Interactive Gospel
- Alive Today -
by Paul Hazelden
1. Summary
We believe that Jesus is alive
today.
There are two main grounds for believing that Jesus of
Nazareth, a man crucified nearly two thousand years ago, is
alive today. These are:
- the evidence; and
- our experience
The evidence that Jesus was raised from the dead is quite
amazingly good. Various people have tried to prove
that the resurrection never happened, and have ended up being
convinced by the evidence that it is true after all.
Many Christians will use their experience as grounds for
believing the resurrection. "I know He is alive - I
was talking with Him only this morning." While this
experience on its own may not seem too convincing to someone who
does not believe, when combined with the objective grounds
mentioned above it makes an even more convincing
case. Not only does the historic record point to the
truth of the resurrection, but we also have the testimony of
many witnesses today.
- I'll go along with that
- Please explain further
- I object to what you've said
- What are the alternatives?
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2. Further Details
One point to make is that the resurrection was not simply the
re-animation of a dead body. Lazarus, in the gospel
record, was brought back from the dead, he lived a bit longer,
and then (we can be sure) he died. Resurrection may
look similar, but it is quite different, which is why we believe
not only that Jesus came back to life on Easter Sunday, but also
He is still alive today.
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3. Objections
How can you believe such an absurd
idea?
Only because the evidence for the resurrection is so
strong! As I say elsewhere, I am a
Christian because
I lack faith. Once I looked at the facts, I found it
took more faith to believe any of the alternatives on offer than
to believe the resurrection.
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4. Alternatives
People have come up with many alternative theories to explain
what happened. The more reasonable ones include:
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4a. Jesus only fainted on the cross
Firstly, Jesus was almost dead when He was put on the
cross. The beating He had received was one that
could kill a man, and He was so damaged by it He was unable to
carry the cross all the way. Nobody survived
crucifixion, and Jesus was already nearly dead before He was put
on the cross.
Secondly, the Romans were professional executioners.
They knew a dead body when they saw one. A soldier
would be killed for failing to kill someone as ordered - it was
not something that they took chances with.
Thirdly, this was a high profile political
execution. Maybe, just maybe, if
you are crucifying a thousand people at once, you may make one
or two mistakes (although there is no evidence that they ever
did, even then) - but not when the criminal is a popular leader
and has been tried in front of both the Roman and Jewish
authorities.
Fourthly, the evidence is that He was really dead.
When the spear was pushed into His side, out came blood and water
- plasma. This happens after death, when the blood
has ceased to circulate, and the red cells have separated from
the blood plasma.
Fifthly, the body was bound in grave cloth - like a mummy,
wrapped tight - and left sealed into a cold and damp
tomb. A healthy person in that situation would die of
cold and thirst - it is certainly not the conditions to being
about a fortunate revival from close to death.
And finally, this bleeding, cricified and stabbed body is
supposed to revive in the cold and darkness, unwrap itself from
the grave clothes, push away a stone that several healthy women
could not move, and then convince all His followers
that He was risen from the dead, more alive than ever, that He
had more miraculous powers than He had ever displayed before,
gave them a series of lies that would lead them to be tortured
and killed, and then just disappeared. It's not just
unlikely, it is totally implausible.
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4b. The disciples stole Jesus' body away
Why would they steal the body? What use was it to
them?
Even if they had found a reason to seal the body,
psychologically they could not attempt such a plan - they were
afraid and defeated. They had given up.
Even if they wanted to steal the body, they could not because it
was under guard.
If they did steal the body, why did they go on to convince
other people He was risen (up to 500 people at a time,
somehow)?
And if they had somehow convinced others that He was alive, why
did they then go on to die for a belief they knew to be totally
false?
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4c. The wrong man was crucified
At what point was the wrong person mistaken for
Jesus? The traditional answer (and the only one that
seems to make any sense) is that the wrong man was
arrested in the darkness at the Garden of Gethsemane.
But this means that not only did the soldiers arrest the wrong
man, but this (unknown) man stood his ground in an extremely
Jesus-like way, convinced everyone he was really Jesus, and
willingly went to die in the cruellest way the Romans could
manage. Where did this incredible actor come from?
And what possible motivation could he have in wanting the world
to believe that Jesus was dead?
It also means that it was a real live Jesus who appeared to the
women at the tomb and then the disciples, and convinced them all
that the impossible had happened. He appeared in
a locked room, disappeared from a meal table, convinced everyone
he met that he was not alive but resurrected, and then ascended
into Heaven and was never seen again. That's an
impressive set of conjuring tricks. And, again, for
what reason? To convince the disciples of a lie, so
that in proclaiming a lie they will go out and call the human
race to follow the truth?
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4d. The disciples hallucinated the resurrection
appearances
Can you supply a single example of mass hallucination that bears
any resemblance to the gospel record? Or any example
of wishful thinking that can be compared in any significant
way with this series of events?
If the resurrection stories are a result of mass-hallucination
or wishful thinking, it is a strange psychological phenomenon
so unlike any other ever recorded that you really need to
propose some unique cause to justify this unique
effect. You might as well posit a unique encounter
with a risen Lord.
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