Apologetics
This was one of my favorite classes that I have taken at GBS. I have learned that knowing the Bible is a command, and not a suggestion. 1 Peter 3:15 commands us "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."
I have always hated not knowing the answer to questions. For example: at any of my former jobs, I have always made it my business to know; at the very least a little bit about all the various areas of operation. I do not wish to be ignorant about anything in this life. I also like being the guy that you come to for answers.
It is with this in mind that I took this class. For this particular class, I could not decide which assignment to provide to demonstrate my work, therefore, I provided two of my written defense papers. The first one (on the left hand column of this page) is entitled "The First Accusation." The second one (on the right hand column of this page) is entitled "Is the Bible Accurate?" Feel free to read one of them, or both of them; keeping in mind that these two written defenses are in column form. Lastly, in one essay there is an abstract and in the other there is a thesis. Both of them give you (the reader) the main thrust of the paper in order to help you choose between the two essays if you do not have time for both.
I have always hated not knowing the answer to questions. For example: at any of my former jobs, I have always made it my business to know; at the very least a little bit about all the various areas of operation. I do not wish to be ignorant about anything in this life. I also like being the guy that you come to for answers.
It is with this in mind that I took this class. For this particular class, I could not decide which assignment to provide to demonstrate my work, therefore, I provided two of my written defense papers. The first one (on the left hand column of this page) is entitled "The First Accusation." The second one (on the right hand column of this page) is entitled "Is the Bible Accurate?" Feel free to read one of them, or both of them; keeping in mind that these two written defenses are in column form. Lastly, in one essay there is an abstract and in the other there is a thesis. Both of them give you (the reader) the main thrust of the paper in order to help you choose between the two essays if you do not have time for both.
The First Accusation: Did the Disciples Steal the Body of Christ? (Spring 2012)
Chuck Chapman God’s Bible School and College Abstract The enemies of Jesus devised a story that the disciples stole the body of Jesus during the night; the problem is that they had their story concocted before the body turned up missing. I will attempt to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Jewish council was not afraid of the body being stolen, but they feared that Jesus would rise from the dead just as He predicted He would, and therefore they took precautionary measures. The majority of this argument will be taken from Matthew 27:51-28:15. I. Introduction We live in a day and time where Christianity is under attack. Compiled together with these accusations is a quest to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If anyone could prove that the resurrection did not occur, then they would have grounds to dismiss Christianity altogether. In addition if Christianity were dismissed, then man would have an excuse to justify any lifestyle of his choosing, and therefore could escape his self-condemnation and fear of punishment for the way he chooses to live. It appears easier for some men to set out on a lifelong quest to disprove the Lord’s existence, rather than spend that energy on making the necessary adjustments to have fellowship with the Lord, and live life in such a way that is consistent with scripture. While I ponder all the different excuses that individuals have composed in order to dispute the resurrection, I feel it to be of the utmost importance to address the first recorded accusation to the resurrection of Christ. The first recorded claim against the resurrection occurred before the resurrection actually took place. This raises more questions than one would think. I will attempt to answer these questions before addressing the first objection against the resurrection “did the disciples steal the body of Christ during the night?” II. Why did the Pharisee’s remember Jesus words and the Disciples did not? The field of apologetics finds its birth before the actual resurrection of Christ even took place. It is found in the accusation in the book of Matthew 27:62-28:15. This accusation was only recorded in one of the four Gospels, although as previously stated it raises a lot of questions. The first question that should be addressed is “how did the Chief Priests and Pharisees remember Jesus words; that He would raise after three days and His Disciples did not?” If they had not remembered His words there would have been no need to place guards in front of a dead man’s tomb. Apparently sometime after the death and burial of Jesus, it dawned on the Pharisees that Jesus had previously predicted his own death, burial, and resurrection. Why this prediction did not dawn on the disciples is a mystery. It would be logical to assume that because of the horrific nature of their Lords death that the disciples were still in a state of shock and they were currently in the grieving process. Although, this does not shed to much light on the fact that the Pharisee’s remembered Jesus prophecy and the disciples did not. The disciples spent every day with Jesus for a minimum of three years; they had all left housing and livelihood to follow Him. It would make sense that after spending that much time with the Lord that the disciples would remember this promise first and not Jesus enemies. In addition, the Lord had predicted his death, burial, and