At times, people take offense to the claim of Christians that Jesus is the only way to God. Popular teaching in the world today declares that “all roads lead to God,” and Christianity is merely one way. So when Christians make this claim, they are often labeled hateful or exclusionary. Why don’t Christians affirm these other roads to God? [Read more…]
Harvard Law Professor Puts Jesus’ Resurrection on Trial
Legal scholar, Dr. Simon Greenleaf (1783–1853), decided to put Jesus’ resurrection on trial by examining the evidence. Greenleaf helped to put the Harvard Law School on the map. He also wrote the three-volume legal masterpiece, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, which has been called “the greatest single authority in the entire literature of legal procedure.”[1] The U.S. judicial system today still relies on rules of evidence established by Greenleaf.
As a legal scholar, Greenleaf wondered if Jesus’ resurrection would meet his stringent tests for evidence. He wondered whether or not the evidence for it would hold up in a court of law. Focusing his brilliant legal mind on the facts of history, Greenleaf began applying his rules of evidence to the case of Jesus’ resurrection.
Why Should I Believe Jesus Is the Only Answer to Life?
What gives Jesus the credibility and authority to speak to us about eternal things? What makes him the key to all of life’s questions?
There are five basic ways we know Jesus alone is the answer to our quest for truth and purpose in life. [Read more…]
How Could the Eternal God Die on a Cross?
The New Testament tells us that Jesus was fully man as well as fully God. This “incarnation” of God is a mystery, but is clearly taught throughout Scripture. As Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-9, Jesus had “stripped himself of all privilege by…being born as a mortal man.” God didn’t die on the cross, since that is impossible. It was Jesus the mortal man who suffered and died on the cross for our sins. [Read more…]
Was the Supposed Resurrection Actually a Stolen Body?
The tomb was indeed empty. But it wasn’t the mere absence of a body that could have galvanized Jesus’ followers (especially if they had been the ones who had stolen it). Something extraordinary must have happened, for the followers of Jesus ceased mourning, ceased hiding, and began fearlessly proclaiming that they had seen Jesus alive. [Read more…]
The Matter of an Empty Tomb
No serious historian really doubts Jesus was dead when he was taken down from the cross. However, many have questioned how Jesus’ body disappeared from the tomb. English journalist Dr. Frank Morison initially thought the resurrection was either a myth or a hoax, and he began research to write a book refuting it.¹ The book became famous–but for reasons other than its original intent! [Read more…]
Was Jesus Actually Dead?
“Marley was deader than a doornail, of that there was no doubt.” So begins Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the author not wanting anyone to be mistaken as to the supernatural character of what is soon to take place. In the same way, before we take on the role of CSI (crime scene investigator) and piece together evidence for a resurrection, we must first establish that there was, in fact, a corpse. After all, occasionally the newspapers will report on some “corpse” in a morgue who was found stirring and recovered. Could something like that have happened with Jesus? [Read more…]
Would You Die for a Lie?
A fact of history that has stumped historians, psychologists, and skeptics alike is the disciples’ behavior after Jesus’ death. That these eleven former cowards were suddenly willing to suffer humiliation, torture, and death is a dramatic turnaround. All but one of Jesus’ disciples were slain as martyrs. Would they have done so much for a lie, knowing they had taken the body? [Read more…]
Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?
The greatest question of our time is “Who is the real Jesus Christ?” Was he just an exceptional man, or was he God in the flesh, as Paul, John, and his other disciples believed? (See “Is Jesus God?“)
The eyewitnesses to Jesus Christ actually spoke and acted like they believed he physically rose from the dead after his crucifixion. If they were wrong then Christianity has been founded upon a lie. But if they were right, such a miracle would substantiate all Jesus said about God, himself, and us.
But must we take the resurrection of Jesus Christ by faith alone, or is there solid historical evidence? Several skeptics began investigations into the historical record to prove the resurrection account false. What did they discover?