Christianity

Note: I gladly accept the challenge and will forgo my rebuttal in the final round so that there are an even number of exchanges between Pro and Con. Also, I am indebted to the work of William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, N.T. Wright, and Mike Licona for their approach and research on this issue.Opening Argument:Karl Jaspers described Jesus Christ as one of the four “paradigmatic individuals” (along with Socrates, Confucius, and Buddha), who radically changed civilization. But the teachings of Jesus stand in stark contrast to these other sages. For example, Buddha said, “Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge.” (1) Christ makes the much grander claim when he says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” and “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (2) I believe that these grand claims would have been consigned to an obscure section of Wikipedia if Christ had not vindicated his claims by walking out of his own tomb. Con asked me to describe the type of Christianity I hold since there are so many different denominations. I am a Roman Catholic, but I acknowledge truths that are contained in other Christian denominations, and even truths found in other religions (such as the truth of monotheism found in Islam). However, in this debate I will defend the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Christ because this is one belief that all genuine Christians share in common. My main argument is this: “If Christ has risen from the dead, then Christianity is true.” I believe that the resurrection hypothesis explains five facts that are relatively undisputed by New Testament scholars. If Con wishes to dispute the resolution, he must show why my hypothesis is not supported by the evidence and provide his own naturalistic explanation for the following facts.Fact 1: Jesus’ Death by Crucifixion1. The ancient roman historian Tacitus writes in the first century after Jesus’ death why the Roman emperor Nero persecuted Christians. He writes, “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus . . . ” (3) 2. In addition, skeptical critic John Dominic Crossan denies that Jesus rose from the dead, but even he admits, “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.” (4) Fact 2: Jesus’ Honorable Burial and Empty Tomb1. The account of the empty tomb in Mark’s gospel is unlike later fanciful legends of Jesus. The account simply describes some of Jesus’ women followers discovering his tomb being empty, meeting a young man who tells them what has happened to Jesus, and then the women fleeing in fear. Mark’s source comes from an earlier “pre-passion narrative” that has been dated to within 7 years of the crucifixion event and is fairly protected from legendary corruption. (5) 2. It is extremely unlikely that early Christians would have fabricated the story of Jesus’ burial by Joseph of Arimathea because Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus. According to moderate critic Raymond Brown, “Joseph’s being responsible for burying Jesus is ‘very probable,’ since a Christian fictional creation of a Jewish Sanhedrist doing what is right for Jesus is ‘almost inexplicable,” (6)3. In 1st century Palestine, the testimony of women was considered worthless and was even prohibited in courts of law. Therefore, if the empty tomb was a fabrication, then it is more likely that Mark would have described men discovering the tomb instead of women. 4. Early creeds (7) describe Jesus as being raised “on the third day,” which refers to the day that the women discovered the empty tomb (otherwise why not say he was raised on the seventh day, or the tenth day?). In addition, the Book of Acts records the speeches early Christians gave that contrast how King David decomposes in his tomb, but Christ suffers no such humiliation. (8)5. Finally, since the Apostles preached Jesus in the city of Jerusalem where he was buried, then the Apostles, the Jewish authorities, or the Roman authorities could have falsified the belief of Jesus’ resurrection by producing his decaying corpse. Fact 3: The Post-Resurrection Appearances1. The Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians in the early 50’s. In Chapter 15, verses 3-7, he writes about Jesus appearing to the Apostles, other Christians, and last of all, to himself. The language of “delivering” and “receiving” these accounts indicates that this section in 1 Corinthians is an ancient creed that Paul received, probably when he met with the Apostles in Jerusalem in the early 40’s. Paul would have personally met with those who claimed to have seen Jesus (like Peter or James) and verified his report as being historical, not legendary. 2. Gerd Ludemann, a scholar who denies the resurrection, affirms that the Apostles had some sort of experience of the risen Christ. He writes, “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.” The question we must ask is, “What explains these appearances?" (9)Fact 4: The Origin of the Disciple’s Beliefs1. In 1st century Palestine, the Jewish people eagerly awaited the return of the messiah who would conquer their oppressors. Why did Jesus’ disciples continue to follow him even in the presence of a crushing defeat that made him appear to be a blasphemer who was abandoned by God and a failed messiah?2. Furthermore, what motivated these people to be transformed from dejected cowards into bold Apostles willing to die for the falsifiable belief of Jesus’ resurrection? Gerd Ludemann writes, “ . . . it is certain that something must have happened after Jesus’ death which led his followers to speak of him as the risen Christ.” (10) I contend that the reality of a literal, resurrected Christ was the probable cause of their courage in the face of martyrdom. Fact 5: The Conversion of Skeptics like Paul and James1. Saul of Tarsus (Paul the Apostle) was a Pharisee who persecuted the ancient Church while James the “brother” of Jesus, is repeatedly depicted as rejecting Jesus’s claims. However, Saul completely reversed his beliefs and joined the Jewish heresy he had been persecuting, and the Jewish historian Josephus records how James was put to death for his beliefs about Christ (11). I contend that the best explanation for the conversion of these skeptics was an encounter with the risen Christ himself.I argue that Christianity is true because it is the most plausible explanation of these five facts. If Con is to win this debate, he must show why my explanation is the not the most plausible and provide an alternative, naturalistic explanation of these five facts.Copyright Trent Horn 2011 - All Rights Reserved Sources 1. “The Buddha’s Farewell Address” in The Gospel of Buddha. Compiled from Ancient Records by Paul Carus. (Chicago and London: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1915). 2. John 8:12 and John 14:6 3. http://classics.mit.edu... 4. John Dominic Crossan. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, (San Freancisco: Harper Collins, 2009) 163. 5. Rudolf Pesch, Das Markusevangelium, 2 vols., Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 2 (Freiburg: Herder, 1976-77), 2: 519-20. 6. Raymond E. Brown, Death of the Messiah, vol. 2 (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 1240. 7. 1 Corinthians 15:4 8. Acts 2:29-32 9. Gerd Ludemann. What Really Happened to Jesus? A Historical Approach to the Ressurection (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995) 80. 10. Ludemann, 26. 11. http://www.ccel.org...