WIXLIB

Burial and the empty tomb Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to be aninvention Burial is mentioned in 1 Cor. 15 The discovery of the tomb by women isunlikely to be an invention The inclusion of Mary Magdalene isunlikely to be an invention The earliest Jewish polemic against theResurrection presupposes an empty tomb The empty tomb is implied by 1 Cor. 15 The apostles’ preaching in Jerusalemwould have been difficult if the tombwere not empty

Why Christianity? The Trilemma The Resurrection– The possibility of miracles– Burial and empty tomb– Belief of the disciples– The conversion of Paul– The improbability of other explanations The gospel

Claims of post-mortem appearances Jesus appears to multiple people inmany settings over many weeks The disciples reported touchingJesus and eating with him In 1 Cor. 15, Paul reports that Jesusappeared to 500 witnesses at onetime, many of whom were still aliveat the time of writing

Sincerity of the apostles The apostles maintained their belief inJesus’ Resurrection in the face ofintense suffering and persecution We know that at least 4 and possibly asmany as 10 of the apostles were killedfor their beliefs “It may be taken as historically certainthat Peter and the disciples hadexperiences after Jesus’ death in whichJesus appeared to them as the risenChrist.” – G. Lüdemann, What ReallyHappened to Jesus?

Why Christianity? The Trilemma The Resurrection– The possibility of miracles– Burial and empty tomb– Belief of the disciples– The conversion of Paul– The improbability of other explanations The gospel

The conversion of Paul Saul of Tarsus, who later becameknown as Paul, was an intensepersecutor of the church While traveling to Damascus hesuddenly converted to Christianity In his letter to the Galatians claimsthat his conversion was due toencountering Jesus The same narrative recorded byLuke in the book of Acts

Why Christianity? The Trilemma The Resurrection– The possibility of miracles– Burial and empty tomb– Belief of the disciples– The conversion of Paul– The improbability of other explanations The gospel

Improbability of other explanations The swoon hypothesis – Jesus did not die on thecross; he merely fainted. The reburial hypothesis – Jesus was removed fromthe tomb on Friday by Joseph of Arimathea. The stolen body hypothesis – Jesus’ disciples or hisfamily stole his body The twin hypothesis – Jesus had an identical twinwho was mistaken for Jesus after his death

Dr. Bart Ehrman on theResurrection “Miracles are not impossible. I won't say they'reimpossible I'm just going to say that miracles are sohighly improbable, their probability is [so]infinitesimally remote, that we call them miracles.” “Let me illustrate by giving you an alternativescenario of what happened to explain the emptytomb [Outlines stolen body hypothesis] This is ahighly unlikely scenario but it's more likely than amiracle, which is so unlikely, that you have to appeal tosupernatural intervention to make it work.” “Suppose Jesus had a twin brother -- nothing implausible! Peoplehave twins. [Outlines twin hypothesis] That's an alternativeexplanation. It's highly unlikely. I don't buy it for a second, but it'smore likely than the idea that God raised Jesus from the deadbecause it doesn't appeal to the supernatural, which historianshave no access to.” – from debate with Dr. William Lane CraigCraig-Ehrman debate March 28, 2006

Dr. Greg Cavin on theResurrection “I’ve given two [alternative explanations]: theextraterrestrial theory and the twin theory; thereare others as well” “[My challenge to Dr. Craig is to] show us that aresurrection is more probable than a masshallucination. Do not get me wrong: a masshallucination is extremely improbable, yet aresurrection from the dead is even more so.” “Of course, it’s absurd before we look at the evidence to think thatJesus could have had an unknown twin. That’s highly unlikely. Ofcourse, it’s even more unlikely that God would raise Jesus from thedead.” “I argued that even a slight decrease in the entropy of the dead bodyof Jesus would be something –given the laws of thermodynamics- notthat God could not do, but that God would not do God will not causethe entropy of the universe as a whole to decrease, according to the2nd law of thermodynamics” – from debate with Dr. William Lane CraigCraig-Cavin debate Feb. 1995

Resurrection summaryThree non-miraculous facts:- Empty tomb- Belief of the disciples- Conversion of PaulThe best explanation: Resurrection“God commands all people everywhereto repent, because he has fixed a day onwhich he will judge the world inrighteousness by a man whom he hasappointed; and of this he has givenassurance to all by raising him from thedead.” – the apostle Paul, Acts 17:30-31

Why Christianity? The Trilemma The Resurrection The gospel– The doctrine of sin– The doctrine of salvation

The doctrine of sinJesus’ view of sin:"do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”- Matt. 10:28"What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For fromwithin, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexualimmorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All theseevil things come from within, and they defile a person." –Mark. 7:20-23“those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killedthem: do you think that they were worse offenders than allthe others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unlessyou repent, you will all likewise perish.”-Luke 13:2-5“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is aslave to sin. “ – John 8:34

The reality of sin

The reality of sin “Are we culpable for all the preventable injury and death that we didnothing to prevent? We may be, up to a point. The philosopher PeterUnger has made a persuasive case that a single dollar spent on anythingbut the absolute essentials of our survival is a dollar that has somestarving child’s blood on it. Perhaps we do have far more moralresponsibility for the state of the world than most of us seem ready tocontemplate.” – Dr. Sam Harris, “The Limits of Discourse”“The classical utilitarian regards an action as right if it produces morehappiness for all affected by it than any alternative action and wrong if itdoes not.” Dr. Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, p. 3“If it is in our power to prevent something very bad happening, withoutthereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, we ought todo it The life or death needs of others must take priority even a bottleof water is a luxury if there is safe drinking water available free.” – ibid p.199, 213, 215

