Neo-Atheists have been claiming for decades that Christians believe in God despite evidence to the contrary. The fascinating thing is, all they need to do to prove their case is show beyond reasonable doubt that Easter Sunday never happened. The Bible itself tells us that ‘if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith’ (1 Corinthians 15:14). Opponents only have to disprove 4 simple historical facts, as follows:
Fact 1: Multiple independent historical accounts claim Jesus was buried in the tomb of a well-known Jewish leader called Joseph of Arimathea, with no alternate theories.
Fact 2: Multiple independent historical accounts claim this easily identifiable tomb (i.e. owned by a prominent Jewish resident) was empty on Easter Sunday. The Jewish leaders knew the tomb was empty, which is why they spread the story that the disciples stole the body.
Fact 3: Multiple eyewitnesses experienced appearances of the risen Jesus, including members of his own family. What would it take for 1st century Jews, not to mention his own brothers, to believe he was risen?
Fact 4: Even though the disciples had every reason to not believe in the resurrection, they all died early deaths proclaiming Jesus was risen. The fact is the birth of the Christian church cannot be explained without a release of energy unparalleled in human history. That release of energy was people witnessing the risen Jesus.
When people say ‘I just don’t believe in miracles’, they must understand they are doing ‘faith’ at that point; not history. The only scholarly way to disprove Christianity is do business with the historical sources; which no one has done successfully in almost 2,000 years.
As such, rest assured this Easter that your faith is well placed O Christian.
