Death and Resurrection...3 days later

This entry is for those who are interested in the Christian faith. You can read it if you want, or if you don't want to, it's ok too. I'm not here to convert anyone lol. Just here to share my readings/sermons, since some people may have doubts or questions.

As some of you may know, today is Easter Sunday. What exactly is it? Bunny rabbits hopping around the field, giving eggs to people etc etc? To most of us, it's easter bunnies. To some, it's the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

What is the resurrection? It's when someone died, then rose again, hence Jesus dying (for our sins) then rising from the dead. This entry will be mostly on the resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity. Verse 1 Corinthians 15:1-20 says: "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you-unless you believed in vain. For i delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up-if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

There are three lines of evidence in support of the resurrection: the empty tomb, the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, and circumstantial evidence.

1) The Empty Tomb
Liberal Christian scholars and skeptics accept the fact that the tomb of Jesus is empty. But, rather than believing that Jesus rose from the dead, one of the ways they try to debunk the resurrection is to find an alternate explanation for the empty tomb. some theories are:
-Disciples of Jesus stole his body
-Swoon Theory
-Hallucination Theory
-Roman authorities took the body
-Jewish authorities took the body
-disciple (Mary Magdalene) went to the wrong tomb
-Identical Twin Theory

Theory A: Disciples took Jesus' body!
First, the disciples had no reason to steal the body. Stealing Jesus' body would only mean suicide if they were caught. However, we know from Acts and records from the early church fathers that most of the disciples died because of their preaching about Jesus. We also know that in Acts, the disciples spoke with boldness and fearlessness about Jesus (Acts 4:1-13). Without the resurrection itself, the disciples would have no reason to preach about Jesus. Rather, if they stole Jesus' body and made up the story of the resurrection, then not only did they deliberately preach a lie, they also died for it. People may die for something they believe to be true. But nobody would die for something they KNEW was a lie. Logically speaking, this theory makes no sense.

Theory B: The Swoon (Resuscitation) Theory
This theory states that Jesus did not die but fainted from exhaustion, was thought to be dead, was taken down from the cross, was buried, but revived in the cool of the tomb, then managed to break out of the linen wrapping, push away the stone, break past the guards and meet his disciples, who wrongfully jumped to the conclusion that He died and rose again.
1) How does a person who is crucified die? (John 19:32-33, 38-39)
-A person who is crucified does not die from bleeding or pain, as commonly thought. Rather, they die from asphyxiation. Normally when a person breathes in, the diaphragm muscle contracts (requires energy). This creates a negative pressure in the lungs and air rushes in. To breathe out, the diaphragm muscle relaxes and air moves out passively.
-When someone is crucified and held in an upright position, gravity pulls the diaphragm down. This puts the person's lungs in the "inspiratory position." In order to breathe out, the person must use his legs to pus up and ease the stress on the diaphragm muscle. Once the person breathes out, he can relax again and diaphragm will drop down due to gravity. This will go on until the person no longer is able to push up to breathe out because of exhaustion. When this occurs, the person suffocates and dies.
-when Roman soldiers want to speed up death, they would break people's legs. why? they would no longer be able to push up with their legs to breath out. In John 19:32-33, this happened to two criminals who were beside Jesus. It was obvious that Jesus was dead that the soldiers didn't break his legs.
2) It was noted by John that after Jesus died, a Roman guard took a spear and pierced Jesus' side, causing blood and water to spill out.
-when people die, the blood cells and plasma separate due to different densities. When a person is alive, blood circulates, creating a homogeneous mixture (one phase). when someone dies, plasma floats to the top and blood cells settle to the bottom (heterogeneous mixture; plasma is lighter in density). Thus, you get a mixture of blood and water. It seemed likely that the spear either struck Jesus in the heart or hit a major blood vessel. In light of present medical knowledge, this testimony is significant because it shows that Jesus was in fact dead, and dead long enough for the blood cells and plasma to separate.
-point to note: John recorded this event; the recording of this detail supports the authenticity of the Bible
3) the physical condition of Christ
-before being crucified, he was arrested (for saying that he was the Son of God; John 19:1), beaten/flogged. second, during NT times, people had to carry their own cross if they were to be crucified, but someone else had to carry Jesus' cross for him because of his condition (poor). third, he was crucified (Mark 15:24). fourth, a soldier thrusted a spear to his side (John 19:34).
-assuming that Jesus did not die, but instead fainted, He was wrapped in linen, placed in tomb, large rock covering entrance. From here, Jesus would have to break out of linen, remove stone, then break past the soldiers. When he found his disciples, his condition would have been so poor physically that his disciples would never have worshipped Him as God, but rather feel sorry for Him.
-from a medical standpoint, Jesus was dead. From a logical standopint, there's no way Jesus would have made it out of the tomb, nor be able to convince His followers that He was God, given His physical state.

