Date: 2006-04-16
From: Newfound Gap, TN/Gatlinburg, TN

To: Newfound Gap, TN/Gatlinburg, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day: 30Date:4/16/06Start: Gatlinburg, TNWeather: Hot, sunnyFinish: Gatlinburg, TNMiles: 0Cumulative A.T. Miles: 203.6Subject: Easter SundayWe are in Gatlinburg, TN today celebrating Resurrection Sunday. I Corinthians 15:17 says, "If Christhas not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." We had the great privilege of seeing Richard John Nehaus speak this morning. He is an unapologetic apologist that speaks clearly and logically about issues of faith.The resurrection of Christ is the single most significant aspect of the Christian faith. As cited above, Paul states that if Christ was not raised from the dead, his sacrifice was not valid. In honor of this Easter Sunday, below I will cite *some* of the arguments against the resurrection and *some* very brief responses to wet your whistle.(1) Christ either died during his crucifixion or he did not. One theory that purports that he did not die is the swoon theory. It says that Jesus merely passed out and he was later revived. In their _Handbook of Christian Apologetics_, Peter Kreeft and Ron Tacelli cite 9 reasons why the swoon theory is false. I will merely cite a few of their reasons (after all I am typing with my thumbs in the woods). (1.1) The Roman guard did not break Jesus' legs because he was already dead, (1.2) blood and water came from Christ's pericardial sack when the guard pierced his heart, (1.3) Jesus was put into burial winding sheets and entombed.(2) If he did die, then he either was raised from the dead or not. If he did not rise from the dead, (2.1) either the apostles were deceived (e.g. hallucination; twin Jesus theory), (2.2) the apostles were myth-makers, (2.3) or the apostles were deceivers (i.e. conspiracy). (2.4) If Christ did rise, then Christianity is true.In brief response to 2.1, it is unlikely that all 500 or so witnesses mass hallucinated. It is also very unlikely that Jesus had a twin brother. Instead, Luke 24 says that Christ ate fish and in John, doubting Thomas touched Jesus' side. Christ prophesied about his own resurrection in John 2.19-21.In brief response to 2.2, the apostles were myth-makers, I will posit two (amongst many other) arguments. One, myths take time to develop. The apostles wrote their accounts soon after the event. Second, the apostles accounts are not written in the genre of myth. For example, they do not say, "A long time ago in a land far far away."2.3 is interesting to me. "Where the apostles intended to deceive?" is the question. They all ran off when Jesus was being persecuted. It was only after they saw Jesus alive that they began to be bold in their faith. Lies are typically intended to gain advantage for oneself. The apostles died for their belief. It is unlikely that they would die for a lie. Second, the Jews and the Romans did not produce a corpse. Third, their accounts are not written persuasively--like a lawyer or debater. They even have women seeing Jesus first. Whereas, in their time period and culture, women's testimonies were not accepted. If they were attempting to deceive, they did it maladroitly. They were persecuted, put in jail, and lost their lives for a lie. Kreeft and Tacelli provide more reasons against 2.3.Bill Craig (www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig) says that there are three confirmed facts about Christ's resurrection from the dead: (1) Christ death, (2) His postmortem appearances and, (3) the origin of the Christian faith. I hope that this brief discussion about Christ's resurrection will cause you to study the subject. It is the foundation of theChristian faith. Happy Easter!