resurrection on more than one occasion. The disciple’s ignorance in this matter could be argued that not only were the disciples mourning, but they were also in despair. The coming Messiah after all had been prophesied for a minimum of four hundred years. The Christ was thought to be the promised deliverer of the current Roman army’s oppression. When Jesus fit the description of the Messiah and then later was murdered, this would have shattered the hopes and beliefs of the disciples. They may have even possibly remembered Jesus prediction, but with His death it would have been hard for them to look at Him as a deliverer anymore. This might explain why the disciples did not remember Jesus prediction, or perhaps did not put too much faith in it anymore, although this does not explain why Jesus enemies remembered the Lord’s words. The Pharisee’s remembering these words is of most importance to proving that the disciples did not steal His body. The enemies of Jesus not only remembered His words, but they did one better than His disciples; they feared His words because of what it might inspire the disciples to do, and maybe they even believed His words; we will address this assumption at the conclusion of this paper. Regardless if the Jewish leaders feared, or possibly believed Jesus words; they took precautionary measures, the question currently at issue is why did they remember? I believe the answer to why is found in John 5:12-18 where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and claimed to be the son of God, it was after this that the Jewish leaders sought to kill Jesus. To anyone who has ever had an enemy in life or someone who has severely wronged them, they should understand how that individual is able to occupy a lot of your thinking process. When someone has become your enemy or wronged you, day after day you replay it in your mind; the words that they said or the hurtful things they did. This is typical behavior for anyone plotting revenge, especially when that revenge has turned to blood thirst as it had done with the Pharisee’s and Chief Priests. Although, hate and hurt is a logical reason for the Chief priests, and Pharisee’s to remember Jesus predictions; I believe more so that the most logical explanation for the Jewish leaders remembering the predictions of Jesus and taking a preemptive strike would be due to their education. At the age of five the Jewish children would enter school much like our education system today. However, unlike our current education system the Jews relied heavily on memorization. During a child’s schooling they would be required to memorize the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah. If a child was very good at this they would grow up to become a Rabbi, in addition at the age of fourteen the best of the best would approach a Rabbi and ask to be his disciple (Covered in the dust of your Rabbi). If the youth passed a series of memorization tests, then the Rabbi would say “come take my yoke upon you and be my disciple”. Then the youth would abandon home, family, friends and everything else to become like their Rabbi. To summarize in order for anyone to become a Rabbi, Pharisee, or Chief Priest they would have went through extensive training in the memorization of scriptures, followed by spending the remainder of their life learning about the scriptures from someone who has spent more time studying the scriptures than they had. This leads me to my point. With a Pharisee or a Chief Priest having such knowledge in the scriptures, as in comparison to the Disciples of Jesus whose education and dreams of becoming a Rabbi would have ended at age fourteen, it would have been more noticeable to them when Jesus spoke about His death and resurrection using the Torah to predict it. If you add into the calculation the Religious leader’s zeal for the scriptures with their plot for revenge to their enemy, it is logical to see why they demonstrated an act of precaution or possibly faith in the resurrection, as to where the disciples did not. This would explain the preemptive strike by the Pharisee’s found in Matthew 27 and 28, although this does not explain other questions that arise. III. What was the seal on the tomb, and how did the woman plan to remove it? Little is known about the seal on the tomb mentioned in Matthew 27:66, although this passage implies more than the large stone being merely rolled in front of the tomb. Barnes suggests that “The cave in which Daniel was cast was fastened in the same manner, and sealed with the king's signet (Dan 6:17), perhaps by fastening the stone in its place with cords, and bringing them together and uniting them with wax, and impressing on that the seal of the king. In this way, letters and books were anciently sealed. Possibly on the sepulcher of Jesus was impressed in this manner the seal of Pilate-the seal of office-making it doubly sure; or it may be that the stone was fitted into the tomb with clay or cement, and on that was impressed the seal of Pilate” (Barnes, © 1997 ). Whatever the state of the sealing of the tomb was; be it signet from Pilate, Chief Priests or simply some cement, this raises the question how did the women plan to move a large stone that was ordered to be sealed shut by the Roman Governor Pilate? If something in ancient days had been sealed shut it was under no circumstances to be opened unless under decree of the one who sealed it. Attempting to open it would be punishable by death. So why would the women go to attempt to move this sealed stone? The answer is simple they did not know that it had been ordered sealed by Pilate. This is shown in Mark 15:43- 16:3. After the death of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 19:39) took the body of Jesus wrapped Him in Linen and placed