Is Jesus God? Pt 4

 Although much of Easter today is about candy filled baskets, egg hunts, and family gatherings, Easter for some is a time to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Why is that important you ask? Well, in the words of Paul, if Jesus did not raise from the dead, we (Christians) are idiots for following him. In other words, if Jesus did not raise from the dead, He is not the Son of God. Why bother following a mere human? Instead we should be searching for something else or nothing at all. 

For a few brief moments I want to explain why I think Jesus did in fact rise from the dead proving He is the Son of God and worth following. When the resurrection is talked about among skeptics many questions arise. It is natural to question the resurrection of Jesus.. after all, dead people normally don't come out of their grave on their own do they? 

We have already seen in this series that Jesus was a historical figure and the He really died on the cross. Let me also give you some reasons why we can be confident Jesus rose from the dead.

THE EMPTY TOMB: 

There have been thousands of claims by people in Jerusalem that they know where Jesus' tomb is. Do you know why there are so many? Because no one has ever found Jesus' body! No one can prove the other one wrong. In other words if Jesus was still in his grave, we could just find the tomb he was buried in and point it out. If someone asked me to prove that my Grandmother was dead, I would say follow me to the cemetery and I will show you where she is buried. Easy enough I think.. but no one has ever been able to do that with Jesus because He isn't there.

DISCIPLES STOLE THE BODY OF JESUS:

Ok so you are convinced that Jesus has never been found, but what about the disciples stealing his body to make it seem like He raised from the dead? Valid question. Well we know from the Bible and other sources that Jesus had a pretty big following in his day. There was much talk about whether he was divine or not. Because of this there was much discussion and debate as He was crucified what would happen next. To make sure the disciples would not steal Jesus' body, after it was placed inside the tomb, there was a large rock rolled over the hole of the tomb. This was a common thing for certain tombs to be covered like this. Also, the Bible says that there were Roman soldiers guarding the tomb to make sure no one messed with Jesus. The Roman Government knew that Jesus was popular and didn't want his body disturbed, hence the extra precautions to guard it. It is hard to believe that the disciples or anyone else could have stolen Jesus' body. 

TRANSFORMATION OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS:

Say the disciples did steal Jesus' body just for kicks and giggles. Do you think they would worship a dead person and be willing to give up everything to follow him. Heck no! Would you give up everything to follow a dead person? Of course not.. where would you go? :) And why would you want to follow Jesus if he was dead when he claimed he was divine? If Jesus didn't rise from the dead He was a liar and probably crazy too for saying He would. We have to remember that after Jesus' resurrection all of his disciples were willing to die for their belief in it. They obviously all thought that Jesus was really God and believed in the resurrection themselves otherwise why would they give up their lives for a lie? I mean these guys were tortured by guys like Nero and other Caesars (read about it in your history books) and they were still willing to give their lives for Jesus. The bottom line is this: you don't give up your life, especially get tortured for something you know is not true or something you don't firmly believe in. It is pretty clear that the disciples (Jesus closest followers) gave up their lives for something they were pretty sure about. Not only did the disciples give up their lives but thousands of Christians were killed for their beliefs and today that number is in the millions. 

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS:

What is the best kind of evidence when trying to prove a case? Eyewitness evidence. The Bible states that there were over 500 eyewitnesses that saw Jesus. Just think if 500 people saw a person committing a crime, they would be pronounced guilty in a heartbeat at a court of law. The fact that 500 people saw the risen Jesus themselves is a pretty strong case that it was a true event. One or two eyewitnesses can be iffy but 500? Come on that pretty darn good! 

SUNDAY WORSHIP:

Before Jesus' time the tradition of the Jewish people for thousands of years was to meet on Saturdays to worship God. All of the sudden after thousands of years of firm traditions, now Sundays are when people meet in churches. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday and that is why the change happened. Listen, we all know people that have traditions. They seem impossible to change no matter how silly some can be. People live and die by traditions and the Jewish people are no different. Why would the Jewish people change their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday unless they had a valid reason to do so? Again if you want, you can check out books on ancient history that will tell you about this change. This is all historical evidence. 

JESUS, THE UNLIKELY HERO:

Here is what is all boils down to. If the writers in the Bible were making up this story why would they make Jesus out to be kind of lame? I don't mean any disrespect to Jesus nor do I think He is lame but if you were making up a story of someone you were going to follow and worship wouldn't you make him look like a stud? If I were to make up my own story I would make Jesus 6 feet four inches, 225 pounds of straight muscle, who ends up saving the day by beating up all the bad guys up with lasers bringing peace to all. Or better yet as Pastor Mark Driscol said, "if the resurrection was made up I would say the requirements for getting into heaven is to eat chicken wings and take naps instead of believing in Jesus!" But instead we have the Jesus of the Bible who was made fun of by most, rejected by his own followers, and killed by Roman soldiers in a way that is usually reserved for criminals. The writers of the Bible making this story up? I don't think so. If they did why pick such an unusual and unlikely story? Just make Jesus look cool or something.

