The quick answer to this question is, as Sarah Palin puts it, “You betya” But let us look at this a bit further. In my humble opinion as a student of Biology I find that it must be a much higher act of faith to believe that Jesus did NOT die and rise on the third day based strictly on the evidence.
First we have 4 Gospels and whether or not you believe them science has already proven that they were written about 2000 years ago.
I have heard many arguments state that these documents were not written when Jesus was alive but they were written after he had been crucified. Now this is true but what is also true and must be realized as a fact is that the 4 Gospels and the New Testament was written within a lifetime of when Jesus Christ died and I believe rose from the dead.
Now many people tell me that after time passes things change. They remind me of the telephone game when a message is passed along from person to person and when you get to the end, the message is often completely different from the original message. But we have to also take into account the time of Jesus. It certainly was not the digital age we have now and people did not have cell phones with cameras and video cameras. It was not even in the print age as they did not have newspaper stands on every corner.
During this time it was an oratory age. The rabbi’s of the day had to memorize entire scriptures before they could ever comment on those passages. So were these documents reliably preserved? By comparing the ancient manuscripts we have to conclude that yes they were. We do know that there was a man named Saul and he was one such student. Scholars have proven beyond a shadow of doubt that oratory cultures have been able to pass things down for generations without changing a thing!
The first century Apostles were very serious about writing these things down as accurately as possible. Now these stories were passed down. Plus we have to remember that there were hundreds of other people who were alive during the time of Jesus and we do NOT have any written evidence that contradicts what has been written in the 4 Gospels and the New Testament. Please also remember that Saul who changed his name to Paul was one of these very educated men who understood the Torah and some scholars believe that he may have even heard Jesus preach when He was alive.
But don’t the Gospels contradict each other? Well in a court of law, if every single witness gives the exact same testimony the court will rule collusion meaning they got together and organized their testimony. It is expected that witnesses of an event to have slightly different recollections. What is important is that the concept be consistent. So where we have one Gospel talk about 1 blind many being healed and another talking about 2 blind men being healed really does not contradict each other. The point was that a man who was blind from birth was healed by the miracle Jesus performed.
But the fact still remains that we do not have an original manuscript but instead we have copies. So how do we know that what we have is real? Well the fact is we have over 5000 manuscripts of the New Testament. We have better records of the New Testament than any other document that has ever been preserved
Again in a court of law the evidence is extremely strong. But what about any evidence other than the Bible
The Jewish scholar Josephus describes the life of Jesus and the Roman historian Tacitus writes about Jesus and Pontius Pilot. Suetonius mentions Jesus and there are numerous other documents written in this time frame that mention Jesus of Nazareth. Just go to Google and type in “other mentions of Jesus than the Bible” and see what you come up with. So again if we were in a court of law we have to come to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth did live, he did preach and teach, he did have disciples and he was crucified.
Now some people say that Jesus did not die on the cross. For those people I urge you to look up Roman Crucifixion and study that for a bit. I have yet to come across one example of the ancient Romans crucifying someone and that person lives. Before a crucifixion, the person is scourged which means whipping with a short whip that has sharp bones or pieces of sharp metal attached. Many people died from this before ever making to the cross.
It is impossible for some to be scourged and then hung on a cross for hours to be alive and well, walking around a couple of days later. Also, when the Romans wanted to speed up the death, they simply broke the legs of the person so he could not push up to breath. In the case of Christ, he was stabbed with a spear to make sure he was dead. The Romans were very good at this so we do know that it was a fact that Jesus died on the cross.
Ok so we know that we can prove in a court of law that Jesus lived, preached, taught presumably performed miracles and died by crucifixion. But how can we know that he came back to life?
Well during this time, there were many prophets, a growing number of teachers known as scribes and Pharisees earned money as teachers of the Law. John the Baptist was another prophet in the time of Jesus who was also put to death. But why do we not follow John or these other teachers who were so good that they were paid to teach?
