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What are some of the examples shared by Dr. Groothuis which provide evidence for Jesus’ resurrection?
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He begins with the reminder that evidence supports the trustworthiness of the New Testament. But putting that aside, he continues through a minimal facts explanation where the logical conclusion is the resurrection. He refutes alternative explanations, and even gives evidence from the early church for the truth of the resurrection.
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Using the minimal facts approach, Dr. Groothius established that even the most critical scholars agree that Jesus died, that he was buried, and that somehow his tomb became empty. Based on the previous argument that there is a Creator God, there is the possibility of miracles, even the miracle of a resurrection. In trying to account for the empty tomb, he argues that the disciples had no means to steal the body from a guarded tomb, and the Roman soldiers had no motive to hide the body elsewhere. The disciples had no reason to lie that they saw a risen Christ, since such a religion only brought them persecution and martyrdom. The other witnesses to a resurrected Christ could not have hallucinated either, since the appearances were too many and in too many different settings. Finally, the practices of the early church – the change of the Lord’s day from Saturday to Sunday, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper – were tacit indications that the early church believed in the resurrection of their Lord. This was not a later distortion of their creed.
#apologetics
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A few examples include a change in the Lord’s Day from Saturday to Sunday, the early church’s
practices are based on the resurrection of Jesus indicating that He did rise from the dead, and the identity of Jesus claiming to be God in the flesh. Jesus said exactly what happened.
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The change in demeanor of the disciples from mourning and scared to joyful and brave seems to suggest that they had an encounter with the risen Jesus. Also, the practices of baptism and the Lord’s Supper were adopted as a means of identifying and celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
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There is public record that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. Jesus was buries by 2 members of the Jewish ruling council. These men would have lost there standing by burying this man. The tomb was empty on the third day, even though there was a roman guard watching over the tomb. The disciples removing the body doesn’t make sense because this there was a guard. The romans considered him a threat, so they wouldn’t remove him. Jesus appeared repeatedly to the disciples and more than 500. And jesus ate drank and taught them.
