Risen Hope

Chapter 1: The Introduction in Defence of Everything New

Chesterton begins this wonderful little book with a discussion of holding on to both wonder and familiarity at the same time.

First he provides his motivation for writing this book. It is a way for him, in a series of “mental pictures,” to describe that particular philosophy that he has come to believe. As he points it, it is not his philosophy since he did not make, but rather “God and humanity made it; and it made [him].”

And just as promised, Chesterton delights us with a story; a mental picture. It is one of an English yachtsmen who sets off for adventure in discovery of new lands. And when he finds it, as he sets off to stake his claim, he realizes that he hasn’t discovered anything new at all, but instead he finds himself in his old land.

For Chesterton this provides immense joy and comfort. The ability to still find wonder and discovery without the bother of leaving home. This becomes his metaphor for the way in which he discovered the Christian faith. He thought he was going against the grain, an original, cutting a new path, hot on the pursuit of truth only to discover that what he ended up finding had been founded 1800 years earlier and he had all of Christendom behind him.

Chesterton closes out this chapter with this poignant paragraph:

I did strain my voice with a painfully juvenile exaggeration in uttering my truths. And I was punished in the fittest and funniest way, for I have kept my truths: but I have discovered, not that they were not truths, but simply that they were not mine. When I fancied that I stood alone I was really in the ridiculous position of being backed up by all Christendom. It may be, Heaven forgive me, that I did try to be original; but I only succeeded in inventing all by myself and inferior copy of the existing traditions of civilized religion. The man from the yacht thought he was the first to find England; I thought I was the first to find Europe. I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Believing you had discovered something new and unique only to find out that you were the last in a long line of adventurers?

To join in on the online discussion of this book over the next several weeks, navigate on over to the Mere Orthodoxy blog and dive right in. We might just discover some new wonders while searching for new lands and end up discovering we never left our own backyard.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton – Part 1

You can also see my initial contribution in the comments section here.

In this short video by Dr. Michael Licona, he talks about the objection that the resurrection being a legend. Once again, in an attempt to find a purely naturalistic explanation for the resurrection, skeptics must attempt to offer an explanation for the missing body. However, their conclusions always come up short because they never account for all the data that exists.

Remember, to see the course on the Resurrection that Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support. I am sure he would appreciate it.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel
2. Resurrection Myth #2 – Pagan Parallels and Christianity’s Origins
3. Resurrection Myth #3 – The Fraud Theory
4. Resurrection Myth #4 – Hallucinations
5. Resurrection Myth #5 – It’s a Matter of Faith
6. Resurrection Myth #6 – Apparent Death Theory

In today’s video, Dr. Michael Licona deal with the “Apparent Death Theory” objection that skeptics bring up. With this theory, the skeptic claims that Jesus was not really dead when he was taken off the cross. As a matter of fact, I recently had a skeptic challenge me with this particular objection on Twitter just last week.

In addition to the evidence that Dr. Licona provides in this video, there is also other evidence that one can give as noted by cold-case detective and Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace’s new book Cold-Case Christianity. Wallace states three things about dead bodies that are not easy to overlook:

1. Temperature – they are colder
2. Rigidity – they become stiff
3. Lividity – they bruise easily because the blood settles

Let’s see what Dr. Licona has to say.

Remember, to see the course on the Resurrection that Licona is talking about, you can head over to Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

You can also learn more about J Warner Wallace and his book Cold-Case Christianity at his website by the same name here. I highly recommend this book to you. It is excellently written and very clear in the content it communicates.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support. I am sure he would appreciate it.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel
2. Resurrection Myth #2 – Pagan Parallels and Christianity’s Origins
3. Resurrection Myth #3 – The Fraud Theory
4. Resurrection Myth #4 – Hallucinations
5. Resurrection Myth #5 – It’s a Matter of Faith

In today’s video, Dr. Michael Licona takes on the myth that in order to believe in the Resurrection, one must take it completely on faith because there is no evidence to back it up. While the video is short and Dr. Licona does not go into great depth or detail here, that there is no evidence for the resurrection is a false notion. There is plenty of evidence and the evidence is very, very strong.

Remember, to see the course on the Resurrection that Licona is talking about, you can head over to Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support. I am sure he would appreciate it.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel
2. Resurrection Myth #2 – Pagan Parallels and Christianity’s Origins
3. Resurrection Myth #3 – The Fraud Theory
4. Resurrection Myth #4 – Hallucinations

The idea that the disciples and other followers of Jesus hallucinated Jesus’ post-death appearances is fraught with all sorts of errors and obstacles. In this short video, from the Credo House “Resurrection Myth” series, Dr. Michael Licona continues his myth-busting talking about hallucinations and their pitfalls.

