Proof For The Resurrection?

As John Stott so appropriately said, "We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity."

"God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.  The Good News is about his Son.  In his earthly life he was born into King David's family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit"  (Romans 1:2-4, NLT).  

The skeptic may be surprised that there is abundant, cumulative, circumstantial, and historical evidence to support the resurrection (let it make its total impact!), unless one has already made up his mind and doesn't want to be confused with the facts.  The Pharisees had  closed their minds already:  "This impostor said He would rise again!"  Jesus even predicted the event at least five times.   This is like the eggheads on Mars Hill in Acts 17:32, ESV:  "Now when they heard of  the resurrection of the dead, some mocked..."  Whether there is a resurrection, or whether Christ rose, is a matter of faith; out of the realm of public opinion, science, or philosophy.

The event in question is more variously supported by direct and indirect evidence than any other event in antiquity.  There is so much evidence that it demands a verdict!  Too many questions can't be answered by the skeptic.  There is never enough evidence for them--they don't want to believe and think it would upset their lifestyle or security.  Seekers and believers need to study the facts as any legitimate court of law would pronounce:  Jesus did indeed rise from the dead!  The historicity is well-established both circumstantially and in documents as written evidence.  You must realize that Christianity is the only faith-based on history and facts!

I invite you to venture out of your comfort zone and pay attention to the facts of the case point by point.  You are not required to have blind faith at all (not having reasons for it), but only to make a leap of faith based on the preponderance of the evidence and where it's going.  "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"  I hope you will see that you are not committing intellectual suicide by believing--but either way you decide, it takes faith (God is only pleased with faith per Heb. 11:6, NIV, which says, "And  without faith it is impossible to please God..."), but it takes more faith to deny it than to accept it!  I personally, don't have, enough faith to deny it!  I am glad that "his cruel death was not the end of Him," as John Stott has said.  He does live in my heart but that is highly subjective and based on my personal experience, and not hard objective evidence, but only personal testimony (which is still admissible in a court of law). 

The evidence is most compelling but no one fact is conclusive--it must be taken cumulatively, and there are answers to all the skeptics' questions, except where there is a God--there's no smoking-gun evidence either for or against it, and one must decide on one's own. This is the paramount question:  Have you considered the evidence?  God is no man's' debtor and will authenticate Himself if you consider the evidence.  The evidence is most compelling but no one fact is conclusive--it must be taken cumulatively, and there are answers to all the skeptics' questions, except where there is a God--there's no smoking-gun evidence either for or against this, and one must decide on one's own.  God is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself if you consider the evidence.  This is the paramount question:  Have you considered the evidence?  The evidence is most compelling but no one fact is conclusive--it must be taken cumulatively, and there are answers to all the skeptics' questions, except where there is a God--there's no smoking-gun evidence either for or against this, and one must personally decide on one's own. 

If someone ever challenges you to prove the resurrection, you can cite manifold evidence that is well known: like the several alleged appearances of Christ over a period of 40 days (this cannot be explained by hallucinations, which are highly subjective and individualized); the change of behavior in the apostles (who had become disbanded, demoralized, and suddenly went from being cowards to roaring lions of the faith); the undisturbed grave clothes which show the body wasn't hastily stolen and Christ must have "passed" through them as John believed the moment he saw it and put two and two together, realizing no one would steel a body naked; the guarded tomb which was as secure as they knew how, because they were aware that He claimed to rise again on the third day (who moved the stone and the sepulcher was sealed and had a guard;  the early rise of the faith; why they changed the day of worship from the Sabbath to the Lord's Day;  how they turned the world upside-down; and most vital of all: the test of the veracity of the witness is that the were all martyred except John (one usually tells the truth and confesses on his deathbed)--they were all willing to go to their deaths rather than admit a conspiracy.  Lying would not be consistent with their character and witness, nor worthy of their Lord.  This was no idle tale" told by "consummate liars and deluded madmen" but supported by "many infallible ["convincing" in NIV] proofs" according to Luke cited in Acts 1:3, KJV.  

The resurrection is the Rock of Gibraltar or the crux of Christianity:  You must disprove it to make Christianity tumble, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is futile..." says 1 Cor. 15:17.  The event doesn't prove Christ's deity, but is consistent or congruous with it, and only what we'd expect of a supernatural person who also had a supernatural entrance into the world via a virgin birth.  If the resurrection is true, it is the "most sensational event" in history, and if it is a conspiracy of deluded followers, it is the "biggest hoax" ever perpetrated on mankind, according to apologist Josh MacDowell.  The most challenging evidence is that the body was gone and the authorities and Jews could not produce it to nip the new faith in the bud.  The Jews believed that the disciples stole the body while the guards were asleep.  [There is no precedent in jurisprudence that allows the testimony of what transpired s during one's sleep!]  In spreading this rumor it both showed their ignorance and proved the fact that the body was gone! 