Him in a tomb. The stone was rolled shut in front of the tomb and quite a few different women named Mary observed this from a distance, then everyone returned home because of the Sabbath. Somewhere in this time frame is when the council had Pilate set guards and seal the tomb. When the Sabbath had passed the multiple Mary’s went to the tomb early when the sun had risen to anoint Jesus. The key verse to their ignorance of the seal is found in Mark 16:3. The woman asked “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” This question implies nothing about knowledge of a seal, or the presence of the Roman guard. The women did not address the problem of a Roman sealed tomb that needed permission to be opened, nor did they bring up that there were guards present that could help them. Although, the woman observed where Jesus was laid from a distance, they were clueless as to the seal on the tomb, or the presence of soldiers guarding the tomb that could have potentially helped them roll away the stone. IV. Why is Matthew the only Gospel to record this? The only account of the Pharisee’s failed attempt is mentioned in Matthew, why? Matthew’s chief audience was the Jews, to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. One could argue; why didn’t’ Luke talk about this since his purpose was to give an orderly account? I believe the answer to that is twofold. First, when Jesus first called Matthew he was a tax collector for the Roman Government and was despised by his own people the Jews. It is not highly unlikely that because of Matthew’s time working for the enemies of the Jews that he would take special note or perhaps even pleasure to mention the failure of his former employer to guard an empty tomb. Secondly, Matthew was most likely written before Luke, and Luke may not have felt the need to readdress this issue. In the first two verses of Luke, he acknowledges that many before him have written about the events that took place and that he thought it was right for him to do so as well. V. Why would Pilate set guards over a dead man’s tomb? Before stating my conclusion concerning the issue of the disciples supposedly stealing the body of Jesus, there is one last issue to address. Why would Pilate set his guards to watch a dead man’s tomb? This question not only hurts the argument for the disciples because it cast doubt on the resurrection, but it also answers the question “did the disciples steal the body?” The account of this, found in Matthew 27:62-28:15 is where the Pharisees made the preemptive plan to set guards in place; in case of the event of the disciple stealing the body of Christ, or possibly in the event that the resurrection actually occurred. This fact does seem to sway the evidence that the body of Jesus was stolen, in light of the fact that the very reason the Jews requested help; ended up being their excuse when the body was found missing. It is rather odd if you think about it; the Jews had their story lined up before the resurrection actually took place. It is no wonder that many believed their story (Matt 28:15), until the eyewitness accounts of Jesus resurrected body. If it were not for Pilate ordering the guards to watch the tomb and seal it, the Pharisee’s argument would be a very convincing explanation. Although, the question remains why did Pilate send his soldiers to guard an empty tomb? I suggest for the same reason that the Pharisees really asked for it to be guarded in the first place; they either believed or feared Jesus claims. Although, the scriptures do not say this, the context and the evidence point to it. First, at the moment of Jesus death as recorded in Matthew chapter 27 the Bible says a lot of supernatural stuff started happening. It says in verses 51-54 that the veil in the temple of the Lord was torn in two down the center. If you were to research the assembly of the veil you would discover that “early Jewish tradition stated that the Temple veil was as thick as a man’s hand, although this might be an exaggeration.” (The Orchard Keeper). Either way, this is not something that would be easily torn in two, not to mention that it was torn in two at the exact moment of Christ death. Secondly, there was an earthquake at the exact moment of Jesus death. Finally, graves were opened which could have been caused by the earth quake, however; the dead inside these graves began to be raised back to life and walking the street where everyone could see them. This typically does not occur every time there is an earthquake and therefore, cannot be explained by an earthquake. All of this happened at the moment of Christ death, I will not mention the symbolism of all this, although it does point in favor of the resurrection and the deity of Christ. But, how do all these supernatural events point to the evidence that the disciples did not steal the body? This seems to be the simplest part to explain; Pilate was the Governor; it was his job to keep the peace and to know what was going on in his province. The word of these events most assuredly reached his ears not to mention the ears of the Jewish council who was present at His crucifixion. Upon hearing of all this, not to mention the testimony of one of Pilates own soldiers who declared that “surely this was the son of God” (Matt 27:54); there would have been little to no room for the doubt as to Christ’s identity. The council was very prideful; this is evidenced by their refusal to acknowledge the teachings of Christ. It does not seem logical that they would approach Pilate and say “Hey we messed up and had you crucify God, could you help us out and guard the tomb so he does not come and get us.” It seems logical that they would come up with an outlandish excuse; such as “his disciples might come by night and steal the body.” Just