Lecture

R. Douglas Geivett: Suppose we say that God wanted to write human beings a letter with His solution to the human condition, the predicament that we’re in. How would we know that the signature at the bottom of the letter was His? I think a miracle would be of great help. A miracle functions rather like a seal on the envelope that says this message came from God. Now in Christianity we have the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is powerful evidence that God has in fact taken an interest in the human predicament and done something about it in a way that we can learn about, know about, and experience. Now that is evidence that we were right all along to expect God to do something about our situation.

Dr. Bob Pyne: The best argument for Christianity is the resurrection of Christ. If it happened, then Christianity is true. Then anything which competes against Christianity is false. If the resurrection didn’t happen, then Christianity is false, and anything competing against Christianity as a truth claim may well be true. It also centers right there in the resurrection. If it happened, Christianity is true. If it didn’t happen, then Christianity is false

Dr. Vernon Grounds: You know, as we read the Gospels, we come to realize that the disciples of Jesus weren’t expecting a resurrection. They had to be convinced almost you might say against their better judgment. They didn’t believe that this leader of theirs was going to emerge alive. And it wasn’t until ex post facto, after the fact really that they came to believe.

Dr. Bob Pyne: If you don’t want to believe in Christianity, then somehow you have to do something with that empty tomb. You have to do something with that body. You have to do something with those claims. You have to do something with the resurrection. You have to find a way around it. People are obviously free to reject the gospel. They’re free to reject Christianity. But if they’re going to do so with any kind of rational credibility, they’ve got to deal with that issue. They’ve got to deal with the resurrection.

Edwin Yamauchi: I think that one of the greatest arguments for belief in the reality of the resurrection was in fact the transformation that occurred to specific individuals who believe they had witnessed the resurrected Christ. Most known was Paul, who had persecuted the Christians and was certainly a very sincere and almost fanatic believer in his particular brand of pharisaical Judaism. What convinced him to make a complete 180-degree turn and become the foremost missionary of Christ?

The first Christians were not driven by political or religious dissent. Their primary issues were not moral or social. They were not well-credentialed theologians or social philosophers. They were witnesses. They risked their lives to tell the world that with their own eyes they had seen an innocent man die and then miraculously walk among them three days later. Their argument was very concrete. Jesus was crucified under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. His body was buried and sealed in a borrowed tomb. Guards were posted to prevent grave tampering. Yet after three days the tomb was empty and witnesses were risking their lives to declare that He was alive.

Dr. Bob Pyne: If somebody has doubts about the resurrection, if they have doubts about whether or not the claims of Christ are true, there are a couple of things I would recommend. First and foremost, I would recommend sitting down with the gospel of John and just reading the thing through. Not just once, but five times. Maybe get up once between each reading, but read it through at least five times, and just pray for insight while reading. The gospel of John was really written so that the people who read it would be able to recognize that Jesus was Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing they’d have life in His name. John said that’s why he wrote it. So I believe that’s why we should read it. We ought to read it looking to see what it is that God has shown us in that book about Himself and about the gospel. Second, after doing that, I would encourage people just do some reading on the resurrection of Christ, investigate His claims, to take it seriously, to read some of the books that are out there on apologetics, to talk to a pastor, talk to some of the wonderful parachurch ministries that are available, just to see what types of evidence, what types of arguments are out there, and to consider them well. The one thing I wouldn’t recommend, the one thing we can’t do with an issue this important, is to leave it behind, and say well, it’ll go away sometime. An issue like this doesn’t go away. It’s too big. We’ve got to deal with it. We just can’t assume that we’ll figure it out some day. It’s worth investigating carefully, and worth investigating hard, because this is the biggest issue in life.