No matter what religious beliefs or lack there of one holds, history is separated by the birth and events that surround one man; and that man is Jesus of Nazareth. If there is one controversial event that surrounds this historical figure, it is his resurrection that is argued the most. In most scholarly circles, it is accepted that Jesus of Nazareth was born around the first century, while living gathered a religious following, and was crucified by the Romans. It is his resurrection, though that separates secular and believing biblical experts. This paper will discuss the historical validity of the resurrection of Jesus by looking at biblical validity, the evidence surrounding the resurrection, and expert opinions from both sides as whether or not in today’s age it is reasonable to be believed in.
If one is to debate the historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus, then one most first examine that which the resurrection account is found in. The largest account of the resurrection can be found the first five books of the New Testament, which are the Gospels. The word gospel comes from the Greek word meaning, “good news” or a message that brings salvation (Gunn, 2013). Mark, which is the first gospel that was written, was influenced by Paul’s usage of the term and used it to describe Jesus’ ministry, works, death and resurrection. The other gospel books followed in suit. The question remains though, are these first century manuscripts historically reliable? The answer to this question is yes but to the extent of their validity depends on whom you ask.
It is true and held by most reputable scholars and historians the New Testament is the best proven book in ancient history, both in terms of the number of manuscripts and the nearness o...
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...ead. This is a fact that is almost universally acknowledged among New Testament scholars today. Even Gert Lüdemann, perhaps the most prominent current critic of the resurrection, admits, "It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’s death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ."18
Finally, fact #4: The original disciples believed that Jesus was risen from the dead despite their having every reason not to. Despite having every predisposition to the contrary, it is an undeniable fact of history that the original disciples believed in, proclaimed, and were willing to go to their deaths for the fact of Jesus’s resurrection. C. F. D. Moule of Cambridge University concludes that we have here a belief which nothing in terms of prior historical influences can account for—apart from the resurrection itself.19
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been hailed by people of many religious and cultural backgrounds as the greatest discovery of manuscripts to be made available to modern scholars in our time and has dramatically altered our understanding of the origins of Christianity. Perhaps the most fundamental reexamination brought about by the Scrolls is that of the Gospel of John. The Fourth Gospel originally accepted as a product of second century Hellenistic composition is now widely accepted as a later first century Jewish writing that may even contain some of the oldest traditions of the Gospels . The discovery of the scrolls has led to the discussion of undeniable and distinct parallels between the ideas of the society at Qumran and those present in the Gospel of John.
Normally, it is generally believed that the statement gap between broadminded and conventional Christian theologians is more ruthless than the statement gap between broadminded and conventional Politicians. Most of the time the Politicians are fewer forced to confront each other in elections but the broadminded and conventional Christians can spent most of their time keeping away from each other. In a book, ‘Meaning of Jesus’ the authors Marcus Borg and Tom Wright has discussed a lot of issues like resurrection. Even though Borg and Wright take different diverse methods but they has discussed each other point of view in a reasonable manner, and they both directly faced points of their discrepancy.
In the previous two posts, we have gone over the importance of the apostles ' martyrdom for the resurrection argument, as well as a summary of Sean McDowell 's findings concerning their martyrdom. Now the question arises, is this evidence enough? The short answer is, yes. All the resurrection argument requires is that some apostles who claimed to have experiences of the resurrected Jesus were martyred for their faith. The idea is that if the apostles had invented the story of the resurrection they wouldn 't be willing to die for it. If they were martyred then they truly believed that they had experienced encounters of the resurrected Jesus, adding credence to the resurrection argument and disproving the possibility that
The Gospel of Matthew is an eyewitness story written for an audience of believers, under great stress, and persecution. Matthew develops a theological plot incorporating genealogy, speeches, parables, inter and intra textual references, common vocabulary, and fulfillment quotations, with a tension that builds as we are invited into the story. The crucifixion and resurrection bring us to a Christological climax that symbolically points beyond its conclusion to God’s Kingdom, bringing atonement, salvation and the ushering in the Eschaton. The extraordinary events surrounding the crucifixion act as commentary, adding important details concerning the death of Jesus.1
I find Lanes understanding of the disciples experience of the resurrection very helpful. There is no way to come up with your opinion fully without hearing all possible stories. When you hear many different stories, opinions, and facts it gives you more knowledge and insight about the subject where you can draw your own conclusion from that. Listening to these different ideas and opinions doesn’t mean you have to necessarily agree with it, the choice is left up to you to decipher truth from fabrication, lies, embellishment, persuasion stories, etc. Which is extremely relevant and difficult in this situation.