as it was Pilate’s job to know what was going on, it was the Pharisees’ job to know the scriptures and they had to know at this point what the scriptures had to say about this. Further evidence of this is found in Pilates final statement to the Jews found in Matthew 27:65 “Pilate said to them, ‘you have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” You can almost sense the sarcasm in voice. VI. Further Proof’s to the Resurrection of Christ It seems highly illogical to believe that Jesus disciples stole the body of Jesus in the night. When Jesus was arrested all of his disciples fled in fear of their lives. Even Peter who had sworn to stand by the Lord’s side “even unto death” ran away like a little girl when he was confronted by a little girl for knowing Jesus. At the time of the death, burial, and resurrection all the disciples were in hiding in fear for their lives. Is it reasonable to believe that this timid eleven man group of un-educated fishermen, and tax collectors out smarted the well trained Pharisee’s then somehow snuck by a highly trained Roman guard, bypassed a sealed stone that they were not prepared for and kidnapped a dead body without being detected? In addition, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was confirmed by multiple eyewitness testimonies; Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Mt, Mk, Lk, Jn), all the disciples, over five hundred brethren, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul from Tarsus (1 Cor. 15:3-8). When Peter returned to the Lord after the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he openly said “Christ whom you have crucified” he then went on to acknowledge the resurrection of his body and there were no objections. Also if the tomb was not empty all the Romans would have had to do was open the tomb and bring out the body of Jesus and parade Him through the streets. Finally, all the disciples with the exception of John died a Martyrs’ death. Many religions have individuals who die for what they believe to be true, although not too many people have ever died for something they know to be a lie. If the disciples really had stolen the body they would have in all likelihood recanted at the point of their deaths. Countless individuals since the disciples have been Martyrs for their belief in Christ and to this day over two thousand years later there are still eyewitness testimonies of encounters with the risen Christ. In addition the Gospels were written within the lifetime of eyewitness from the disciple’s side and the Pharisee’s, if the resurrection would have not been commonly accepted then there would have been those who openly refuted it. VII. Conclusion The majority of the Biblical and extra-Biblical evidence point to the conclusion that Jesus disciples did not steal the body and that Christ did in fact rise from the dead. Jesus had a wide range of friends and followers; Jesus had sinners, Pharisee’s, tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen, Roman centurions, formally demon possessed people, a dead guy, doubters, thief’s, zealot’s, leopards, Scribes, women, persecutors, and many more. However, despite all of these friends, the evidence points to the fact that Jesus apparently never did keep any company with grave robbers. VIII. References Works Cited Ancient History @ suite 101. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2012, from http://blair@ suite 101kasfeldt.suite101.com. Barnes. (© 1997 ). Bible PC 5. Retrieved March 2012, from Biblesoft Inc Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright. Covered in the dust of your Rabbi. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2012, from ibobs.org/reading/CoveredDustRabbi.doc. The Orchard Keeper. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2012, from http://cbumgardner.wordpress.com. |
Is the Bible Accurate? (Spring 2012)
Chuck Chapman God’s Bible School and College Thesis The reliability of the Bible has been under debate for numerous years now, and if anyone could disprove the reliability of the Bible, then they could disprove Christianity altogether. Therefore, I will set out to prove that the Bible is a trustworthy document. I. Introduction The sinful condition of man seems to be boundless in its attempts to justify itself. Ever since the creation of the universe and man, we have attempted to exalt ourselves to a place that is meant for God alone. Adam and Eve were the first of the human race to attempt this by choosing to do what they wanted to do with their lives and not what God created them to do (Genesis 3). Throughout the centuries this condition of self-centeredness and self-exaltation has continued although, the manifestations in our attempts to do so have varied. In the days of Noah men and women were living any which way that they saw fit, and right up until the very end, they were eating and drinking (Matthew 24:37-39), during the exodus man’s self-centeredness showed itself in the murmuring and complaining, along with worshiping of the false idols (Exodus 32), and in the days of Jesus it was false religion that was meant to be man-pleasing and not God-pleasing (Mark 7:6-8). In modern times, we prove to be just as bad as our examples from the past. Due to our guilt brought about by our sinful behavior and lifestyle choices we attempt to exalt self and justify our actions. We attempt this by redefining the definition of wrong in our society, and by trying to compromise the authenticity of Christianity and the Bible. Christianity is under attack and apparently will be for many years to come. If someone could prove that the Bible is not accurate, then Christianity could be dismissed. If Christianity were dismissed as legend or myth, then men would have an excuse to justify their actions. If men could justify