So, number 2...
Jesus really did die on the cross
You don't have to look very far before you see that the crucifixion of Jesus and the events leading up to it are all completely historically correct and it would be uneducated and immature to suggest otherwise. However, arguments have been made that Jesus, although he was crucified, was not really dead when they buried him and so his supposed "resurrection" was nothing more than Jesus waking up, rolling the stone away and walking out. So, let's tackle why this could not have been the case.
Argument #1: The soldiers in charge of the crucifixion were not new to this job. In fact, taking into consideration who it was that was being crucified that day, the soldiers chosen were probably the "best" crucifixioners (I may have made that word up...) out there and would have seen more crucifixions than you could wave a stick at. There is no way that they would risk a) the humiliation and b) the punishment (probably execution) of not making sure somebody they were in charge of crucifying was dead, especially when it was someone as famous as Jesus. This is why it is such a big deal when the centurion and those with him witnessed Jesus die (don't forget they also witnessed the 3 hours of darkness before he died and the earth-shattering earthquake that took place just after he died) and were so awe-struck that they declared "Truly this was the son of God!". They knew this was like no other crucifixion they had ever overseen before.
Argument #2: Because it was so important that Jesus really was dead, the soldiers took a spear and pierced Jesus' side and blood and water came out. From a medical perspective, this proves that the person is dead. (Note that this is one of the fulfilled prophecies I mentioned in the last blog). Also, in Mark's gospel he mentions that, when Joseph of Arimathea comes to ask Pilate for permission to bury Jesus, Pilate is so surprised that he is already dead (as I mentioned yesterday Jesus took a very unusually short period of time to die) that he sends for the supervising centurion to ask him if Jesus really is dead and the centurion confirms this. Permission is then given to Joseph for the corpse to be buried. This would never have been granted if Jesus were still alive.
Hopefully you now recognise that the possibility of Jesus surviving the crucifixion experience really is tiny. In fact, at risk of being criticised, I would say that really it would have been impossible for that to have happened.
Moving onto number 3...
Jesus really did rise from the dead
So now that we've, theoretically, declared Jesus as officially deceased after being crucified, let's look at the argument people have against him rising from the dead, that is, that the disciples came and stole Jesus' body from the tomb to make it look like he had risen when in fact he was still dead. Let's take a look at the arguments against this theory.
Argument #1: There were far too many guards at the tomb for the disciples to have rolled back the stone and smuggled the body out. The day after the crucifixion, the pharisees get together to go and talk to Pilate and tell him all about how, while he was alive, Jesus had said that three days after he died he would rise again. They therefore urge Pilate to secure the tomb in order that the disciples couldn't come and stage a resurrection. Pilate grants this request and tells them that they will be given a guard of soldiers and to make it as secure as they can. They then proceed to do this by setting the guard and sealing the stone. Let's look at this logically, the minimum amount of guards that would have been at the tomb is four (they would keep watch in three hour shifts during the night). However, neither the Romans or the religous leaders want to let this body disappear under any circumstance. Now, we know that the Romans were quite a clever bunch really and quite strategic; consider how they would have gone about guarding the tomb taking into account Jesus' 11 dedicated disciples- it would make sense to have at least the same amount of soldiers, and seeing as it's Romans we're talking about there is a possibility there were many, many more than that. If you look in the book of Acts when Peter is imprisoned, it tells us that 16 soldiers were guarding him, and he was only a disciple of Jesus! Also, all these events took place during the passover; Jerusalem would be absolutely chock-a-block with thousands of pilgrims, a lot of whom would be in support of Jesus = more potential tomb raiders. I imagine that, similarly to the soldiers supervising the crucifiction, these would be no inexperienced, fall-asleep-on-the-job kind of soldiers either; they were guarding the man who claimed to be King of the Jews- no way he's going to be getting out of that tomb if they can help it!
Argument #2: Not only would there be Roman soldiers, it is more than likely that- given that the pharisees probably trusted the Romans as much as they did the disciples- they would send some of their own men. Now that you're beginning to get an idea of the number of different people guarding the tomb, you're probably picturing how extremely difficult it would be to even get past these guys, nevermind shift a huge rock (estimated to be between 1.5 to 2 tonnes, the weight of a midsize car) which required levers to move and get the body out!
Argument #3: So, assuming that the disciples somehow manage to sneak past the guards who, contrary to the their report, were most definitely awake, silently move the huge rock and run away with Jesus' body unnoticed, this must mean that the disciples had to lie to a whole lot of people AND stash the body somewhere (considering the body has never been found in the near 2000 years since he died, it must have been a pretty good hiding place). The majority of the disciples were killed for telling people about Jesus and his resurrection that had brought life to all men- is it not somewhat surprising that, if all of this were built on a lie, they didn't buckle under the pressure and save their own lives, especially considering that none of the disciples actually believed Jesus when he told them that he would die and rise again in three days? In addition to this, the Roman seal was on the stone covering the entrance; if you were caught breaking this seal the punishment was upside-down crucifixion. Would you risk it?