I have given what I think are solid reasons why you should at least consider Jesus. If you really want to have purpose in life and know the truth, the least you can do is ponder the arguments for the resurrection of God. This is the single most important thing in the Christian faith. I know that because I am a Christian and I do trust in Jesus and believe about his death on the cross, burial in the grave, and his bodily resurrection. I have a relationship with God and know that when I die, I too will be raised by his power and go to heaven. If I didn't think Jesus rose from the dead, I would be a moron for following him. I rather be doing something else.  The Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can get to heaven without going through him since He is God. I hope that you will choose to follow Jesus and trust in him with your life. "For whoever calls upon the name of Jesus, will be saved." - Romans 10:13

For more information please contact me. 

Is Jesus God? Pt 3

If you have been reading this 4 part series I hope you have seen how much evidence there is for the life of Jesus already. In this blog post I want to discuss how Jesus died. The reason this is important is to let you know that Jesus really did die on the cross and in no way shape or form did He fake his death or survive crucifixion. There have been some speculation by scholars that Jesus only seemed to rise from the dead because He never died in the first place. By explaining the method of crucifixion I want to show you that it was impossible for anyone to survive.

Crucifixion was a method of execution developed by the Romans. Thousands of people were crucified under the reign of the Roman Government until Constantine abolished it when he came into power. Therefore it was no uncommon thing for Jesus to be killed in this manner. 

Usually crucifixion had to be order by a Roman Official with high enough ranking to administer this kind of punishment. In the case of Jesus, it was a combination of the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate and the decision of the Jewish people under the rousing of the High Priest. In ancient Roman times, the High Priest (The highest ranking religious leader) could bring up criminal charges against someone who was committing blasphemy (disrespect to God) which could be punishable by death. It sounds strange that a religious leader had that much power, but they took matters of faith and religion very serious in those days, thus they had power. Because the religious leaders of that time knew that Jesus was telling people He was  God and did not believe him, they urged Pontius Pilate that Jesus be hung on a cross to die. Much discussion went back and forth among the people whether Jesus was guilty of a crime punishable by death but rather than having a riot break out Pilate granted their request.  

They would usually strip naked the person being crucified to be publicly humiliated. Also, in Jesus' case He was spit upon, laughed at, and slapped around. Because Jesus willing let this happen to him and did not fight back, He got treated like an animal. The Roman Soldiers wanted him to slip up, just talk back for a second, or renounce his claim that He was God, but Jesus kept silent. It was as if He was supposed to die or something..

After they beat up on Jesus they would tie his hands to a post where he would be whipped into a bloody pulp. The Roman Soldiers would use something called a "cat of nine tails." Basically it was a leather whip with 9 strands that sometimes had bone and glass tied into it for more penetration. When a person would get whipped, the bone and glass would stick into your skin until they ripped it out leaving your flesh to tear off the body. They did this many many times, even so much that the Bible says Jesus was barely recognized as a man. 

After they had beat him, the Roman Soldiers  put a twisted crown of thorns on his head just to mock him and also placed a robe over his bloodied body.  After the  blood would start coagulating with the cloth robe, they ripped it off, exposing his wounds while it bled profusely. 

Now Jesus would have to carry his own cross just like everyone being crucified did. Imagine being almost beaten to death and then having to carry a 200-300 pound cross to the place where they were going to nail you to it. Jesus was so weak at this point that someone had to help him take it to the crucifixion site. The Bible says Simon of Cyrene, a bystander, was assigned to help carry the cross of Jesus. 

When Jesus finally reached the place He was told to go to, while onlookers stared and mocked him, his hands and feet were nailed to the cross with 8 inch spikes. Crucifixion victims would hang on the cross, bloodied and naked, until they bled to death or suffocated from asphyxiation. 

If that wasn't enough, just to make sure you were dead, they would sometimes thrust a spear into your heart just to make sure you did not survive. Roman Soldiers were responsible to make sure every person being crucified died or else they would be killed themselves for their failure to complete the execution. Not hard to insure though as you can tell. Most victims died within 24-48 hours. The Bible said Jesus died in about 9 hours... 

The only question remains then.. Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? Is there any evidence for it or is it just a made up story for Christians to follow? I will answer this in the last part of "Is Jesus God?"