their actions, then they could escape their inner guilt for the way they choose to live. If guilt were removed, then there is no reason for positive and moral change. If there were no need for positive moral change, then society and its members would could do harm to whoever they want, without fear of repercussions. These are just a few things that are a stake when it comes to the accuracy of the Bible. The accuracy of the Bible will be the central focus of this essay, as its reliability is the foundation for which our faith, hope trust, and future rest upon. II. Why should I trust the Bible? Let’s pretend for a moment that you and I, along with ten other people were out one day walking together. During some point on our walk we passed a bank. Upon passing the bank one of us got the idea that we should rob the bank, without hesitation we all storm in and rob the bank for every penny they got. Once we exit the bank we all flee down the street, return to our individual homes with our share of the loot, only later to be arrested by the police and hauled off to jail. When we get to the jail they separate the twelve of us and start the interrogation process. It is during this time that we individually give our account of what happened. The police officers and detectives would start to put pressure on us in order to get to the truth, now assuming that none of us wished to spend the rest of our lives in jail we would start talking pretty fast. In addition, some of us might probably even lie to save their own tales (we are after all dirty bank robbers). However, some of us are tougher to crack than others; therefore the police officers have to threaten us with capital punishment in order to get to the truth. This is done by informing us; that if we don’t come clean (including identifying the ring leader) we will get the electric chair. I believe it is safe to say at this point that most of us would spill the beans on the real truth and the identity of the one who had come up with this entire scheme (at this point we are after all dirty, lying bank robbers); due to fear for our lives. So how does this make believe situation apply to the reliability of the Bible? Just as there were twelve of us in the story, there were twelve men in the Bible who were threatened with death if they did not recant and tell the truth. However, the problem with these twelve men is that they were innocent and they were telling the truth. The twelve men I am speaking of, as you have most likely figured out is the twelve Apostles. I do not believe that the twelve disciples should be contrasted with twelve dirty bank robbers, however; it was the first example that came to mind. Sorry! Regardless of the contrast, some people will die for the truth, however; not too many people would be willing to die for a known lie. The majority of these men and countless others throughout the centuries died horrible deaths for their belief in the truth. That truth being: that Christ truly lived, truly died, and was truly resurrected for the sins of the world. However, you might say “big deal, people die for other religions all the time.” I would have to respond “that is correct they do.” Although, these people are dying for something they believe to be true, the Apostles died for something they personally witnessed. Therefore, we will focus on just the deaths of the Apostles and other eyewitnesses. Peter, Andrew, Simon, James (son of Alpheus), and Bartholomew were all crucified for their account of the risen Christ. Matthew and James (son of Zebedee) where killed by the sword for their acknowledgement that Jesus is God. Thaddaeus was killed by arrows, an James (the brother of Jesus) was stoned to death. Finally, doubting Thomas was thrust through with a spear; it would seem that his doubts as to the truth had been laid to rest (Bird, 2006) These men all had shortcomings that under the pressure of death would have come to the surface if they had made the whole story up (like us lying about a bank robbery). James the brother Jesus was a skeptic, Thomas as previously mentioned was a doubter (and there was never a better time to start doubting than now), and Peter had previously been known to run away from little girls when they confronted him about knowing and being a follower of Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75). If one of these men had died for their belief in Jesus and the others did not, then it probably would not have been enough for a reasonable person to accept their testimony however, one man didn’t die for his testimony of the truth; all of them did with the exception of John. Now let’s change our make believe situation about the bank robbery a little. Let us pretend this time that there were forty of us involved in this robbery. In addition, we all lived on this earth, with about a 1,500-year time span between our deaths and births. Let us say that in the course of this 1,500 years that each of us played a valuable role in robbing the bank. For example: I provide our team with the blueprint of the bank. Then two-hundred years later, one of our team members scores us a security clearance card. The process of each of us (the forty members of the team), contributing to the overall bank robbery, would go for1, 500 years until the job was done and the bank was successfully robbed. Needless to say, this would be impossible. First, everyone would be dead before the job was done. Secondly, how could the first guy ever anticipate the banks condition and security over a thousand years into the future? Finally, in the event of capture, how could all of our testimonies ever be in perfect alignment? It would be impossible for our testimonies to be in agreement as to any event in history nonetheless something that in one way or another that we all