Let’s look at the disciples. If Jesus had not risen from the dead would they have given up their lives to teach about him? Remember what Peter did before Jesus died? These men were afraid for their lives. They did not want to die, so instead they hid. But because they saw the risen Christ, they realized that Jesus really was the son of God. All of the Apostles with the exception of John died by martyrdom. This simply means they were put to death because of what they taught, preached and believed. What again would cause these simple men to give up their lives when immediately after the death of Christ, they denied Jesus, and they cursed Jesus and went into hiding.
Now for my favorite. Saul who changed his name to Paul. Again history does not deny the existence of this man and scientific evidence shows several books of the Bible were written by the same man so we have to conclude that Paul did exist. Why then would someone with such a strong Jewish education, who hunted down and killed Christians because of their belief all of a sudden, change his way and start preaching and teaching people about Jesus Christ?
Once again if we were in a court of law, we could come to know other conclusion except that these men did in fact see the risen Christ.
Jesus Christ was real and did die on the cross. Jesus Christ did rise again on the third day and our faith and belief in Christ Jesus is what saves us.
My friends during this Easter season I urge you to share with many the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again so that all who believe in his should not perish but have everlasting life!
We are pleased to announce that as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ we are announcing the rebirth of this ministry and our seminary school.
We will be having new messages every week or so and will be happy to share advice to help you live a blessed and rewarding life.
Hi folks, please understand that I believe we do not need science to prove this. I just sent this because as the pastor of one of the leading online seminaries, I have people come up to me all the time about questions like this. I find it amazing that people will believe the Jesus did not exist or did not come back to life without any intelligent research. If any intelligent person, actually did the research, there is only one logical conclusion they could obtain. As far as people saying that it was not 3 days from Friday to Sunday, I suggest you study Hebrew, Latin and ancient cultures. The phrases, “after three days” and “on the third day,” are not contradictory, either to each other or with Matthew 12:40, but simply idiomatic, interchangeable terms, clearly a common mode of Jewish expression. Just as in 2nd Timothy 3:16 the word Pneuma literally means breathed into. This does not mean that God breathed into the scripture. The word used at the time meant God’s power. So when you read that verse you see Paul saying to Timothy that God’s Power is in the scripture. On the Third day, after 3 days, etc. mean basically the same thing. To prove this point again, the Pharisees wanted guards posted until the third day, Sunday not Monday.
Now I have friends who say He died on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which day is absolutely correct? I have no idea and neither does anyone else. Just like when was Jesus born, no one knows although I am quite sure it was not 12/25. The point we need to take is that He did in fact, rise up from the dead.
I encourage all to really study the Greek and Hebrew as they were the two main languages that Bible was written in.
In Christ,
Pastor Bob
Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified but not on ta “t” shaped cross but on a stake. He was crucified on a Friday afternoon and resurrected on a Sunday morning, that is not three day. And Easter is from paganism, specifically all the way back to ancient Babylon. Remember Yeshua was of the tribe of Judah, a Torah observant Jew that kept the weekly and yearly Sabbaths according to the Instructions of Moses, the Chumash, Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Our Beliefs in Gods Word is based on Faith, To me it is more importent that the Holy Spirit is the true author than when and who did the actual writing. But it is also very good that we have some scientific prof that the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ did actually happen. I also know that I need to learn the Bible in detail in my studies to be a pastor so I can hardly wait for the training to arrive. Please feel free to send my what ever information you feel I may need.
God Bless
Art.
I know some of you have your own concluesion about the resurrection of jesus,I can say as a man of great faith and raised my self as a catholic,I do believe in his resurrection and the beleif in God,Ive have seen alot of things through my life,I cant explain,but I will never change and no one will ever change my beliefs,I understand sceince and the gospel will change with so many prophets and scripts who wrote the bible, things will always seems to change with time,but remenber your true faith will always be strong and unchanged no matter what. Have Faith and Belief and God bless.
I have believed from childhood that the resurrection really happened. I was taught to have faith in God, and to believe the Bible. I did not learn to trust in science, I learned to trust in God. The science of theology is simply icing on the cake. I am open to science because I find it fascinating. However, I don’t need scientific proof to believe. I simply believe.
Apologetics is an interesting discipline. I love reading and listening to the arguments that defend the Christian faith. This article has taught me about the history of our faith.
