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Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?. Can We Compete Intellectually?. How many of us have actually done some research about whether the Resurrection is grounded in fact and actually happened? Is it simply a faith issue?

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Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

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  1. Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

  2. Can We Compete Intellectually? • How many of us have actually done some research about whether the Resurrection is grounded in fact and actually happened? Is it simply a faith issue? • Problem #1: From a biological standpoint, resurrection is insane because nothing that dies comes back to life. It’s remains may be used to fuel new life, but not the same life. • Problem #2: “We should only believe what can be scientifically proven.” However, this philosophy has to be rejected on it’s own terms. • Is science the only method of determining truth?

  3. Textually Accurate? • The more copies and the closer in time to the originals, the more accurate to what was originally written. • Josephus’ The War of the Jews: nine complete copies around 400 years after the original • Tacitus’ The Annals: two incomplete copies from the Middle Ages. • History of the Peloponnesian War (eight), The Gallic Wars (ten), The Histories of Herodotus (eight), The Complete Works of Plato (seven), all of which date at least 1,000 years after it was originally written.

  4. Textually Accurate? • Today, we have discovered a little over 5,300 separate Greek manuscripts containing a book or books of the New Testament. • 3,000 are minuscule (small Greek letters) of which 34 are complete sets matching those of today (9th century). • 2,300 are uncial codices (capital Greek letters) of which multiple complete sets date to the 4th century. • Codex Alexandrinus, entire OT and NT (late 4th – early 5th century), Codex Sindaiticus, one of the best Greek NT (330-360 A.D.), The Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest complete uncial manuscripts (325-350 A.D.) • Chester Beatty Papyri, 7 OT, 3 NT, 1 BoE (mid 3rd century), Bodmer Papyri, first 14 chapters of John and much of the last 7 (200 A.D. or earlier), John Rylands Papyri , John 18:31-33 (117-138 A.D.)

  5. Start with the Basics • One of the first common objections is that Jesus did not actually die on the cross. • 1) Mark 15:44 “Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died.” • 2) John 19:33 “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.” • 3) Joseph of Arimathea asks for a “body” and is referred to as such for the rest of the story • 4) John is surprised to find tomb empty, because he was an eyewitness of the crucifixion • 5) Jesus’ body underwent a complex burial process

  6. Could the body have been stolen? • 1) Matt. 27:65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” • 2) Matt. 28:13  “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’” • 3) Why leave the linen clothes? • 4) If the religious and political authorities had moved the body to a safer location, it would have been simple to produce the body to silence early claims of resurrection

  7. Is it simply a made up story? • The Passion Week: Matthew 40%, Mark 60%, Luke 33%, John 50% • Characteristic of eyewitness accounts in its detail, downplayed to casual events such as the road to Emmaus, and the disciples wouldn’t be so resistant and anxious about the whole event. The Gnostic gospels do have these characteristics but lack the concreteness of the New Testament. • One would expect the excitement of that in Harry Potter. Instead we see un-recognition (Mary Magdalene), skepticism (Thomas), fear (the women at the grave), and even remorse (Peter).

  8. Resurrection caused Drastic Change • Peter: Denied knowing Jesus three times, anxiously met “together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). • After the Resurrection, he was boldly preaching in the streets with such power that “three thousand people were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41). He later heals the lame, challenges the Sanhedrin, and suffers persecution because of his testimony. • James: half-brother who “did not believe in him” (John 7:5). • After the Resurrection, he becomes a major leading figure as a witness to seeing the resurrected Jesus (1 Cor. 15:7). He goes on to be the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem where persecution was very severe, is trusted by the Church even more than Peter, Paul, and Barnabus, and sanctions Gentile admittance into the church, shredding centuries of isolationist tradition.

  9. Other Compelling Evidence? • Of all Major religions, a person is most likely to experience persecution for joining rather than leaving. This happens in all areas of the world. • It is simply stated as fact, not as spiritual symbolism or myth from which to learn “a truth” of the world. • Authenticity is enhanced because there was no effort to neatly harmonize all four gospels. Each author simply used the resources and testimonies available to them. • If anyone believes there was a beginning to it all, it really isn’t that hard to believe in a re-beginning.

  10. He’s Alive!

  11. Benediction • Now to the King eternal, immortal, • invisible, the only God, be honor and • glory forever and ever. Amen • 1 Timothy 1:17

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