Meaning, the followers of Jesus were taken up, and the remains were of the unsaved individuals.
Jesus, a name known by billions throughout the world. To each, this name means something different; savior, friend, philosopher, prophet, teacher, fraud, fake, liar. Some even believe that He is just an imaginary character from the minds of those who wrote about Him. The Westminster Dictionary of Theology describes apologetics as, "Defense, by argument, of Christian belief against external criticism or against other worldly views" (Apologetics 31-32). Though there are still many mysteries that surround the ongoing debate about Christianity, evidence can now prove some of what Christians took by faith before. Now, more than ever, there is information to prove the existence of this man that walked the earth more than two thousand years ago. Little remains of His life and works except for that which is contained within the pages of the Holy Bible. Throughout the past century alone, there have been numerous discoveries, both scientific and archeological; to further prove the existence of a man called Jesus and reinforce the Bible as a legitimate historical document. The validity of Christianity and Jesus Christ himself has been the center of religious controversy for centuries. Though His identity has not and probably never will be proven, He did exist. This paper will use apologetics to prove this so. Sufficient evidence proves the existence of Jesus and forms a firm basis for Christianity.
Many people do no believe in the resurrection of Jesus because most of the evidence depends on the Bible. I; however, do believe in the resurrection because of three main reasons. The first reason in that I don't believe that it would be possible for so many people to believe in a lie for hundreds of years. The second reason I believe in the resurrection is because many people claim that their was a mass hallucination, but it is highly unlikely for that many people to have the same hallucination at the same time. Finally, my last reason is that if the apostles had faked it, I highly doubt that they would be willing to die for a lie. In conclusion, I believe in the resurrection because it would be hard for so many people to believe in a lie and all the arguments against it don't make sense.
Looking at the painting “The Incredibility of Saint Thomas”, the power seems to lie in the skepticism exhibited by Apostle Thomas. The painter seems interested in Thomas’ doubt at the time he is pushed to the limits to believe about Jesus’ resurrection (Miller, Vandome, & McBrewster, 2010).
These three tests when applied to the Bible show it as the most historically reliable text known to man, thus the events found upon the pages of the Bible are actual historically proven events. In light of these facts, there are still many theories other than that of the Biblical account. Three of them include the "Visionary" theory, the theft theory, and the wrong tomb theory. The first theory is that of Strauss, that the appearances of Jesus after His death on the cross were "visions generated by the imaginations of the disciples (Ramsey 48)." This may be the easiest of all the theories to discredit. First of all, it does not take into account the inability of the disciples to grasp this idea that Christ was alive and to recognize Him for who He was (Ramsey 48).
Theologians have been stuck on this topic as well. Without the Resurrection, the Christian’s faith
“The tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27:52-53, ESV). This event deals personally with the problem of sin, which the natural man refuses to accept or recognize. Here Jesus Christ clearly demonstrates the redemption of the dead through incarnation, death on the cross, and resurrection.
Regardless of different ways and perspectives that one comes to hear about the Resurrection, the most important part of Christianity, is the central point of biblical history and the “mecca” of any Christ believers. The story of Christ’s Resurrection has been translated, interpreted, and told numerous times and ways. Not only because of the grand significance that the Resurrection has on people’s faith, but also because of its sacred meaning to their existence. Through the New Testament, notably 1 Corinthian 15, Jesus’s Resurrection had unveiled God’s ultimate plan to mankind's from a sinful world. Since the Bible is an open book, it is open to any reader’s interpretation and relies on their imagination and knowledge.
"Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15), or as Paul puts it in Romans 6:23 " the wages of sin is death". Christ never sinned, and therefore did not earn the wages of sin. Therefore God raised him from the dead "having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." (Acts 2:24). The full story of Christ's death and resurrection can be found in Matthew 27 & 28, Mark 15 & 16, Luke 23 & 24, and John 18 - 21.
When other popular teachers died, their movement died with them. However, after the death of Jesus, his movement continued to build strength and grew rapidly. James, Peter, John and Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews were convinced of Jesus’ resurrection, they believed this with such conviction that they did not even try to defend or prove this. They stated it as fact. “In each narrative, names are given of those to whom the resin Christ presented himself (Barnett 130)”.