Sorry it's been so long since my part 2 post. I really meant to do these in more rapid succession.
When I say that I believe Jesus Christ died and rose again, I think that belief is supported aside from any reliance on the Bible. I think there is more than adequate historical evidence that a man who went by the name Jesus (although I think in his native Hebrew or Aramaic, it was probably something closer to "Yoshua") lived in Israel in the opening decades of the common era, and that he was executed as a criminal by crucifixion by the ruling Roman government. I really doubt that there are many people who would seriously dispute that.
He had a small group of close followers that we today refer to as the disciples or apostles. And several members of this group proclaimed that he rose from the dead after the crucifixion, and spent many days walking, talking, even eating with them. Now, I expect that there are many who would dispute that.
But there is one historical fact that convinces me that it is true. Virtually everyone of those original apostles died a martyr's death before the end of the first century, solely because of their proclamation of that fact.
So, you might say, many people through history have died for what they believed in. That doesn't prove anything.
Yes. People die for what they believe in. But they DON'T die for something they know to be a hoax or a lie. These apostles had every reason to KNOW with certainty that what they were saying about Jesus having come back to life was true. They claimed that they had seen him, that he had talked with them and taught them, that they had touched him, that he had asked for something to eat and consumed it in their presence, that he had cooked breakfast for them over an open campfire.
Either those things were true, or else they knew that they had all conspired together to make it up for some unknown reason. And everyone of them clung to the proclamation of its truth, even to their own death.
No one dies for something they know to be a lie.
So I conclude that Jesus did, indeed, rise from the dead.
And if he did that, then I conclude that validates every claim that he made to being the Son of God. And it gives untold authority to everything else he said and did through his life. And it means that there are a whole lot of things I can conclude and safely rely on based solely on the things that Jesus taught.
One is the nature of the God that, in part 2, I concluded exists. Jesus proclaimed several things about God that were revolutionary in his time. One was addressing him as "Father", in a close, personal relationship. This was revolutionary in the Jewish thinking. God was holy, majestic, glorious, awesome, and basically unapproachable except through the priests. But Jesus addressed him as "Daddy" (the modern equivalent of the Aramaic word he used). And he said, "You want to know what God's like? Look at me. He who has seen me has seen the father."
So I conclude that not only is God a being of unimaginable power and intelligence, as we can see through nature, but that he is personal, with a relationship with his Son.
And according to what Jesus taught, God cares about each one of us just as much. And I believe his resurrection validates his teaching.
When I say that I believe Jesus Christ died and rose again, I think that belief is supported aside from any reliance on the Bible. I think there is more than adequate historical evidence that a man who went by the name Jesus (although I think in his native Hebrew or Aramaic, it was probably something closer to "Yoshua") lived in Israel in the opening decades of the common era, and that he was executed as a criminal by crucifixion by the ruling Roman government. I really doubt that there are many people who would seriously dispute that.
He had a small group of close followers that we today refer to as the disciples or apostles. And several members of this group proclaimed that he rose from the dead after the crucifixion, and spent many days walking, talking, even eating with them. Now, I expect that there are many who would dispute that.
But there is one historical fact that convinces me that it is true. Virtually everyone of those original apostles died a martyr's death before the end of the first century, solely because of their proclamation of that fact.
So, you might say, many people through history have died for what they believed in. That doesn't prove anything.
Yes. People die for what they believe in. But they DON'T die for something they know to be a hoax or a lie. These apostles had every reason to KNOW with certainty that what they were saying about Jesus having come back to life was true. They claimed that they had seen him, that he had talked with them and taught them, that they had touched him, that he had asked for something to eat and consumed it in their presence, that he had cooked breakfast for them over an open campfire.
Either those things were true, or else they knew that they had all conspired together to make it up for some unknown reason. And everyone of them clung to the proclamation of its truth, even to their own death.
No one dies for something they know to be a lie.
So I conclude that Jesus did, indeed, rise from the dead.
And if he did that, then I conclude that validates every claim that he made to being the Son of God. And it gives untold authority to everything else he said and did through his life. And it means that there are a whole lot of things I can conclude and safely rely on based solely on the things that Jesus taught.
One is the nature of the God that, in part 2, I concluded exists. Jesus proclaimed several things about God that were revolutionary in his time. One was addressing him as "Father", in a close, personal relationship. This was revolutionary in the Jewish thinking. God was holy, majestic, glorious, awesome, and basically unapproachable except through the priests. But Jesus addressed him as "Daddy" (the modern equivalent of the Aramaic word he used). And he said, "You want to know what God's like? Look at me. He who has seen me has seen the father."
So I conclude that not only is God a being of unimaginable power and intelligence, as we can see through nature, but that he is personal, with a relationship with his Son.
And according to what Jesus taught, God cares about each one of us just as much. And I believe his resurrection validates his teaching.
Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really., by John Eldredge
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