Now, this is the clincher:  the evidence against the resurrection is hard to come by:  there is none!  What evidence is there that He didn't rise from the dead--did anyone see the dead body?  There are no conflicting testimonies!  Only the presupposition that one cannot rise from the dead and bias in the first place would prevent belief.  Just saying, "I don't believe one can rise from the dead (not even God?)" is not evidence per se.  Science can say that in the normal activity of man this doesn't happen, but science cannot "forbid" this miracle or any other miracle or unusual event caused by God--this would be personifying science and going beyond its turf.  This is really "scientism," not science!  This is outside the scope or parameters of the scientific method and empiricism:  science relies upon the repetition of events and laboratory conditions with controls and variables to experiment with and measure and observe results to hypothesize and theorize.  History, by its very nature, is unrepeatable and it is a matter of the reliability of the documents.  If this happened normally we'd call them "regulars!'  Don't people often say, "There's a first time for everything?"

If Christ was God, it is no surprise that He rose from the dead--anyone with His character and credentials and made the claims He did is either a lunatic, a deliberate liar (and the disciples would've figured this out), or He was who He claimed to be--the Lord--The Resurrection and the Life in the flesh!  If someone lived like Jesus did and said what He said and claimed deity, I am inclined to believe it--or who did say those things?  NO psychiatrist would label Him unstable, but His claims would not escape the attention of the authorities either.  It is obvious, for instance, that His teachings are not the rantings and ravings of a madman either!  Lord Byron said,:  "If ever a man were God or God-man, Jesus Christ was both."

It is a matter of philosophy and history, not science or opinion: "For nothing is impossible with God [and one must decide whether he admits to there being a God in the first place] (cf. Luke 1:37, NIV)."  In order to be the judge and jury, in this case, you must weigh the evidence pro and con and go in the direction the evidence is leading:  Where does the preponderance of the evidence point to?  You don't need to know all the answers to decide, juries rarely have all the evidence or facts, but only sufficient evidence to render a verdict up or down.  To the hardened skeptic, there is never enough evidence, but to the willing believer who wants to believe and is willing to do God 's will there is ample evidence;  one cannot say he has an excuse due to lack of evidence.  He may have reason to doubt, but no excuse!  The skeptic has more questions to answer than the believer!

It is not a matter of the intellect because it is a moral matter and only those willing to obey God can believe (John 7:17, NIV, says, "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God...").  It doesn't take brains to figure it out, because a child can believe; the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart.  Your conclusion shows more what kind of person you are, not what kind of person Christ is. 

Let me conclude:  It is not a matter of the intellect because it is a moral matter and only those willing to obey God can believe (cf. John 7:1 says, "If any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God...").  It doesn't take brains to figure it out, because a child can believe.  The big question is where one's heart is and if it's in the right place.  You cannot disprove the resurrection by merely citing people fact that people don't normally rise from the dead; Jesus is not your typical person, but the Son of God with all the necessary credentials and witnesses. Every theory posited to explain it away has been proved beyond credence and unacceptable, because God can raise the dead: for with God, all things are possible, by definition (cf. Matt. 19:26; Luke 1:37; Gen. 18:14).  

Note and remember this point in fact:  science can not make value judgments or judgments of historical nature, because they are not observable, measurable, nor repeatable--have you ever seen five pounds of love or three feet of faith?    Soli Deo Gloria!

Spiritual Downward Spiral

   "'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him"  (Hosea 14:4, NKJV).
"... Your sins have been your downfall"  (Hosea 14:1, NIV).  
"'... But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:7, NKJV). 
"Indeed, the LORD will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone"  (Deut. 32:36, NLT).

Christians don't turn on God and rebel suddenly, but slowly drift:  "So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it," (cf. Heb. 2:1, NLT)> 

Some believers don't march forward in their faith, nor even tread water, but go back as so-called backsliders. A walk with the Lord implies you are going forward and going someplace!  God can heal this phenomenon as He promises above in Hosea 14:4.  What happens to initiate such spiritual degeneration or descent?  Instead of progressing from degeneration to regeneration, some lose spiritual ground or territory by conceding it to Satan and giving him the opportunity and open the door to his mischief, and degenerate again, even becoming worse than they were at the beginning before they learn their lesson.  Like Jesus told of the unclean spirit that returned with seven other spirits eviler than itself!   One might ask himself:  how low can I go?

It all begins with a "disconnect" from God, whereby we aren't abiding in the Word and become spiritually slack and our laxity affects every area of our walk as we try to go it alone apart from the body that we are members one of another. There is always the danger of spiritual complacency, getting cocky spiritually, and thinking one has "arrived," and Satan may then catch him on a spiritual high, so to speak.  Everyone is vulnerable to the wiles of Satan and we must not be ignorant of them, for he specializes in mind-games and psychological warfare, and plays with our ego and pride.

When the Word has lost its pizzazz or we get so-called Bible fatigue, we must heed the spiritual wakeup call and seek the presence of the Lord and not become derelict of our spiritual calling to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him--discipleship can be demanding and we must not become lax!  This comes with the territory and we signed up for it.  This is why repentance and submission to God's will are not one-time spiritual events, but progressive as we go from faith to faith and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord.