Argument #4: Let's consider the possibility that Jesus is still alive in your mind, despite the arguments above, and has woken up in the tomb and manages to get himself out. The first problem with this theory is that, even if he wasn't dead from being crucified, it is most certain that he would have died from the injuries (nevermind being well enough to walk about, shift a stone that potentially weighed 2 tonnes from the inside of the tomb and walk away!). Before Jesus was crucifed he was horrendously beaten and tortured, so much so that it is said that he barely looked human, and it wouldn't be out of the question to suggest that he could have died from these injuries alone. Add to this the nails that were put through his hands and feet (considering he had nails in his feet, I would think it impossible he would even be able to stand nevermind walk!) and then add onto that the spear wound in his side from the soldiers checking to see if he was dead and the blood lost from these injuries. It is highly unlikely (I would say it was impossible but I'm trying to be polite and understanding here) that, if he was alive when put into the tomb, he would have come out of it alive.
Argument #5: Jesus appeared to hundreds of people after he had risen. He proved to them he wasn't a ghost because he ate and drank with them, and proved it was him (other than his appearance duh) by showing them the scars from the nails on his hands and feet. Again, you could try and argue that the disciples just lied but, other than referring back to the same logic as argument #3, in all four gospels it is mentioned that women found the empty tomb first and were spoken to by the angel. In Jewish society, if the disciples were going to make such a story up, there is no way that they would say that women had found the empty tomb first or that they disbelieved the women when they came to tell the men. Also, it wasn't just the disciples who witnessed the resurrected Christ; before Jesus ascended back to Heaven he was on earth for forty days. Think of all the things you could do and all the places you could go in forty days! More than 500 people (that we know of) saw Jesus after his resurrection; if only the disciples claimed to have seen him resurrected, do you really think we would have Christianity 2000 years later? There's no way people would have believed if only the disciples had seen him! Even Thomas (one of the disciples who missed seeing Jesus at the same time as the others) didn't believe them, and he had spent three years with Jesus listening to him telling them he would rise again! If you're not satisfied with that and still think that it was down to bias, it wasn't only believers that Jesus appeared to: one of Jesus' own brothers called James, despite growing up with Jesus, didn't believe he was the son of God and is mentioned along with his other non-believing siblings all through the gospels. Jesus appeared to him after his resurrection and now, aswell as believing, he's even written one of the books in the Bible! If that's not good enough then what about Paul? He hated Jesus' "Christians" so much that he did all he could to get rid of them, including imprisoning them and sentencing them to death! If there was anyone who disbelieved the resurrection of Jesus, it was Paul! Jesus appeared to him in a blinding light while he was on his way to arrest more christians one day, and he became the world's very first missionary, writing about half of the New Testement in the Bible! That's one hefty turn around if you ask me. He even went on to die for his faith. He must have been completely and utterly convinced that what he experienced that day was Jesus speaking to him.
You are now left with two choices:
To ignore what you have just read and think up reasons for it not to be true, or
To realise that Jesus is the son of God who died to pay the price for your sin, and overcame death so that you may have eternal life because God loves you. I can't expect mere logical arguments to reach your heart, for logic speaks to the brain, but I pray earnestly that you recognise God's voice calling to you and that you realise who He is; not some distant, angry God just waiting to condemn you, but a Father who is waiting for you to come home to him with open arms, ready to forgive and bless you. You don't have to be certain any of this is true to ask God to forgive you, there is nothing wrong with uncertainty, but if you ask Him to come into your life and turn it around He will be more than happy to show you how real He is!
If you have any questions I would be amazingly happy to do my best to answer them for you, and if I can't I'll go away and find out about it for myself and get back to you. If you're reading this and you don't know me, feel free to add me on facebook (Amy Beth Ferry) or to follow me on Twitter (@ampedsilence). I love you all, and it pains my heart to think of anyone spending eternity in Hell. It's not nice to talk about but it's a real place and there are far too many souls in there already without you joining them. If you haven't already read my blog entitled Life? feel free to do so. Keep seeking, friends.
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13Love and prayers,
Amy
Here are some articles I looked at to write this blog:
http://sntjohnny.com/front/how-many-guards-at-the-tomb-of-jesus/485.html
http://www.ichthus.info/CaseForChrist/Resurrection/intro.html
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