Resurrection Is False

The resurrection of Jesus himself is a concept that is hard to believe. How can a man come back to life, and why is this the first time this has happened? Jesus was not written about till after his death. The gospels were told by Jesus’ apostles and their recollection of Jesus and his teachings. The Council of Nicaea were Christian theologians who decided which stories about Jesus to include in the Bible. The Council of Nicaea left out the Gnostic gospels “hidden knowledge” which talked about Jesus’s early childhood. Why should we believe the council when they left out the parts of Jesus’ life they did not agree with.“Even those whose hearts were inclined to accept the new faith required some intellectual satisfaction before they were willing to commit: How can God be three separate beings- God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit- and one indivisible being at the same time? If Jesus is “coeternal” with God, why is there no mention of him in the two thousand-year tradition of Hebrew writings? If Jesus is the divine Son of God, how could he experience such human emotions as temptation, fear, and loneliness?” 1 (pg. 229)

In this paper, I will be discussing the views on Christianity’s Doctrine of Resurrection. I will use the methods of philosophy and theology for my discussion. To begin, an explanation of the doctrine itself will be presented. This will be followed by an objection to the doctrine as stated by Trenton Merricks. To contrast Merricks’ view, the ideas of Stephen T. Davis on this doctrine will be presented. From here, the views of Augustine and Aquinas will be discussed. To conclude, I will summarize my findings and present my assessment of the various views explored.

In his book, Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope, Jonathan Kozol pulls back the veil and provides readers with a glimpse of the harsh conditions and unrelenting hope that exists in a community located in the South Bronx called Mott Haven. Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Just his commentary would paint a very bleak picture of the future. It is the words of the children that give this book optimism and meaning. The courage and care exhibited by the volunteers of St. Ann's after school program and the creativity of the teachers at P.S. 30 are utterly inspiring. They work long hours and go beyond

The evidence in the Gospels is convincing and eye opening. What makes it more convincing is the accounts of eye witnesses. Looking at the seven signs that John speaks of the first one starting with John 2:1-11 when Jesus turned water into wine, John 4:46-53 Jesus heals the sick, John 5:1-29 Jesus heals on the Sabbath, John 6:1-14 Jesus feeds the multitude, John 6:16-24 Jesus walks on water, John 9:1-12 Jesus heals the blind, and John 11:1-44 Jesus raises the dead. People followed Him believing that Jesus was the predicted prophet of Messiah that had been sent in human form to show

From the very beginning of the religion, doubts have existed questioning the core of Christianity, the Resurrection of Christ. Matt Perman, a noted author, describes the situation in his article, “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection”₁. It is the aim of this writing to go over and highlight the most poignant arguments presented by Perman, and use them and other information to determine an independent conclusion. The first truth brought forward states the tomb in which Christ’s body was laid into and sealed thereto, was discovered to be empty by a group of women. Their discovery is described in Matthew Chapter 28, verses 1-10, English Standard Version.

This is reasonable as any claim with this magnitude should be evaluated. They question just how credible and trustworthy are the people that claimed to see Christ. Now there is no reason why they would have lied. Every single person faced hell for claiming what they saw. They were beaten and stoned and discriminated throughout their whole life. The fact that they gained absolutely nothing from lying should indicate that they were indeed telling the truth. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 how awful he was treated for saying what he believed in and what he saw. Why would any human being put themselves through such hardships for a lie? They would be a fool for wanting to do anything of the kind. A reasonable challenge is that they were very emotional and maybe that’s why they claimed to have seen Jesus, but if that was the case why wouldn’t they ever admit to lying about the whole

Reading through these arguments alone, I believe are very compelling with regard to the validity of the claims the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are many things about Jesus that Dr. Ehrman and Dr. Bird do not debate in these books. They both recognize that Jesus was a real historical figure that was born in Galilee. They both believe that: the Gospels are the earliest writings we have of Jesus, Jesus was crucified, died on the cross, and some of Jesus’ disciples truly believed he rose from the dead (Robert Bowman). In class, Dr. Ehrman talked about veridical vs non-veridical vision. He believes that they may have had visions, or hallucinations, of Jesus after his crucifixion. It is nearly impossible to prove if Jesus truly appeared to them or not. It would be amazing if new evidence could be found for these types of discussions.

There is far reaching agreement among researchers today over a wide religious spectrum that the resurrection of Jesus is the focal point of Christianity, asserted by conventional believers in light of New Testament passages like 1 Corinthians 15:12-20. However, it is also declared by secular analytical intellectuals also. One of the major confrontational arguments facing Christian theology or apologetics is the resurrection of Jesus being a significant part; therefore, if the

Jesus is alive, for he continued to work in the lives of his disciples. The change of the lives of his followers demonstrate the work of Christ in them. Our historical knowledge relies on testimonies. The testimonies of the disciples are valid because eleven of them dies for their belief in the claims that Jesus made (McDowell 89-90). The power of Jesus is shown through them. Initially, they were cowards in their faith. Peter denied Jesus three time, and Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection. The disciples’ weak faith in Jesus and doubt in his resurrection suddenly transformed into an undeniable belief that led them to give up their lives for this Jesus. What could have changed the disciples’ minds so suddenly besides the witnessing of the resurrection of Jesus. They all personally had an encounter with the resurrected body of Jesus. Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, proclaimed that

Since the crucifixion of Jesus (approximately 2,000 years ago), opponents of Christianity have directly criticized the religion’s foundation, attempting to discount the historicity of Christ’s physical resurrection. Without providing tangible evidence, these secular advisories introduce conspiracy theories, and propose alternative naturalistic explanations, to challenge the authenticity of Jesus’ resurrection. One popular notion reasoned against the validity of witness accounts, postulating post crucifixion appearances of Jesus were merely grief-induced hallucinations, temporarily experienced by Jesus’

So, let’s look at the evidence, one of the strongest proofs for the resurrection is the empty tomb. Some think the body was stolen or that the women were at the wrong tomb, but if you think about it the apostles were too scared to take on the roman guards and there was really no motive outside of the apostles to seal the body. The women where there at the tomb earlier and seen exactly where Jesus was laid besides the tomb was sealed with guards outside of it. If someone had stolen the body, then why was his burial cloths neatly folded inside and there were no signs of a body being removed.

In many ways, the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest phenomenon that ever occurred, and is supported by eyewitness testimony. It proves Jesus ' claims and teaching are true. Surely, God would never have raised Jesus if He proved to be a false teacher and not who He claimed.

Still, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been under persistent attacks since the Apostolic age. Why? Because it is the central confirmation of Jesus' identity as the incarnate Son of God, and the ultimate sign of Christ's completed work of atonement, redemption, reconciliation, and salvation. Those who oppose

As with most other Pauline attributed documents, 1 Corinthians is believed to be a single document that addresses salient topics and rationalizes Paul’s view of faithfulness to Christ with Corinth citizens. The newly founded church of Corinth was in correspondence with Paul requesting his answers to questions they posed on topics ranging from marriage to the resurrection of the dead; the latter being one of the most highlighted in 1 Corinthians. Paul’s assurance of resurrection illustrates a concern for Corinth as he admonishes their disbelief in resurrection of the dead with a series of explanations as to why such doubt would render the faith of Christ “in vain”. Given the context of the time, Paul’s correspondence with Corinth clearly