Faith does seem to begin by waning or deteriorating and this will happen if it isn't fed by the Word of God. Growth needs nourishment!  What happens next is a doubting of God's goodness like Job and the believer asks why and when no answer is forthcoming he loses faith or breaks faith with God (however God is always faithful to us), but he never loses faith entirely or goes into utter despair--there's always a seed or minutiae of faith hanging on for life support.  

If the backslider persists in his rebellion he may become defiant and get angry at God and even throw a temper tantrum or have a fit to take it out on God Himself--when he should be angry at himself!  The reason he cannot recover so easily is that he may have spiritual inertia and cannot make the first move--God must make the overture and He will!  This is because of man's natural inclination to sloth or acedia and he is slack spiritually when he is estranged from God or out of fellowship--it takes a work of grace to restore him.

But backsliders have a tendency to commit spiritual suicide and sabotage their own spiritual health by having an aversion to the Word of God and balking at learning the things of God in depth, therefore they are wholly unprepared for the schemes of Satan.  The milk of the Word will not be sufficient to feed a seasoned believer through this so-called Anfectung (Martin Luther penned this word--German for "attack").   And he may find himself using yesterday's day-old food and leftovers for tomorrows meal, so to speak, and not realize he needs the unadulterated Word from the Lord to feed his soul, giving daily and timely growth and nourishment meant for that day (our daily bread)/   If he has not developed good devotion habits he may starve himself spiritually and die of spiritual malnutrition, as it were.  This is where the body of Christ comes in and acts like an organism, not an organization, to bring healing to those who confess (cf. James 5:16).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Authentic Worship

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name: worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness"  (Psalm 29:2, NIV).
"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD," (cf. Psalm 89:15, NIV). 
"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of thy Israel" (Psalm 22:3, KJV).

God desires those who worship to do so in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24), and this implicates our whole being and that we do it in the right spirit, or filled with the Spirit, and in truth or not hypocritical, phony, or mere lip service--but also consistent with sound doctrine--God is the God of Truth!   We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and this means everything that we are--our whole being!  It doesn't mean you be something you're not, but to be what God made you and do what you were designed to do. 

There's no "one-size-fits-all" way to worship:  some are traditionalists, seeking liturgy and ritual; some are musical; some caregiving; some activists; some contemplative; and some are even intellectual.  We are not all hard-wired the same, but we are all meant, designed, and made for worship.  Dostoevsky said, "Man cannot live without worshiping something."  That is, if we don't worship God, we will worship something; i.e., we will worship!  We've been called Homo religiosus, or the religious man or being.  We all have a spark of the divine in us and have been called Homo divinus (penned by John Stott) to point that out.

Worship (meaning worth-ship or ascribing worth that's due) isn't always corporate or in the church assembly--though this is highly rewarding and encouraging.  We offer ourselves to God or consecrate ourselves in surrender.  The believer must learn to live his life as a sacrifice to God and as a service to Him in offering himself.  God doesn't want our achievements--He wants us!   We don't want to just go through the motions, or get into a rut, but seek meaning and purpose in our worship.  We don't just go to church to worship--we go to work!  For example, A man laying bricks was asked what he was doing and he responded that he was building a chapel!  The condition of our soul and spirit is what is our aim, not just where we are. 

We are to keep the channel open and the link connected to God as we continually practice the presence of God in our daily chores and activities. Martin Luther proclaimed manual labor as dignified and to the glory of God.   All that we do is to be to God's glory (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31).  Living our lives in God's will is our sacrifice to Him, and this is our yoke, not the Law, as in the old covenant--this is real spirituality.  God wants our obedience in life and this is more important than being religious or having religiosity:  "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).

The reason we meet together for corporate worship though is that we all have different gifts and need mutual edification.  Like it says in 1 Cor. 14:26 (NIV) that when we meet together "everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation." The gifts are given for the benefit of the body as a whole, not just for our personal growth.  The point of corporate worship is that the singing of hymns and spiritual songs is not the only form of worship:  We worship in giving of our monetary blessings; we worship in the Lord's Supper as a memorial to Him that contemplate; we worship by heeding the preaching of the Word, and we worship by our fellowship with our brethren. 

By way of analogy, our entire lives are to be an act of giving or of worship and thanksgiving as we render to God His due and live according to His will and walk with Him in the Spirit.  Worship is sacrifice among other criteria:  There are two sacrifices that the Bible stresses, besides the ones given in the Mosaic Law:  The sacrifice of praise (cf. Heb. 13:15); and the sacrifice of thanksgiving (cf. Ps. 50:23).

In summation, Psalm 100:1, 3, 4 (KJV, boldface mine)  portrays the right mental attitude or formula for opening the door to the throne room of God into His dimension for spiritual worship as follows:  "MAKE a joyful noise ...  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with thanksgiving, know ye that the LORD he is God ... Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful  unto him and bless his name." [Note that we worship in making noise (i.e., audible attention-getting devices), serving (missions, ministry), coming (approaching in prayer--corporate and private, and fellowship--corporate and one-on-one) to Him, offering praise, being thankful (in everything), and in giving blessings (to God and others).]   Soli Deo Gloria!