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Apologists Every Christian Should Know PART 7
Must-Reads
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 12
————————————— — The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus: Probably the best introductory book there is on this crucial subject. ————————————— The Resurrection of Jesus: A scholarly in-depth look at Easter, based on Licona’s doctoral dissertation. ————————————— Paul Meets Muhammad: An excellent hypothetical debate on whether Christianity or Islam is true. ————————————— Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy and Science: This collection of brief chapters from various authors contains helpful overviews for numerous apologetic issues. ————————————— For a historical assessment of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that refutes popular myths, see Jesus, the Final Days by Craig Evans and N. T. Wright. ————————————— A concise argument which only uses those facts acknowledged by both believing and unbelieving scholars is “The Core Resurrection Data,” written by Gary Habermas— found in Tough-Minded Christianity.
The Logical Lynchpin of Mi
Why the Resurrec Let’s start with a pop quiz. Can you name
the one thing that, if proved true, should turn Christians into unbelievers? In other words, could a single fact destroy your faith? Some think that if the theory of evolution is correct, then the Bible must be false. Others have said that not feeling God’s love when dealing with a tragedy can cause doubts. While people often do struggle with such issues, there are also many who have suffered great personal loss and yet still believe; there are those who think God created everything through an evolutionary process (despite whatever problems that view contains) and yet are still Christians. These reasons, then, are not adequate grounds for rejecting the faith. On the other hand, some Christians firmly state, “Nothing! Nothing will ever cause me to lose faith in Jesus.” While this defiance is well-meaning, it is actually wrong. There is in fact something that, if shown to be true, will cause Christianity to fall like a house of cards. To many people’s surprise, the answer to this pop quiz is actually found in the New Testament. Yes, the Bible itself names what would disprove Christianity once and for all. St. Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Simply put, if at “Point A” on Good Friday, Jesus was dead, and at “Point B” on Easter Sunday, Jesus was still dead, then Christianity is false. Period. Game over. The Crown Jewel of Apologetics This admission often makes believers nervous, but it shouldn’t. The question of the resurrection is precisely what sets Christianity apart from other religions. Some (such as Mormons and Buddhists) rely on a personal experience—an internal, subjective feeling—to validate their
beliefs. Others (like most Muslims) assume their holy book is true just because it says it’s true, then conclude all other views are wrong. In such cases, evidence, research, and investigating the real world are irrelevant because their faith is not founded on facts. In contrast, Christianity claims God entered our world as a human being, was crucified at a real time and place, and rose from the grave three days later in objective history. This means everyone—both believers and unbelievers—can examine the resurrection to see if it’s true. Paul himself said as much when telling pagans that God “has given assurance to all by raising Jesus from the dead” (Acts 17:31). Blind faith is therefore unnecessary. A key point here is that while all of God’s Word is true, and useful, not all of it holds the same weight with regard to our salvation. For example, knowing that Ruth was from Moab is of lesser significance than knowing that “baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21). So while it can be helpful to find evidence for the Old Testament accounts or to harmonize science with Scripture, our faith does not stand or