The reality of sin 65% of men watch porn at least once a month 12% of websites on the Internet are pornographic “Of the 304 [pornographic] scenes analyzed, 88.2%contained physical aggression while 48.7% of scenescontained verbal aggression”1 “people who started watching porn were more likelyto split with their partners For men, the chance ofdivorce went from 5% to 10%. For women, thatnumber jumped from 6% to 18%.”2 23% of married men and 19% of married womenadmit to an extramarital affair1 Bridges,2AJ. et al. Violence Against Women. 2010 Oct;16(10):1065-8Shultz, D. Science. “Divorce rates double when people start watching porn.” Aug. 26, 2016

The reality of sin “the psychological toll of this work is immense. A lot of the job involves takingdown pornography, of course, but a lot of it is taking down hateful, sadistic, andterrifying stuff. (There's also a lot of overlap.) ‘The worst was the gore: brutal streetfights, animal torture, suicide bombings, decapitations, and horrific trafficaccidents,’ One woman in particular is ‘especially haunted’ by a video she tookdown, about half an hour long, that appeared to be of a [CENSORED] Seeing thatjust once would be hard to get over, but having to deal with that stuff daily seemsimpossible to fathom.” “The army of content moderators is huge, ‘well over 100,000,’”

The reality of sinSteven Pinker, The Blank Slate, p. 57

The reality of sin Nazi Germany began killing mentally disabled individuals in 1939. In 1941,doctors and nurses at Hadamar “celebrated the cremation of their10,000th patient with beer and wine served in the crematorium.”1“Chinese men were used for bayonet practice and in decapitationcontests Not only did live burials, castration, the carving of organs, andthe roasting of people become routine, but more diabolical tortures werepracticed So sickening was the spectacle that even the Nazis in the citywere horrified, one proclaiming the massacre to be the work of “bestialmachinery.””2Milgram experiment: “Sixty-five percent (65%) of the teachers were willingto progress to the maximum voltage level.”31 on-of-the-mentally-and-physically-disabled2 Chang, Iris.The Rape of Nanking. Quoted in Jones, C. “Human evil and suffering”3 le/article35.htm

The reality of sin“You have heard that it was said to those of old,‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders willbe liable to judgment.’ But I say to you thateveryone who is angry with his brother will beliable to judgment; whoever insults his brotherwill be liable to the council; and whoever says,‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” –Matt. 5:21-22

The reality of sin“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall notcommit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyonewho looks at a woman with lustful intent hasalready committed adultery with her in hisheart.” – Matt. 5:27-28

The reality of sin“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall loveyour neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say toyou, Love your enemies and pray for those whopersecute you, so that you may be sons of yourFather who is in heaven.” – Matt. 5:43-45

The reality of sin“The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear,O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Andyou shall love the Lord your God with all yourheart and with all your soul and with all yourmind and with all your strength.’ The second isthis: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no other commandment greater thanthese.” – Mark 12:29-31

The problem of sin The radical nature of sin– Heart vs. behavior The infection of sin– Sin as cancer The indelibility of sin– Impossibility of recompense The holiness of God– Sin as spiritual adultery

Why Christianity? The TrilemmaThe ResurrectionGod and revelationThe gospel– The doctrine of sin– The doctrine of salvation

The doctrine of salvationJesus’ view of salvation:“this is my blood of the covenant, which is pouredout for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Matthew26:28"For even the Son of Man came not to be served butto serve others and to give his life as a ransom formany." – Mark 10:45“I tell you, [the tax collector] went down to his housejustified, rather than the [Pharisee]. For everyonewho exalts himself will be humbled, but the one whohumbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:14" The slave does not remain in the house forever; theson remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, youwill be free indeed.” – John 8:35-36

Salvation and justification “not having a righteousness of my own that comesfrom the law, but that which comes through faith inChrist, the righteousness from God that depends onfaith” – Phil. 3:8-9 “a person is not justified by works of the law butthrough faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believedin Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christand not by works of the law, because by works of thelaw no one will be justified. – Gal. 2:16 “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, therighteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” – 1Pet. 3:18

Salvation and sanctification “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a newcreation. The old has passed away; behold, the newhas come.” – 2 Cor. 5:17 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Nowthis he said about the Spirit, whom those whobelieved in him were to receive” – John 7:38-39 “he chose us in him before the foundation of theworld, that we should be holy and blameless beforehim.” – Eph. 1:4

The remedy for sin The radical nature of sin– A radically new nature The infection of sin– Growth in grace The indelibility of sin– A new record The holiness of God– A perfect record

The doctrine of salvation“just as hitting home runs is the monopoly of onesport, salvation is the monopoly of one religion.If you see sin as the human predicament andsalvation as the solution, then it makes sense tocome to Christ. But that will not settle as much asyou might think, because the real question is notwhich religion is best at carrying us into the endzone of salvation but which of the many religiousgoals we should be seeking.” – Stephen Prothero,God is not one, p. 22

Why Christianity? The Trilemma The Resurrection The gospel

Christianity is intellectuallycredible.Reject Jesus honestly ortrust him honestly.

The Case for Christianity Dr. Neil Shenvi Burlington Christian Academy April 5, 2017. Why Christianity? The Trilemma –Manuscript evidence –Documentary evidence –Geographical