Welcome to Summit Theological Seminary
"Teaching God's Word to God's World"
2766 Airport Road, Peru, Indiana 46970, (765) 472-4111
Jesus' Resurrection - Fact Or Fiction?
George L. Faull
There are some
thoughts that interest me about those who say that Jesus never arose from the
dead. If He did not do so, someone
had to make it up that He did rise from the dead.
If He did not arise, obviously He did not appear to anyone.
So it has to be a made-up rumor and the Apostles were liars who said
Jesus appeared to them.
Now if they made it
up, think about how stupid the story is. They
said everything wrong for what would make the story palatable to the Jews and
Greeks.
1.
They
would be stupid to have angels appear to women to go tell the story as women’s
testimony was always doubted.
They
couldn’t even be used as witnesses in a trial under oath.
2.
It would be asinine to have the first
appearance to Mary Magdalene out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons.
What
an impeachable witness that would be. Paul
does not list her in his catalogue of witnesses because her testimony would bear
no weight with people because of her gender and her past.
3.
How stupid to have Joseph of Arimathaea
and Nicodemus, both members of the Sanhedrin, as the ones who buried Jesus.
This
would be like saying the Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas and Antonin
Scalia sent political contributions to Teddy Kennedy. They would be around to ask if they did so.
If not true, they could deny it.
4.
What the Jews believe about this
Messiah and Jesus does not line up.
Did the Jews believe
the Messiah was going to be murdered? Not
hardly. Did they believe the
Messiah would be accursed by hanging on a tree?
Definitely not! Did the Jews
believe that one would be raised before the general resurrection of the dead?
Absolutely not. Did the Jews
believe in a resurrection of the dead? Only
the Pharisees. The Sadducees did
not believe in a resurrection.
Paul plainly says
that he preached Christ crucified which is a stumblingblock to Jews and
foolishness to Greeks.
So it would have
been hard to convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah just based on these facts.
Who would say that the Messiah was an accursed, crucified, Messiah who
died on a cross like a common thief by Romans and it was testified to by
women???
Who would make up
such a contradictory and absurd story to convince Jews that He was the Messiah?
The only reason such
a message would be preached is if it is true.
No one would try to sell such an idea if it was false.
Good news!
Jesus is the Messiah in spite of the fact that He was crucified on a
cross by Romans and raised from the dead as told by the women and Mary
Magdalene; once a demon possessed woman!
But no wonder they
rejected the story. It would only
be told if it was true.
Return to Table Of Contents