had a part to play in, right? Wrong. This make-believe situation is exactly what has happened in the Bible. In the book “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist” Norman Geisler shares the following facts: “the Bible is really a collection of documents written by 40 authors over a 1,500-year period. Where could you find such agreement on a variety of issues from 40 authors who all live today, much less over a 1,500-year period?” (Geisler/Turek). The only way to describe such an impossibility is found in the very book that is constantly under the skeptic’s attack; the Holy Bible. In the nineteenth chapter of the book of Matthew it says “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). However, if the death and matching testimonies of the various authors were not enough (which it really should be), would there still be plenty of evidence to prove the reliability of the Bible? Absolutely! One such proof comes in the account of the embarrassing facts that make the authors of the four Gospels look bad. One such incident would be when the women were the first to come across the empty tomb. Dr. Bird of God’s Bible School and College states “A woman’s witness wasn’t respected in court those days; they were not legal witnesses they had a lower social status. It seems that if the Gospel writers were making the story up, they would not have had the women be the first witnesses of the empty tomb and Jesus” (Bird, 2006). The skeptic might say “well isn’t there any evidence to prove your story other than in the Bible?” That is a fair and valid question. To that the Christian may demonstrate a noteworthy fact to the reliability of the Bible in the field of archeology. Mr. Geisler quoting Colin Hemer records that “With painstaking detail, Hemer identifies 84 facts in the last 16 chapters of Acts that have been confirmed by historical and archaeological research.” (Geisler/Turek). The Bible records in the first chapter of Luke, that Luke was a historian and took great trouble upon himself to record the accounts of the eyewitness testimonies of the resurrection. Over two-thousand years later the geographical locations mentioned in Luke have been discovered to be accurate, which proves the truthfulness of all things recorded in Luke’s Gospel. In addition one of the most noteworthy pieces of the reliability of the Bible is found in an interview with Michael Licona by Lee Strobel in his book entitled “The Case for the Real Jesus.” Mr. Licona refers to what he refers to as the “Jerusalem factor.” Licona declares that “this refers to the fact that Jesus was publicly executed and buried in Jerusalem and then His resurrection was proclaimed in the very same city.” He goes onto say “it would have been impossible for Christianity to get off the ground in Jerusalem if Jesus’ body were still in the tomb. The Roman or Jewish authorities could have simply gone over to His tomb, viewed His corpse, and the misunderstanding would have been over” (Strobel, 2007). In addition Peter; in the books of Acts called out the Jewish council by saying “you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:23-24). The scriptures clearly show that Peter just openly accused the Jewish leaders of killing Jesus. In addition, he also pointed out that Jesus had been raised from the dead and nobody refuted Peter. It seems like if this was up for debate that Luke (Mr. Accurate) would have jotted that down in his detailed, historically proven accurate account. III. Conclusion If this evidence is not enough to persuade someone to the reliability of the Bible then I would suggest that they are not open to accept reality, logic, and truth. There is scores and scores of other evidence to confirm the trustworthiness of the Bible such as; our multiple copies of manuscripts(Over 5,700 copies still in existent, that is more than any other ancient document), multiple forms of extra-biblical (secular) evidence, and the false religions and myths copying Christianity. I urge anyone who does not believe in the claims of the Bible to attempt to disprove it. In addition, I wish them the best of luck; many have tried unsuccessfully for centuries. What did Jesus Claim? In conclusion with all the evidence in favor of the Bible and the resurrection of Jesus it is important to know what Jesus claimed? 1. He claimed the Old Testament was the inspired word of God “Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27). 2. He claimed to be God and the only way to Heaven “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). 3. He also claimed to be able to forgive us of our sins that are deserving of capital punishment “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" — then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." 7 And he arose and departed to his house.” (Matthew 9:6-7) 4. Finally, in my belief, most importantly He claimed that it did not matter who you are or what you done that He would accept you into His presence and Kingdom “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). I leave us with a thought provoking question: In Aristotle’s dictum he states “The benefit of the doubt is given to the document and not to the critic.” This is the standard used for all other documents until proven false or guilty. Why then does this standard not apply to the Bible? IV. References Acts 2:21. (n.d.). Acts 2:23-24. (n.d.). Bird, D. M. (2006). Defending Your Faith. Answers in Genesis. Exodus 32. (n.d.). Geisler/Turek. (n.d.). I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway. Genesis 3. (n.d.). John 14:6. (n.d.). Luke 24:25-27. (n.d.). Mark 7:6-8. (n.d.). Matthew 19:26. (n.d.). Matthew 24:37-39. (n.d.). Matthew 26:69-75. (n.d.). Matthew 9:6-7. (n.d.). Moses. (n.d.). Genesis 3. Strobel, L. (2007). The Case for the Real Jesus. Zondervan. |