Kalev tells us that Easter is from paganism. While it is hard to know what exactly is meant by that statement, there is at least one sense in which the present day celebrations of Christmas and Easter reflect pre-Christian culture. We know that the Old Testament has many instances of prophecy which, in retrospect, clearly refer to Jesus. C.S. Lewis suggests in his writings that the pre-Christian traditons of many peoples can be looked at as part of God’s preparing the world for the message of the gospel. Evangelists throughout the ages have adapted the Good News of our Risen Saviour to the different cultures to which they were spreading the gospel. An early example of this is Paul speaking to t the Athenians and telling them that Jesus was the ‘unknown God” to whom they had built a tribute.So the fact that our ways of celebrating Easter may owe something to pre-Christian cultures (I have no idea to what extent this is so) does not speak in any way to its inauthenticity.
DEnise tells us that she has not learned to “trust in science.” I certainly don’t urge anyone to view the curent doctrines of the various scientific disciplines as statements to which we should ‘trust.’ Nor do scientists treat them in that manner. Science attempts to submit its current findings to testing and honest scientists stand ready to revise their theories in response to new evidence. On the other hand, science, much like music,art, or the humanities, is a use of God’s gifts to us of our natural reason. While Sacred Scripture is God’s preeminent way of revelation, we know from the Bible that “The heavens declare the glory of God.”God has many ways of speaking to us and none should be neglected or refused.
Why would it matter what the world says bob. In Peter we read that we have a more sure word of prophesy, that the word of God did not come by the will of man, but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy spirit. There are no contridictions in the word of god, people either don’t understand the context, they are reading a mistranslation or it is an orientalism that they don’t undestand. Each of the 4 gospels is written from a different perspective Christ as son of Man, Christ as a servant Christ as the King, Christ as the son of God
as far as the person who wrote that there aren’t 3 days between Friday and sunday, if they read the word, and rightly divided it they would know that he was killed on Wednesday evening and rose Saturday evening. The sabbath in question being the day before passover, not Friday. But most people don’t study to show themselves approved before God, a workman rightly dividing the word of truth.
Just one more thing, if he didn’t get up from the dead, then how come I can operate the nine manifestations of the holy spirit? I speak fluently in a language that I know that I don’t understand at all. Any Christian who prays in the spirit (speaks in tongues) knows that they know. Remember, natural man (body and soul) cannot understand spiritual things. as it says in the word, they are foolishness to him. The holy spirit (Christ in us, the hope of glory) enables us to read the word of God , and understand it. God is a Spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Pastor Bob,
Quote: “So where we have one Gospel talk about 1 blind many being healed and another talking about 2 blind men being healed really does not contradict each other.”
But doesn’t this contradict each other? True; But the fact still remains that we do not have an original manuscript but instead we have copies. So how do we know that what we have is real?
From reading the Gospel Matthew 28: “He Is Risen” “v5 And the Angel answered and said unto the women (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary), “Fear not ye: For I know that ye seek Jeusu, which was crucified.” , “v6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the lord lay.”, “v7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.”, “v9 And as they (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary) went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail (words of Christ).” and they came and held [him by the feet, and worshipped him].” Now here it impilies that Mary Magdelene and the other Mary saw Jesus, and touch him. And his words to them was; “Be not afraid; go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”
“Well in a court of law, if every single witness gives the exact same testimony the court will rule collusion meaning they got together and organized their testimony. It is expected that witnesses of an event to have slightly different recollections.”
So, If this being true, then why doesn’t the other three Gospel have this account of his “Resurrection?” So now, “Did the Resurrection really happen?”
Pastor Bob,
Quote: “So where we have one Gospel talk about 1 blind many being healed and another talking about 2 blind men being healed really does not contradict each other.”
But doesn’t this contradict each other? True; But the fact still remains that we do not have an original manuscript but instead we have copies. So how do we know that what we have is real?
From reading the Gospel Matthew 28: “He Is Risen” “v5 And the Angel answered and said unto the women (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary), “Fear not ye: For I know that ye seek Jeusu, which was crucified.” , “v6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the lord lay.”, “v7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.”, “v9 And as they (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary) went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail (words of Christ).” and they came and held [him by the feet, and worshipped him].” Now here it impilies that Mary Magdelene and the other Mary saw Jesus, and touch him. And his words to them was; “Be not afraid; go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”
“Well in a court of law, if every single witness gives the exact same testimony the court will rule collusion meaning they got together and organized their testimony. It is expected that witnesses of an event to have slightly different recollections.”
