Christ, Death and Resurrection-Facts or Fiction

Virtually all scholars of antiquity, both Christian and non-Christian, accept that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure and attempts to deny his historicity have been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory. There is just too much evidence to the contrary.

Every major religious movement considers Jesus to be an important religious figure including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Baha’i Faith and Druze Faith. In addition, some high-level Buddhists have drawn analogies between Jesus and Buddhism.

One of the strongest facts of Christ is that he fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophesies including his death. It has been calculated that the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 of these would 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. This is certainly not fiction.

In 1986, The American Medical Association published an article titled "The Physical Death of Jesus Christ". It details the entire process of Jesus' trial to His horrific death on the cross.

Of all the teachings of Christianity, no doctrine is more imperative than the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of resurrection has been attacked from every angle. New books and television media regularly appear questioning the resurrection, re-hashing old theories about what happened to Jesus’ body.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted on the minds of human beings--or it is the most remarkable fact of history.

Christianity has many extraordinary claims, but they all rest on this one event, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If this event did not come to pass, Christianity is of no use. The Bible in 1 Corinthians 15:14 says, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics -Auckland University, stated, “I claim to be an historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history,”

After viewing the empty tomb where the body of Jesus had been taken after His cruel death on the cross, the disciples of Christ went right back to the city of Jerusalem, where, if what they were teaching was false, the falsity would be evident. The empty tomb was "too notorious to be denied."  The resurrection "could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned - both friend and enemy.

Over 500 witnesses physically saw Jesus during the forty days after His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6). In a court of law one eyewitness usually is sufficient to confirm a fact; 500 eyewitnesses would be overwhelming proof. The resurrection of Jesus was also declared in numerous other accounts, including the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18), to other women (Matthew 28:8-10), to Cleopas and his companion (Luke 24:13-32), to eleven disciples and others (Luke 24:33-49), to ten apostles and others (excluding Thomas) (John 20:19-23), to the apostles (including Thomas) (John 20:26-30), to seven apostles (John 21:1-14), to the disciples (Matthew 28:16-20), and to the apostles on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-52 and Acts 1:4-9).

There was certainly a plethora of hostile witnesses to the events of the Gospels, but not a single Roman came forward to expose supposed fallacies. Many Roman critics attacked the philosophy of Christianity, but they were unable to attack its historical accuracy, as they were witnesses to the events of the New Testament. The Church could not have grown in Jerusalem if Jesus' own generation (who had Him put to death) could have immediately exposed the resurrection as a lie.

Jesus’ early followers suffered and died for their testimony. This established fact attests to the sincerity of their faith and strongly rules out deception on their part. In fact, all but one of the New Testament's writers was executed for proclaiming and defending Christ's resurrection (John alone was spared but forced into exile by the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus).

Granted, martyrdom is not unique -- many throughout history have willingly died for their beliefs. What makes the disciples' martyrdom extraordinary to me is that these men were able to know whether what they were professing was true. You see, no one will knowingly suffer horribly and ultimately die a brutal death to defend something they know to be a lie. They had nothing to gain from lying and obviously everything to lose. This is truly compelling evidence of the resurrection.

Lee Strobel was a Yale-educated, award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune. As an atheist, he decided to compile a legal case against Jesus Christ and prove him to be a fraud by the weight of the evidence. As Legal Editor of the Tribune, Strobel's area of expertise was courtroom analysis. Remarkably, after compiling and critically examining the evidence for himself, Strobel became a Christian. Stunned by his findings, he organized the evidence into a book entitled, “The Case for Christ”, which won the Gold Medallion Book Award for excellence.

People all over the world have the choice to accept or reject Jesus and His Death and Resurrection based upon their own convictions. If they choose to deny the facts of Jesus, His Death, and His Resurrection, it is not for a lack of witnesses, nor a lack of evidence.