Theory C: Hallucination Theory
This theory states that the disciples were so confident that Jesus would rise that they eventually believed that it happened, when it fact it didn't. (ie the idea that Christ rose was a wish fulfillment)
-Even if they had hallucinated, then began to preach that He rose from the dead, the Christian movement would have been stopped after the Roman/Jewish authorities presented Jesus' dead body.

Theory D: Roman authorities took the body
-Romans had no reason to steal Jesus' body. They wanted to keep the Jews quiet and keep any rebellious uprisings to a minimum. The last thing they would do is steal Jesus' body and make it look like He resurrected because this would have promoted the spread of Christianity. If they did take Jesus' body for whatever reason, all they had to do was produce His body when the disciples began preaching that He physically rose from the dead.

Theory E: Jewish authorities took the body
-Jewish leaders had no reason to take the body. Throughout the gospels, the Jewish leaders have been plotting to kill Jesus due to their own jealousy as well as fear that Jesus might cause an uprising that would cause the Romans to step in (Matthew 27:62-66). It was the Jewish authorities who wanted to have a guard posted for fear that Jesus' disciples might steal His body then claim that He rose from the dead. They had no reason to steal His body. If they did steal it for whatever reason, all they had to do was produce His body when the disciples began preaching and Christianity would have come to a halt.

Theory F: The Wrong Tomb Theory
This theory states that Mary went to the wrong tomb and since she did not see Jesus' body, she thought He rose from the dead. She then told disciples, who then believed, and they began preaching the resurrection.
-If this is what happened all the Jews/Romans needed to do would be to present the body of Jesus, and Christianity would have died in its infancy.

Theory G: The Identical Twin Theory
This theory states that Jesus had an identical twin. After Jesus was cruficied and died, the disciples saw His twin and came to the conclusion that He rose from the dead, and began preaching.
-problem: there is no historical basis for saying that Jesus had a twin. Even if He did have a twin, theory wouldn't work because: Jewish/Roman authorities could have still presented Jesus' body, then the disciples would have known that Jesus is dead and that it was His twin that they saw OR his twin would not have fooled the disciples because they would have memories of intimate details of shared experiences.

Conclusion: none of these theories hold weight either from a logical or a scientific point of view. For this reason, it can be concluded that the resurrection is the most reasonable explanation for the empty tomb of Jesus.

2) The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus
-there were eye witnesses who claimed to have seen Jesus AFTER his death, thus furthering the case for the resurrection. it is summarized as follows:
-to the women (Matt 28:1-10)
-to the disciples (Matt 28:16-20)
-to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32)
-to the 11 disciples and others (Luke 24:33-49)
-to Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18)
-to 10 disciples plus unbelieving Thomas (John 20:24-29)
-to Peter, James, Paul, and over 500 disciples all at once (1 Cor 15:1-8)

3) Circumstantial Evidence for the Resurrection
The willingness of the disciples to die for their beliefs, as attested to by both secular and church history. When Jesus was crucified, his disciples scattered. However, within a short period of time, they began to preach that Jesus was God. This was done in a hostile environment; the same hostile environment, which had Jesus killed in the first place (Jerusalem). The rewards in which the disciples received were less than apealing to the average person: ridiculed, threatened, mocked, beaten, tortured, killed for their preaching. But despite all the negative effects, they were willing to die for their beliefs. why? because they knew beyond all doubt that Jesus really did resurrect and what He said was true about heaven and hell. Thus, they were willing to go to their deaths to preach this truth.

Well, this brings about the end of resurrection. It's a essay i know, but this is only part of the Christian faith (ie there's still: salvation, sin, heaven/hell, Trinity, Authenticity of Bible, Creation/Evolution, Fossilization..list goes on). Since today's Easter, i just decided to share some stuff, and what exactly does the Christian faith focus on. Anyway, hope your eyes didn't get sore after reading all that =P

cheers everyone
and
Happy Easter =)

Random crap #1

parents aren't home. me cleaning up room. not successful. ew. dirtiness. muhahahha.

anyways, school in 4 days or so. oh my goodness. didn't really start hmwk. stupid piano. took up so much time. ahhhhhhhhhhhh *going nuts*

oh darn. today's the day that i get to drive. woohoo? i haven't driven once this yr i don't think. or maybe i have...no wait...ahh can't remember muhahaha. anyways, it'll be interesting....yes...indeed....=D

so much stuff to do today. but yet, my butt is glued to my chair, not letting me go anywhere..haha jk. let's just hope i can finish my english hmwk tonight. and then do some food & nutri stuff. (ughhhh).

i wanna eat. but i lost my appetite..don't know why. don't know how. maybe stress is coming back...hmmm....*sigh*

crap, i should stop blogging more than once a day x__x. wasting precious space =P update later.....

First Entry

errr right now it's 8:13pm, came home from band rehersal, really really tired and dizzy...testing this out..yes yes...anyways gotta go study =P update later....