So, If this being true, then why doesn’t the other three Gospel have this account of his “Resurrection?” So now, “Did the Resurrection really happen?”
I believe that Jesus lived, was crucified, and rose ON the 3rd day…which by the way is Sunday. I have never doubted this fact. In the times we live now, I can’t imagine not having this simple truth to hold on to.
Your last statement just verified everything I wrote.
Tom you are exactly right. Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny all come from paganism and again you are right. When you really start to study the Greek Hebrew languages you will realize that the traditions we do are fine and don’t really matter as long as they do not conflict with the Word. So folks we can all eat marshmallow peeps every Easter!!
As usual, so many Christians follow tradition and ignore what the Bible says. No wonder Islam is doing so well in the world.
The ONLY proof the Bible gives is that he died and just as Jonah was in the belly of the “big fish” was dead for 3 days and 3 nights. So how does that work then?
A minister told me that Friday to Sunday is 3 days. What rubbish. Obviously he was trying to justify as so many churches try to do, to back up their tradition and not the facts.
Christ died at sunset – remember – he had a sword thrust through his side to finish him off before the Sabbath just as predicted in Zechariah 12:10. (John 19:34)
Let’s use some common sense and Not fit into tradition, but the facts.
As He was risen early on Sunday morning – the 1st day of the week, He must have risen just before sunset on Saturday.
Go 3 days and nights before that to Friday, to Thursday, to Wednesday at sunset and that was when he died.
BUT – how does that work out with tradition and the Sabbath and the facts?
As well as the weekly Sabbaths on the 7th day of every week, were the annual Sabbaths. Read John 19:31.
It was the “day of Preparation” – “for that sabbath was a high day” and so the Thursday was an annual sabbath. Christ was crucified on Wednesday.
You work out which one!
It really is not important whether one adheres to a particular day of the week for the resurrection. What is important is the belief that Jesus did live, die, was buried, rose from the grave, ascended to the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit down all for our salvation – the salvation of soul or flesh-oriented humans. Without this act, there would be none who could ever see God; for one thing, we would never be able to enter that realm without the resurrection body because “flesh and blood cannot enter” but most important we could never be forgiven based on the law because eventually we would run out of animal sacrifices since man is inevitably going to break any rules that are laid out for him to follow – even if they are for his own good. Praise be to God for his gift. Let the scientists try to understand or disprove it but they shall never succeed because these things are only to be spiritually discerned and the mind of the flesh is opposed to spiritual things. All believers have this gift through faith – and while science can work with faith which God will undoubtedly eventually disclose; faith doesn’t need faith to stand. It is by faith that we believe and accept Christ as God’s gift of salvation to us; and science can never prove or disprove faith! Amen
Correction: I meant to say “faith doesn’t need science to stand.”
Richard B.
You are right on the money. We need to stay away from tradition and use God’s Holy Word to show people the truth. Jesus died on Wednesday at sundown and was ressurrected before sunrise on Sunday. Look at the creation account in the book of Genesis. Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. The evening and the morning was the first day. We see a day beginning at sunrise but the next day begins at sundown. This is hard for us to understand because we have conditioned our minds to believe that a day begins when we get out of bed in the morning. Jesus was taken off of the cross just before sundown on Wednesday, at sundown the High Sabbath began and Jesus was in the grave from sundown on Wednesday until just after sundown on Saturday Which means he was in the grave for three days and three nights. He rose on Sunday. He rose with all power in heaven and earth in his hands. If you don’t believe this you will, because the Bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is lord.
Richard B., you’re on track. It matters significantly which day He was crucified on and which day He rose. Does anyone know when the day begins in Papa God’s reconing? Hint, Genesis 1:5 is the first time it is written. What Christendom calls Christmas and Easter where gifts from as unrepentent Roman Emporer, Constantine. Yeshua (Jesus) observed the Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23. Read about it yourself.
With love to all, shalom aleichem!