The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
No other event in history has been the object of as much scrutiny and criticism as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the basis upon which all Christianity stands. If the resurrection never happened, then there would be no Christianity, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14, 'And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.' This is why opponents of the Christian faith have tried to attempt to discredit the Biblical account of the resurrection. Of the many theories of the resurrection, the Biblical account is the only historically reliable and possible explanation of the resurrection.
The historical reliability of the Bible is the first matter that needs to be discussed. There are three criteria that the military historian C. Sanders lists as principles for documentary historical proof: the bibliographical test, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test (McDowell 43).
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Ch...
The Resurrection of Christ (Kinnaird Resurrection)
English: Resurrection of ChristThe bibliographical test is the examination of text by the documents that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the New Testament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the time intervals between the time in which the piece of literature was written and our earliest copy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations. Totally there are around 24,000 total MSS for the New Testament. The next closest document in respect to MSS is the 'Illiad' by Homer, with 643 manuscripts(McDowell 43).
The textual reliability then continues with respect to the time interval between the original and the first known manuscript. The shorter the interval, the more reliable the text is. Homer's 'Illiad' was written in 900 BC and...
What if Jesus did not DIE on the cross
You missed the most obvious option. If he survived, of course people would have seen him. Would it be so hard to believe. The burial is questionable, especially when compared to the raising of Lazerus from the dead. When taken off the cross Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus up in a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing abvout one hundred pounds. That is not a Jewish burial custom. Why would you wrap a dead person in healing plants like aloe vera? How could Jesus have died after only three hours when it takes most three days? Why didn't they break his legs like the other two criminals? Too many things that just contradict each other. If he did survive he would have had to flee from there before word spread too much. Perhaps he went back to where ever it was he appeared from in his early 30's. Where ever he was during the 18 years that we learn nothing about in the Bible, have you ever wondered about those years that shaped his life? You really should.
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