I Corinthians 15:14 states, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."
It would seem, from the passage above, that the doctrine of Christ's resurrection is the pinnacle on which the rest of the Christian faith rests. Interesting.... So, theoretically, if you can disprove the resurrection of Christ, you can disprove Christianity as a whole. Even we Christians would have no room to debate such a thing, seeing as how the Bible itself states how very important the resurrection is to the core of our belief.
Reading this passage, don't you think that many would try desperately to do just that? Finally! Once and for all to disprove that Christ rose from the dead! Once and for all to get all those Christians out there to shut up, for once! Once and for all to have the last word on a matter that has divided people across centuries!
Well, the truth is, many have tried. The problem with trying to disprove the resurrection is that the evidence in favor of it is incredibly overwhelming. There is better evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than there is for the existence of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. In fact, many who have set out pumped to finally get Jesus out of the picture, have instead ended up falling in love with Him. How's that for irony?
I will outline for you a few of the evidences for the resurrection:
* The earliest manuscripts in our possession today that record these events were written and circulated before those who had witnessed the execution and been impressed by the resurrection had died. In other words, the event itself and the surrounding events were still in the memories of those living in Israel at that time. If such wild accounts had been false or easily disproven by someone just saying, "Nope. I remember it all and it didn't happen that way," the movement would have met a swift end. (Matthew--within 20 years, Mark--within 30 years, Luke--within 30 or 40 years, John--within 20-30 years.)
* Jesus was medically proven to have actually, physically died. (In other words, he wasn't just in a coma or something like that.) John 19:32-37 states, "The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and foudn that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken,' and, as another scripture says, 'They will look on the one they have pierced.'" (See Context.)
* Jesus's body wasn't stolen by His followers. The religious and political leaders made sure of that by rolling a huge rock in front of Jesus's tomb, placing Pilate's seal on it and placing armed guards in front of it. (We're not sure how many guards were there. Estimates suggest between 20-100.) Matthew 27:57-66 has the full account of this. Some key verses are: "Joseph took the body, wraped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb.... The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 'Sir,' they said, 'we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.' 'Take a guard,' Pilate answered. 'Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.' So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on teh stone and posting the guard."
* There was a massive coverup--not by the disciples, but by the religious and political leaders who really goofed by "allowing" Jesus to, indeed, come back to life. Matthew 28:11-15 states, "...some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.' So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed...." The trouble they spoke of was the death of any Roman soldier caught sleeping at his post. The Romans weren't exactly known for their forgiving spirit. So... if the disciples stole the body away while the soldiers slept, how did the soldiers know who had done it? Weren't they asleep? And, if they were really asleep, how did 20 or more trained guards sleep through all the noise the rolling away of that massive stone must have caused?
* Jesus's followers seemed to give up right after His death. They reacted as any one would if they believed that the one they had believed to be the Savior of the world, had suddenly met a very brutal end at the hands of the enemy. They went into hiding and with good reason, too. Now that the leader of thier revolt was dead, their lives were in danger from the relgious leaders who could kill them for being blasphemers--the same reason they used to crucify Jesus. Obviously, they weren't actively trying to fake anything or start a new religion. But then, suddenly,--upon seeing Jesus alive again and realizing that His triumph was over not only physical death, but the spiritual death of all mankind--they were so excited and zealous and outspoken that nobody could shut them up. John 20:19 states, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' After he had said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." (See Context.)
* Most of the disciples of Jesus and many of His followers who came later were martyred. They died still confessing that Jesus was God, the Messiah, the Savior of mankind, and that He had, indeed, conquered death by coming back to life on the third day as He had predicted. Obviously, they believed. Here's a list:
Stephen, Protomartyr, was stoned and some 2,000 other Christians suffered at the time of Stephen's persecution, c. 35 A.D.
James the Great (Son of Zebedee) was beheaded in 44 A.D.
Philip the Apostle was crucified in 54 A.D.
Matthew killed by a halberd in 60 A.D.
James the Just, beaten to death by a club after being crucified and stoned.
Matthias was stoned and beheaded.
Andrew, St. Peter's brother, was crucified.
Mark was beaten to death.
Peter, crucified upside-down.
Apostle Paul, beheaded in Rome.
Jude was crucified.
Bartholomew was crucified.
Thomas the Apostle was killed by a spear.
Luke the Evangelist was hanged.
Simon the Zealot was crucified in 74 A.D.
(Note: John the Evangelist according to legend was cooked in boiling hot oil but survived. He was the only one of the original twelve Apostles who was not martyred).
For information on later Christian martyrs, see: http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/earlmart.htm
* There were over 500 eye witnesses who saw Jesus alive after He had died on the cross. I Corinthians 15:6 states, "After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep." Again, if these people were still alive and if this was a lie, wouldn't somebody have said something?
* If Jesus hadn't risen from the dead and if the disciples had no chance at all to steal the body, why didn't the religious and political leaders simply produce the body? They had control over the tomb. They certainly had sufficient reason to want Jesus's followers squelched and producing a Jesus's body would have quickly disproved that He'd come back to life. Why not? Because there was no body to be found. It was gone. They didn't have it.
Well, these are only a few of the evidences, as I said. There are many more; these are just the ones I remembered off the top of my head. Still, all in all, it's very unlikely the resurrection will ever be disproven. "Well, that's okay," some say, "I don't believe in Jesus or God anyway." Well, my response to that would be this: It's very easy to say something or someone "doesn't exist". It takes absolutely no work at all. You just have to sit there and turn your mind off. Easy. The work comes in when you try to discover the truth. What does the evidence tell you? And, if the character, Jesus, did, indeed, come back to life, how and why did that happen? Who was He, anyway?
A couple of verses later in the same book, the Bible has something else to say, which we should all consider:I Corinthians 15:17 states, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins."
That would certainly be a shame, would it not? To still be stuck in our sins while our lives are ebbing away?
