Attacks on Christianity now common at Easter.
Over the past almost two decades there has been an increasingly audacious and relentless attack on Christianity and its tenets by skeptics. These attacks are usually timed to occur around this time of Easter so as to inflict the maximum damage and gain attention. Two years there was the whole Da Vinci Code controversy, and last year there was the claim of a “lost tomb of Jesus” being discovered.
This year has seen Bill Maher and Hollywood director Larry Charles release their anti-Christian documentary called “Religulous” (derived from joining the words “religion” with “ridiculous.”) These attacks are cause for some concern. This is not because their claims have any credibility, since they have been rejected by all but a tiny minority of scholars. But it’s because the majority of Christians are totally unprepared to counter these assaults against the cornerstone of Christianity.
Many people love the Lord with all their hearts, but if someone demands hard evidence that Christ rose bodily from the grave, they don’t know where to start. More disturbing still, some believers have been shaken to the core by skeptics like Maher, the Jesus Seminar, and others who work hard to portray people who believe in the resurrection as simple-minded fools.
But when the facts are allowed to speak for themselves, belief in the resurrection not only survives, but thrives.
- Here are some QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE RESURRECTION
---The resurrection is the greatest feat in history. That’s what biblical Christians have believed for centuries – and that’s where all the evidence points. This simple acronym will help you remember four reasons that you can be confident that Jesus lives.
FATAL TORMENT
Other than a noisy fringe, virtually all New Testament scholars, both conservative and liberal, agree that Jesus dies on the cross and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
EMPTY TOMB
Scholars, both liberal and conservative, also agree that Jesus’ grave was found to be uninhabited. Early Christianity simply could not have survived an identifiable tomb containing the corpse of Christ.
APPEARANCES OF CHRIST
Multiple, documented eyewitnesses confirm that Christ was seen alive after His crucifixion. An early Christian creed codifying this testimony can be traced to within three to eight years of the event. It would be unprecedented for legend to spring up so quickly.
TRANSFORMATION
Only Christ’s resurrection explains the fact that His disciples were transformed from cowering fugitives into bold witnesses who were willing to die for their convictions – and that thousands were converted in the very city of Christ’s execution.
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