Sample Journal Entry Session 2

The Bible mentions Jesus appearing to crowds of people, but the earliest Christian Creed of Paul (a non gospel sourced text) confirms that Jesus, at one point, appeared to more than 500 people at once. One popular theory to discredit the resurrection is the hallucination theory, where all the people who saw Jesus were in such a state of mentally incapacitating grief that they imagined seeing him everywhere. The very idea that 500+ people could have the same hallucination at the very same time, frankly, in the words of Dr Roberta Waters, (The Case for Christ, 2017) would be a bigger miracle than the resurrection itself. Mass hallucinations are not a recorded experience. Say Paul had lied about the 500+ seeing Jesus. To use a number like that, Paul would need to be dead certain that these people, and other accounts, could back him up. If this was a lie/ exaggeration, Paul would have been called out fairly quickly. Besides all that, there are cases like that of doubting Thomas, where he needed proof beyond what he could see before he testified that Jesus was alive. Thomas wouldn’t have testified if Paul had been lying. Thomas wouldn’t even have testified if he couldn’t have touched Jesus and lived with him after. He had to be completely sure the Christ was really risen. Additionally, other people besides reported touching Jesus and seeing him eat and sleep and breathe like a normal human being, not an

Jesus Among Other Gods, a book written by Ravi K. Zacharias, provides a defense of the uniqueness of the Christian message, specifically that Jesus is God. Zacharias’s aim was not to write a straightforward treatise that attacked believers who espoused traditional religions. In fact, his approach was to evaluate seven questions that Jesus answered in unique ways, which no other pseudo-divine claimant could assert. In evaluating the questions, he demonstrated Jesus’ uniqueness and qualifications as the son of God, over and above the other contenders for the prophetic office. Using vignettes, anecdotes, quotes, excerpts, interview transcripts, and scriptures, Zacharias scrutinized religious philosophies concerning deities and prophets from

In our current day and age, removed from the accounts in the Bible, some would still argue the divinity of Jesus. But this is not a new argument, the Disciples and even Jesus himself faced the animosity of doubters. The Gospel of Matthew describes some of these arguments and proves the undeniable truth that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah whom the Jewish Nation waited, and the Savior of the world.

end. I plan to dedicate myself to not only finishing my degree here with CCU but also using

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.

Throughout the Gospel of John the term “belief” is used in multiple ways for different reasons. Belief is employed as a means to give the reader motivation to believe in Jesus and God which will bring them to eternal glory and happiness. This belief can be rewarded with eternal life, as well as a personal connection to Jesus Christ. God can also be seen and believed in if one only believes in Jesus and allows for a wholesome connection to the Father and Son. In addition to beginning to understand the use of “belief” in the Gospel of John, one must correctly infer from his words and deduce their meaning.

The workbook states that the most basic evidence was the empty tomb. “If the tomb was really empty and no natural explanation can be provided for it, then Jesus did resurrect. Yet, many scholars and nonbelievers actually agree that the tomb was empty, but object to the resurrection by stating that there are natural explanations as to why the tomb was empty.” However, I want to suggest three more: First, Christ foretold His resurrection. The Bible accounts that, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Matthew 16:21). Although His disciples lacked the understanding of

The earliness of these accounts, at a time when hostile witnesses were present, would have made a fabrication unlikely and dangerous. There is agreement on the main facts and great variety in the witnesses given, yet they are not a mere repetition of some standardized story with all the discrepancies worked out. Indeed, the accounts of Christ’s resurrection appearances are clearly independent of one another, as their surface dissimilarities suggest. Deeper scrutiny, however, reveals that these appearances are non-contradictory. No reputable New Testament historian doubts the historical fact that the tomb in which Christ was placed after his crucifixion was empty. Therefore, there are only three explanations for it. Either his enemies took the

in each of the Gospels show proof that Jesus really did perform miracles. Dr. Gary Habermas

Throughout the Gospels, we read about the good news of Jesus which entails His life, teachings, and resurrection. During Jesus’ time on earth, it is documented that he performed a vast amount of miracles that only one of a spiritual being could complete. Written is that he fed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish, walked on water, and allowed the blind to see. These miracles are only the beginning. The question many philosophers and skeptics ask today is whether or not these miracles occurred, simply for the reason that they are outside the realm of science. Jesus was known and remembered as one who had extraordinary powers and if enough historical evidence is provided, one can see Jesus was a miracle worker and executed these miracles as they are documented in the Bible.

John’s gospel portrays Jesus as a divine being coming to earth to reveal the truth necessary for salvation. It is in John’s gospel that Jesus makes some of his most familiar and yet extraordinary declarations about himself, where he says that he is ‘the bread of life,” “the light of the world”, “the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.” and “the way, the truth, and the life.” This is the Gospel that identifies Jesus as the Word of God “through whom all things were made.” It is here that he makes the astonishing claim that “before Abraham was, I am,” where he confesses that “I and the Father are one,” and where he tells Nicodemus that “you must be born again.” And it is in this Gospel that Jesus performs many of his most memorable acts: turning the water into wine, raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, and washing his disciples’ feet. Jesus talks a lot about his own identify in the gospel of John. John’s gospel also talks of Jesus as God’s equal. 1.

Bing shows the concise distinction in Christ as the divine son, that you may believe to have eternal life in chapters 10-17. He also shows: Johns purpose as it was written: the clear, consistent and comparative effects of Johns Gospel and what is necessary for each compilation of salvation. He explains what is not present in John; “qualifiers as he calls them, i.e. truly, really, genuine, real, or effectual.” One either believes or one does not. There is no in between with salvation and faith according to the way that Bing explains it. Mainly, because there are not any conditions to salvation and faith, and John shows that in his gospel. As Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in John 4, all that was necessary was her “belief that He was Christ the Messiah, the “I Am” (John

Whether to consider the resurrection as one of the “signs” of the Gospel requires much consideration. Initially, we must remember in accordance with (Towns 2002) that the Gospel of John “employs the word sémeion, signifying a sign, to point out the spiritual significance, which is in accordance with that of the other eight miracles.” For that reason, to exploit this definition would be wise in establishing our judgment on whether the characteristics of the resurrection fall under the eight sign category. Moreover, the resurrection of Jesus is a manifestation of the Glory of God, by Him being both spirit and flesh, later confirmed by His illustrations to “doubting Thomas” of his crucifixion lesions as recorded by (Towns 2002). Furthermore, there

The world’s largest and most popular religion, Christianity, revolves around one man who is believed to have performed several miracles, Jesus Christ. Claimed to be “son of God,” Jesus was born near Jerusalem to the Virgin Mary. When Jesus reached the age of 30, a prophet by the name of John the Baptist appeared in Jesus’ town and called people to the truth. As Jesus approached John to get baptized, John “recognized in him [Jesus] the Messiah whose coming he had foretold” (“Jesus

The existence of Jesus Christ is often a topic questioned in itself. The surprising aspect of this question is not the lack of evidence, but rather the amount of supporting evidence. Flavius Josephus was a Roman senator, orator and ethnographer (55/56–c. 118 C.E.), who is considered the best of Roman historians. In one of his greatest works, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus mentions Jesus the Messiah when describing the execution of James. “Being therefore this kind of person [i.e., a heartless Sadducee], Ananus, thinking that he had a favorable opportunity because Festus had died and Albinus was still on his way, called a meeting [literally, “sanhedrin”] of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah … James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had