeologists and among all of these voluminous copies, in no way is the message ever changed or misconstrued through copy error or tampering.
We can know it was not a hoax; one, because the narrative says that women found him first. In no fabrication of that time would anyone ever think to use women as the first witnesses. Nothing against women here, just in those times, women were not allowed to bear witness, so in their culture a women's word was not worth anything really. So if they were to make something up, they would not have had women find him first. This creates a basis of - this is what really happened. Also, if the disciples fabricated the account, why would they make themselves out to be so dense and foolish?
This is the account... The stone was rolled away from the tomb, this would take multiple strong men to do this. The women would not be able to do so, and the soldiers were under orders not to let anyone in. This is no small thing, if a Roman soldier failed a mission, it meant certain death. Period. Then the women went to tell the disciples. The disciples were not out taking on the world, they were found cowering behind locked doors. Not quite the sign of men who were about to change the world. They were planning on going back to being fishermen. Game over. When Peter and John ran to the tomb, after hearing about it from the women, they found the tomb open, and when they went into the tomb, there was no body and they found the linens used to embalm Jesus' body laid out, neatly folded. After embalming, this bit of information would be a miracle to behold. Embalming would be similar to gluing these sheets to the body. If someone had come in and taken the body, they would not have left the sheets, nor would it be in a neat pile. The guards were ordered to watch the tomb on penalty of death. it was only be spreading the rumor that Jesus' body had been stolen did the Jews swear to protect the guards from retribution for failing their mission. But if Jesus' body had been stolen, one - it would have been an easy case to find it. And two - no one would have been changed to such a point that they would give up their lives to defend that truth.
The letters Paul wrote speaks of over 2000 people who had witnessed Jesus alive after the Crucifixion. Not all saw him at once either. This could not be a massive group hallucination, or even an localized hallucination. Nothing but the truth of the resurrection can account for what happened, and remember, if it was not true that there were that many witnesses, the people of that time would have been able to check out the veracity of those claims, and if they were false, they would have been falsified and this lie of the resurrected Christ would have died out then. Remember, the Jews, the Romans, every one hated the Christians to begin with and persecuted them, threw them in jail, stoned them, burned them, murdered them, etc. There is no rationale for creating this tale unless it was true. It changed the world. Not other possibility exists. All evidence points towards the empty tomb.
Muhammad is still in his tomb. You can visit it.
Buddha is still in his tomb.
No other has risen.
Jesus - his tomb is vacant.
Faced with the evidence, well, you may not believe my words, but you must make a decision on this. Research it for yourself. Do not reject it out of hand simply because it does not fit the parameters of science, there is much that does not fit the parameters of science (you conscious mind is one of them). Look into the facts, for faith is not blind and truth is based upon fact which leaves evidence. And the evidence of the faith is ever so rewarding. I believe not because I want to I want to believe because it is true.
He lived. We know this extra-bibilically because Greek and Roman historians wrote about him, as well as non-Christian Jewish historians. We also know from these extra-biblical sources that he died for no other reason than for jewish jealousy. From the extra-biblical sources we can also say with clarity that a bunch of lowly fishermen were dramatically changed by the life of Jesus and spread this idea that Jesus had come back from the dead across the whole Roman empire and even further. Even to the point of death (which all but one disciple was murdered, I mean martyred), not one recanted. We know that no one in their right minds would die for a lie that they know to be a lie, which means these men truly believed with their whole being that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. And when they say they saw him after the crucifixion, they really believed it to be him.
But it is more than just that. Those who originally opposed Jesus, had a dramatic and drastic change of heart. Jesus' own brother was a harsh skeptic of Jesus, but after his death, became an ardent follower and leader of His church. Not because of power, for the church was dramatically persecuted at the time. No, but because he claims he saw the resurrected Christ. Paul (originally named Saul) was the most ardent enemy of Christians; persecuting, killing, and hunting them down to throw them in jail. He met the resurrected Christ after every one else did, but his life was drastically turned around to the point that he would risk jail, whipping, stoning, drowning, etc. all multiple times just to tell other people about Jesus. Not because of how he lived, not because he was some good moral teacher, but because He rose from the dead, proving he was the Messiah and that he had successfully paid for our debt. For Jesus' own words proclaimed that the proof that He was who He said He was was going to be the sign of Jonah, entering the whale for three days, and then to come back up. Which he entered the earth for three days, and then came back up.
We can trust the new testament narrative to be accurate: what we see is what it was two thousand years ago, because of a massive wealth of archeological findings. Over 20,000 manuscript copies from all across the Roman empire, the earliest being written within the same lifetime as the first generation Christians. This wealth of manuscript documentation is like a gold mine for archeologists and among all of these voluminous copies, in no way is the message ever changed or misconstrued through copy error or tampering.
We can know it was not a hoax; one, because the narrative says that women found him first. In no fabrication of that time would anyone ever think to use women as the first witnesses. Nothing against women here, just in those times, women were not allowed to bear witness, so in their culture a women's word was not worth anything really. So if they were to make something up, they would not have had women find him first. This creates a basis of - this is what really happened. Also, if the disciples fabricated the account, why would they make themselves out to be so dense and foolish?
This is the account... The stone was rolled away from the tomb, this would take multiple strong men to do this. The women would not be able to do so, and the soldiers were under orders not to let anyone in. This is no small thing, if a Roman soldier failed a mission, it meant certain death. Period. Then the women went to tell the disciples. The disciples were not out taking on the world, they were found cowering behind locked doors. Not quite the sign of men who were about to change the world. They were planning on going back to being fishermen. Game over. When Peter and John ran to the tomb, after hearing about it from the women, they found the tomb open, and when they went into the tomb, there was no body and they found the linens used to embalm Jesus' body laid out, neatly folded. After embalming, this bit of information would be a miracle to behold. Embalming would be similar to gluing these sheets to the body. If someone had come in and taken the body, they would not have left the sheets, nor would it be in a neat pile. The guards were ordered to watch the tomb on penalty of death. it was only be spreading the rumor that Jesus' body had been stolen did the Jews swear to protect the guards from retribution for failing their mission. But if Jesus' body had been stolen, one - it would have been an easy case to find it. And two - no one would have been changed to such a point that they would give up their lives to defend that truth.
The letters Paul wrote speaks of over 2000 people who had witnessed Jesus alive after the Crucifixion. Not all saw him at once either. This could not be a massive group hallucination, or even an localized hallucination. Nothing but the truth of the resurrection can account for what happened, and remember, if it was not true that there were that many witnesses, the people of that time would have been able to check out the veracity of those claims, and if they were false, they would have been falsified and this lie of the resurrected Christ would have died out then. Remember, the Jews, the Romans, every one hated the Christians to begin with and persecuted them, threw them in jail, stoned them, burned them, murdered them, etc. There is no rationale for creating this tale unless it was true. It changed the world. Not other possibility exists. All evidence points towards the empty tomb.
Muhammad is still in his tomb. You can visit it.
Buddha is still in his tomb.
No other has risen.
Jesus - his tomb is vacant.
Faced with the evidence, well, you may not believe my words, but you must make a decision on this. Research it for yourself. Do not reject it out of hand simply because it does not fit the parameters of science, there is much that does not fit the parameters of science (you conscious mind is one of them). Look into the facts, for faith is not blind and truth is based upon fact which leaves evidence. And the evidence of the faith is ever so rewarding. I believe not because I want to I want to believe because it is true.
