Resurrection Apology

Easter 2007 - Christ Is Risen!

The following is an exerpt from Josh McDowell's book The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (pages 208-209)

Wilbur M Smith, noted scholar and teacher says, "No weapon has ever been forged, and ...none ever will be, to destroy rational confidence in the historical records of this epochal and predicted event. The resurrection of Christ is the very citadel of the Christian faith. This is the doctrine that turned the world upside down in the first century, that lifted Christianity preeminently above Judaism and the pagan religions of the Mediterranean world. If this goes, so must almost everything else that is vital and unique in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: 'If Christ be not risen, then your faith vain'" (1 Cor. 15:17)

Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli describe the incredible impact of the resurrection:
The resurrection is of crucial practical importance because it completes our salvation. Jesus came to save us from sin and its consequences, death.(Rom. 6:23) The resurrection also sharply distinguishes Jesus from all other religious founders. The bones of Abraham and Muhammed and Buddha and Confucious and Lao-Tzu and Zoroaster are still here on earth. Jesus' tomb is empty.
The existential consequences of the resurrection are incomparable. It is the concrete, factual, empirical proof that: life has hope and meaning, "love is stronger than death"; goodness and power are ultimately allies, not enemies; life wins in the end; God has touched us right here where we are and has defeated our last enemy; we are not cosmic orphans, as our modern secular worldview would make us. And these existential consequences of the resurrection can be seen by comparing the disciples before and after. Before, they ran away, denied their Master and huddled behind locked doors in fear and confusion. After, they were transformed from scared rabbits into confident saints, world-changing missionaries, courageous martyrs and joy-filled ambassadors for Christ.

Wilbur Smith says,
But when He said that He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if he expected longer the devotion of any disciples--unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that.

As G. B. Hardy has said, "Here is the complete record:
Confucious' tomb: occupied
Buddha's tomb: occupied
Mohammed's tomb: occupied
Jesus' tomb: EMPTY

The verdict is in. The decision is clear. The evidence speaks for itself. It says very clearly:

CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!