The Ones Who Witnessed His Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a miracle, special effects or a magic show. It's a message, a sign, it has a deeper meaning. When I think of the resurrection, the word hope comes to mind. If I had a penny for every time I thought I was going to give up I would have a lot of pennies. But in my doubts, I thought about Jesus rising from the​ grave and what he went through, how he had faith in his father, and hope in his heart that he would be able to get through the pain he was suffering from us, why can't I keep pushing through. Now I'm not saying I'm Jesus, I couldn't go​ through all that pain for a lot of these people and still have love for all of them afterwards, that's why he's one of a kind. The resurrection gives me hope in society,

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 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

“Then the noble protector of all seamen swam to land, rejoicing in the heavy burdens he was bringing with him. He and all his glorious band of Geats thanked God that their leader had come back unharmed; they left the lake together.” (Raffel 37). After a long battle, Grendel rises from the water. Clean from the blood and leaving the lake peaceful, he returns home. Very similar, Jesus overcame and rose from the tomb. “"Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” (Mathew 28:6). After all of the suffering that Jesus went through. He has finally overcome and risen from the

In the present day, society places much emphasis on those who stand out from the ‘normal’ behaviours that a culture determines one should possess. As a result, many of the authentic qualities associated with past generations are less prominent, and the limited sturdy values in the present day youth are the replacement. This is best shown through the story of Lizzie Velasquez, who is notoriously ‘the ugliest woman in the world’ among ruthless cyber bullies, despite the fact that she suffers from a rare medical condition (Oliver). However, many novels released in the past decade portray strong themes and character qualities that everybody should acknowledge and contain in order to make the world a more peaceful place to live. A recent trend is

Gary Habermas in The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus calls this the minimal facts approach. “The minimal facts approach considers only the data that meets two criteria: 1. The data are strongly evidenced 2. The data are granted by virtually all scholars on the subject, even the skeptical ones.” On the basis of this approach, four different arguments will be examined for the resurrection of Christ in this paper.

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

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.

Jesus in fact did die on the cross to forgive our sins, but all of us Christians know about the famous resurrection of Christ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14, "and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain." So did Jesus really resurrect from the dead? There are three main verified examples of information that prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. First off, three days later after he resurrected the tomb was found and confirmed empty. Now, there are more facts to the tomb than just that. Not only, did they find the tomb empty but, they found it in Jerusalem which is the city where he was buried. Even though, people of different religions fight against this fact the majority of religions accept that

Gary Robert Habermas is distinguished Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy as well as department chairman of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University in Virginia.[1] He has devoted a large part of his career to the topic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and most likely has done more than any other scholar to defend its historicity.[2] In his research on the resurrection, over a two year period, Habermas tracked down more than twelve hundred publications dealing with the resurrection of Christ.

Perhaps he went to investigate the wild claims that Mary Magdalene had made earlier that day about seeing and talking with a Jesus who was very much alive! What if it was true?

Scholars cite the fact that witnesses recall how Jesus ' body still had the marks where the nails held his hands and feet to the cross as proof that Jesus ' physical body had been resurrected.2 There are numerous witness who saw Jesus ' post-resurrection appearances. Many of the witnesses who were identified were seen as educated or important, and therefore their testimonies are seen as more credible. Also, the fact that so many people saw Jesus and interacted with him at the same time leads to the belief that his appearances were physical in nature.3 Most researchers agree that the followers of Jesus did see something, and the witnesses fully believe that what they saw was the resurrected body of Jesus. However, many historians hold the belief that these appearances were hallucinations or visions, and were not the actual body of Jesus being seen by these people.4 N.T. Wright suggests the belief system of the followers of Jesus also helped to deepen the idea that Jesus appeared to them in bodily form. This idea is mirrored by other researchers who state that the culture and context of a situation must be taken into consideration when interpreting an event.5 The people believed Jesus was the Messiah, and as such could not remain dead. Following a truly dead Savior would mean their system of beliefs had no meaning. Therefore, he must have been physically resurrected, and

Many of us were not alive at the time of Jesus’ resurrection, but it is still a hot topic all around the land, especially in light of the 50th anniversary of the amazing event. The story of Jesus and his resurrection is well known and has been passed down through generations depending on particular religious thoughts and beliefs. Another significant event that occurred approximately 50 days after his resurrection is Pentecost. Sources say that around 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, a group of his followers, Apostles, were gathered in the great hall hoping to spread the word of God. It is then said that an abnormal gust of wind blew through the window, and suddenly tongues of fire appeared above each and every one of the Apostles heads, in turn allowing them to speak a number

Through his resurrection, Jesus proves that everything prophesized about him and everything He said- was true!

Finally, the characteristics of Christ's body bear eloquent truth to his physical resurrection. Jesus invited the disciples to examine His resurrected His resurrected body so that they would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was the exact same one that had been fatally tormented. He also ate food as proof of the nature of His resurrected body.