For the Biblical account of Jesus' crucifixion you can read (Matthew 26:57- 7:61, Mark 14:43-15:47, Luke 22:47-23:56, John 18:28-19:42) 

Is Jesus God? Pt 2

This post is the second of 4 total. Here I want to show you that Jesus existed and is not a made up figure in history. The best way to show this is to take ancient accounts of people who lived around the same time as Jesus and read what they have to say about him if anything.

Tacitus

 Cornelius Tacitus (AD 55-120) was a Roman historian who lived through the reign of over a half dozen Roman emperors. He has been called the “greatest historian” of ancient Rome, acknowledged among scholars for his moral integrity and goodness. Tacitus recorded at least one reference to Christ and two to early Christianity, one in each of his major works. The following was recounted concerning the great fire in Rome during the reign of Nero.

 “Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

 From this paragraph alone we can learn many things.

1. Christians were named for their founder, Christus (from the Latin)
2. who was put to death by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilatus (also Latin)
3. during the reign of emperor Tiberius (AD 14-37)
4. His death ended the “superstition” for a short time (The conviction of the early church that Jesus who had been crucified had risen from the grave.)
5. but it broke out again
6. Especially in Judaea, where the teachings had its origin.
7. His followers carried his doctrine to Rome
8. When the great fire destroyed a large part of the city during the reign of Nero (AD 54-68), the emperor placed the blame on the Christians who lived in Rome

 Suetonius

 Little is known about Suetonius except that he was the chief secretary of Emperor Hadrian and that he had access to the imperial records. Writing on a section of Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54) he says:

 “Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city….. After the great fire at Rome… Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief.

 From these we can learn

1. There was an expulsion of the Jews from Rome (Also cited in Acts 18:2)
2. That it was Christ who caused the Jews to make the uproar in Rome, apparently by his teachings
3. The term Christians was used to identify this group as followers of the teachings of Christ.

Josephus

 Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-97) provides interesting evidence concerning Jesus. There have been some arguments about the authenticity of this particular writing but most scholars consider it to be accurate.

 “At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly they believed that he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders."

 From this one can learn

1. Jesus was known as a wise and virtuous man
2. He had many disciples, both Jews and Gentiles
3. Pilate condemned him to die
4. Crucifixion is how Jesus died
5. The disciples reported that Jesus had risen from the dead
6. Jesus appeared to his disciples after 3 days in the grave
7. Disciples continued to proclaim his teaching
8. Jesus was the brother of James and called the messiah by some

* There are about 10 more extra biblical sources that reveal the life and death of Jesus.

 I got a lot of my information from "The Historical Jesus" by Gary Habermas. You can also check out his website Garyhabermas.com or read Ravi Zacharias, Norman Geisler, or William Lane Craig for more information. 

Is Jesus God? pt1

If you are someone that is seeking for truth and purpose in life please continue to read. 

Christianity has always been known as a religion of faith. Jesus himself said blessed are those who believe without seeing. For hundreds of years many scholars have argued that there was no historical evidence for the life and death of Jesus. Rudolph Bultmann, professor of New Testament in the early 1900’s and one of the leading theologians of his day said that there was no way to know the historical Jesus and quickly dismissed it, arguing that faith alone derived from the Bible was enough. Bultmann, although heavily criticized by his peers remained persistent in his beliefs until his death in 1976. One of Bultmann’s students, Ernst Kasemann, thought a little differently. He claimed that there was historical evidence for the life of Jesus, but even Kasemann admitted there was very little.

Regardless of one’s beliefs today, it is clear that Jesus has been criticized, questioned, and debated about more than any other person in history. While there are many world religions, it is only Jesus that claimed He was God and was the only way to heaven. Other religious leaders never claimed that, think about it, why else would Jesus be so criticized? If someone is truly seeking for truth, regardless of other thoughts or beliefs they should look into the claims of Jesus and make a decision whether to follow him or not. If Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, He should be followed, and worshipped as God right? Otherwise you can toss him back into the sea of religions to sink or float with the rest of them. 

So the question remains, did Jesus actually exist and if He did, did He really die on a cross and resurrect from the dead proving He is the Son of God? The Bible would say yes to all of those questions but are there any other sources of evidence outside of the Bible crediting its claims? When one looks into the different evidences, they will be astonished to find the overwhelming amount of proof leading to the existence of Jesus and the validity of his works.

 Three questions will be answered WITHOUT using the Bible as proof but only as a reference.  

1. Did Jesus actually exist?
2. How did He die?
3. Did he really rise from the dead?

I will answer these in the next post or two. Stay tuned, especially if you are a skeptic.