The Resurrection

Unless Peter, Mark, John, Matthew, Paul, and others were absolutely convinced that  Jesus rose from the dead his legacy would long ago have dissolved; he was dead and gone –another charismatic flop. His teachings, his parables, his life would merely be another tiny footnote in history with no one paying any attention to him other than a few dust-encrusted scholars writing Doctorate Theses titled “Ancient Religions” or “Jewish Sects that Never Made It.” There would be neither a New Testament nor Christianity. Western civilization would be in a form that none today could recognize. Almost surely Islam would be the dominant religion of the world (and perhaps the only one). Jesus would be just another obscure prophet that preceded Mohammad.

Attacking the reality of the Resurrection should be the guiding strategy for nonbelievers in their quest to maintain their unbelief and to undermine the faith of others. Interestingly, a fact rarely alluded to is that there are no contemporaneous accounts denying the resurrection of Christ. Witnesses to the Risen Christ were talking about what they had seen. Baptisms and conversions were taking place with unending frequency. The Christian movement, based upon the singularly unlikely event that a man had risen from the dead, was gathering speed and substance. Yet there is no account of Jewish or Roman historians disputing these claims. Instead, and as discussed in Our Lady of Fatima: The Effects of Her Appearances, there are important references in contemporaneous non-Christian writings describing the rapidly growing Jewish sect called Christians who preached a new and dangerous religion.

Since the facts were on their side, the Apostles and other witnesses were vigorously proclaiming what had happened. On the other hand, the antagonists were silent. Jesus had disappeared and there was no evidence to support their claims of fraud or error. Their only recourse was to persecute. Fear, repression, and even torture and death would await those who believed in the resurrected Christ.

And this brings us to the present. Non-Christians argue that there is no evidence of a resurrected Jesus. For the good faith skeptic such an argument can only be made if he is ignorant of Fatima, Lourdes, Knock, the Shroud of Turin and other Evidence Independently Verified that demonstrate the reality of the biblical Christ. The general response of nonbelievers is to ignore this evidence and shrug their shoulders to the effect of “So what?” The described events and evidence seem too strange and outside their core of experience to be taken seriously. There is no need to explore further. Besides, the Four Gospels describing the Resurrection are hopelessly inconsistent. More than that, they maintain that the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John contradict one another in terms of how the Resurrection events unfold, thereby proving that it is a fabrication. And in fact, as you read the Gospels, they may appear on their face to be at the very least inconsistent and at worst hopelessly self-contradictory. We address this issue in The Resurrection: Complementary Gospel Accounts.

Resurrection eliminates all other theologies

Some say that even if we can prove that a god or gods exist, why the Christian God? Why not Allah, HaShem, Rama, Krishna, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara, Ahura Mazda or the myriad other gods that have been worshipped over the centuries? The answer is easy. If we know that Mary appeared with objective certainty at Lourdes, Fatima, or other places and directed us to her resurrected son, we needn’t explore any further. Moreover, and quite apart from the claimed manifestations of Mary, if we can demonstrate Jesus died and was resurrected as described in the Bible, there is no reason to consider other potential gods. The Resurrection resolves the issue once and for all.

Free will to believe or not believe

God doesn’t push himself on us. He approaches with the gentle persuasion of whispering hope, much as the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud is at first fuzzy and indistinct and its real power becomes evident only when it is studied. As is the case with the Shroud, the Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion and Resurrection need to be studied. Quick glances at the Shroud and superficial readings of the Resurrection are not sufficient. God expects us to devote time, thought and prayer towards him and his gifts. We can’t just occasionally glance his way and expect him to force himself into our lives. He may do this, but it’s not the norm. Jesus will present himself to us, perhaps subtly, but we need to respond. You will not find God by testing him, but only by trusting him.

Footnotes and Attributions

The painting of the empty tomb retrieved from the International Bible Society website.

Last modified October 10, 2019