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Introduction

The Open-Minded Skeptic
-The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
-Fulfilled Prophecy
-Manuscript Reliability
-Archaeololgy

The Close-Minded Skeptic
-Dead Men Don't Bleed

 This Could Change Your Life!

Several years ago I wrote a simple brief paper for some Christian young people who were looking for a tool that might help their more skeptical peers to be willing to take seriously the claims of Christianity. In its essence, here is that paper.

Introduction

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Men who were scattered and fearful after the death by crucifixion of their Leader suddenly became so emboldened that they were willing to die for their conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead. Before they were martyred they were given opportunity to recant. All they had to do was admit that they were party to a hoax. All they had to say was that maybe Jesus was not alive after all. But they could not. They knew the truth. Jesus really had been raised from the dead. They had seen Him dying on the cross. They had seen His dead body as it was taken from the cross and prepared for burial. And they had seen Him alive again. They were totally convinced to the core of their being that He was alive and that He was the key to their own victory over death. This is the only explanation for their unanimous willingness to endure painful execution by the sword, by being boiled alive in huge pots of oil, by being flayed alive, by being crucified upside down, by being burned at the stake, etc. Surely at least one of them would have recanted if in his mind there was even the slightest hint of a doubt about the veracity of the resurrection. Remember: many men have died for many causes, but men DON'T die for what they KNOW to be a lie!

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 (which even secular scholars acknowledge was written less than 25 years after the crucifixion of Jesus) that Jesus had appeared to over 500 people at once after His resurrection. Most of these, he added, were still alive at the time. In other words, he was inviting skeptical readers of his day to check it out by questioning some of these living eyewitnesses. Over 250 eyewitnesses would be considered pretty substantial evidence in a court of law today!

Some have foolishly speculated that perhaps the apostles stole the body of Jesus, then claimed that he had arisen. But how many of them would have been willing to die for such a fabrication?

Others have foolishly imagined that the unbelieving Jews took His body. But why? All they would have had to do to nip the early church in the bud would have been to produce the dead body of Jesus. They could not. One might speculate that perhaps the unbelieving Jews took His body and then destroyed or lost it. Again, it is difficult to conceive a motive for such action. And again, would men have been willing to die such agonizing deaths for a mere rumor that He was alive (especially in the face of all the logic of those who did not believe He was alive)?

This kind of evidence has convinced many skeptics in the past. Some have even undertaken the project of writing books to "debunk" Christianity only to change their minds in the process and become believers. A case in point is the example of two brilliant skeptics in 18th century London. One was Lord Lyttleton who later became Chancellor of the Exchequer. The other was a prominent lawyer named Gilbert West. They were friends and were agreed in rejecting the truth of the Bible. They also agreed that the two strongest pillars of the Christian church were the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the conversion of the apostle Paul. They expected that if these could be disproved, Christianity would collapse. So they each decided to write a book. Lyttleton was going to demonstrate that the conversion of Paul as recorded in Acts was a fabricated story. West was going to show that the resurrection was a mere myth. After some time of study and research, Lyttleton asked West how his work was going. West replied, "To be honest, the more I examine the evidence, the more convinced I am that the Gospel story is true. I intend now to write a book to demonstrate the truth of the resurrection." Lyttleton replied, "I have come to the same conclusion regarding the conversion of Paul." Other prominent skeptics who became believers after carefully studying the evidence include Sir William Ramsay, Frank Morison (English lawyer and journalist and author of Who Moved the Stone?), C.S. Lewis, Lew Wallace (author of Ben-Hur), and Giovanni Papini (prominant Italian atheist and author of Life of Christ). It seems to me that the evidence, for those who will look, is overwhelming.

Fulfilled Prophecy

Scores of other prophecies about the futures of key cities and empires and people were written and later fulfilled in detail. These include people and places like Alexander the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Nineveh, Tyre, Samaria, Petra, Babylon, Jerusalem, etc. These are well documented and easily confirmed.

The laws of mathematical probability make it statistically inconceivable that even a small fraction of these prophecies could have been fulfilled by sheer chance. Of course, some have speculated that the fulfullment was deliberate (i.e. that Jesus simply read the prophecies and tried to make them fit His life). But many of the prophecies are entirely out of human control (e.g. the place, time, and manner of His birth, His betrayal, the manner of His death and burial, etc.) Fulfilled prophecy is a powerful evidence for those who sincerely seek truth.

Manuscript Reliability

We have over 13,000 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament alone. Some of these go back to the third and fourth centuries. And some (e.g. the John Ryland portion of the Gospel of John) have been dated as early as 130 A.D. It is interesting to compare the manuscript evidence for the New Testament to that of other famous writings that are considered beyond question. For example, we have no more than five copies of manuscripts of any given work by Aristotle, and the earliest goes back to only 1100 A.D. We have seven ancient manuscripts of Plato's works. The earliest is from 900 A.D. We have 20 ancient manuscripts of Tacitus' works; the earliest is dated 1100 A.D.

From the beginning, the reliability and accuracy of the New Testament was a matter of great concern. Therefore the evidence is strong that the New Testament is trustworthy, especially when compared with other ancient writings. (The painstaking care with which ancient Jewish scribes copied the Old Testament scriptures is also well known and documented.)

Archaeology

Dead Men Don't Bleed

Perhaps a helpful approach with this type of skeptic is a brief statement of my personal experience with Jesus Christ, backed up with a consistent Christian life full of joy, peace, love, and a zest for living. In the Bible there is the story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus. Afterward he was questioned antagonistically by unbelievers who demanded that he give an answer. He said, in essence, "I don't know all your answers. But I do know this: Once I was blind and now I can see." What could they say? Who can argue with someone else's personal experience?

So, to our more argumentative friends we can say, "I may not be able to answer all your questions, but I do know this: Life makes sense to me. I have an inner peace that most people only dream about. I have joy and a purpose for living that I would not trade for anything. I do not have to live with guilt anymore. I do not have to fear death anymore. Life for me is an incredibly exciting adventure that will someday culminate in my "graduation to glory." And all of this is because of Jesus."

Words of that sort, backed up with a consistent life, can whet even the most hardened skeptic's curiosity.

Steve Hall
1991
steve@aboundingjoy.com

© 2000 Steve Hall. Permission is hereby granted to quote from these web pages, in part or in full, as long as the following statement is included: "© 2000 Steve Hall (steve@aboundingjoy.com). Quoted by Permission."