Remember, to see the course on the Resurrection that Licona is talking about, you can head over to Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support. I am sure he would appreciate it.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel
2. Resurrection Myth #2 – Pagan Parallels and Christianity’s Origins
3. Resurrection Myth #3 – The Fraud Theory

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1874 – June 14, 1936) was as prolific a writer as there ever was. He wrote approximately 69 books along with countless articles and journals, along with engaging in newspaper and public debates. He was a fierce defender of the Christian faith and yet close friends with George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell. He had a wit, a warmth, and a depth about him that seems to be lacking in Christianity and Christians today.

Over at the Gospel Coalition they are starting a community read-thru of his brilliant book Orthodoxy. I fell in love with this book a number of years ago and I attempt to read through it once a year if I have the time. I have not been able to read it this year yet, but I do plan on joining this group and doing so now. The book is full of insight and charm along with GKC’s usual literary nuggets of wisdom and wit.

I would strongly encourage you to join in the conversation if you are so inclined. There is currently a free copy of the Kindle version of Orthodoxy available through Amazon and they provide free-readers for you computer and certain mobile devices if you do not already own a Kindle. Even though they began this journey two days ago (August 7, 2013), there is still time to jump in. We will not begin reading until next Wednesday.

I hope to see you in the conversation.

You can learn more about G.K. Chesterton at the following sites below:

1. The American Chesterton Society
2. Mere Orthodoxy (a blog – not necessarily about Chesterton, but they take their cues from Lewis and GCK about how Christians ought to engage our current culture – think of this as Chesterton in 21st century practice)
3. Wikipedia Entry

In today’s short video, Dr. Michael Licona talks briefly about the Fraud Theory which, in essence, charges the followers of Jesus with stealing Jesus’ body from the tomb and then making up the story about the resurrection. Further, the disciples would then have become willing martyrs for the known lie that they would have invented. While there are many other problems with this theory beyond this, the video is a good place to begin the investigation.

Remember, to see the course on the Resurrection that Licona is talking about, you can head over to Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support. I am sure he would appreciate it.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel
2. Resurrection Myth #2 – Pagan Parallels and Christianity’s Origins

Is Christianity merely an amalgamation of various pagan myths into one? Did Christianity get its origins by picking and choosing from the pagan myths of its day? Let’s see what Dr. Michael Licona has to say.

Don’t forget that this is a series of videos put together by Credo House. If you like these, head on over there and show Michael Patton some appreciation. They also have a DVD study on the Resurrection that Dr. Licona did for them as well.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Resurrection Myth #1 – Contradictions in the Gospel

Credo House is a fantastic source of theological information on the internet. If you have never visited their site, I would encourage you to do so. Michael Patton does a fantastic job leading that ministry.

Just over a year ago Credo House put together a series of short videos dealing with myths of the Resurrection, and they got my friend Dr. Michael Licona to do the videos for them on site. The next several posts will be these short videos with Licona giving a very short explanation for why the myth fails.

To see the course on the Resurrection that Licona is talking about, you can head over to Credo House’s website and see what that is all about and hopefully purchase a copy for yourself. I own a copy and it is a good introduction to the topic of the Resurrection.

Also, to learn more about Licona, the work he does and to possible become a supporting of his ministry, head on over to RisenJesus.com and give him your support.

This is the final post in this particular series on The Minimal Facts and the Historical Criteria for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

The empty tomb is fairly well debated amongst scholars and roughly 70% agree that a tomb was discovered empty that early Sunday morning.

Multiple, Independent Sources

The empty tomb shows up in the writings of all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as well as in Acts. There is debate over whether it is implied in the creedal statement in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.  Outside the scriptures, it is strongly implied by Justin Martyr[1] and Tertullian[2].

Enemy Affirmation

We see the first enemy acknowledgement of the empty tomb in Matthew 28:12-13. Here, the Jewish leaders, rather than denying that the tomb is empty or that Jesus’ followers went to the wrong tomb, they implicitly accept the fact of the empty tomb and attempt to provide an alternate explanation for its being so. They say that Jesus’ disciples stole the body. We see this story still be circulated and retold decades and centuries later as evidenced by Justin Martyr and Tertullian (as referenced above).

Embarrassing Testimony

That the tomb was first discovered and reported by women is an embarrassing fact for the early believers. Given the time and culture in which they lived, women’s testimony was rarely allowed in court and they were not considered eyewitness material due to the fickle nature. In that time and culture it would take the testimony of two women to equal that of a single man. However, the first testimony given and recorded is that of women. If this were being made up, we might expect this to have not been included in the story at all (it’s not part of the creedal statement in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Further embarrassing detail is that none of the followers of Jesus thought that He had risen from the dead. That was not their initial reaction. They thought his body had been moved to a different location. It was only later, after Jesus appeared to them, that they came to realize He had risen from the dead.

Eyewitness Testimony

Initially the women were eyewitnesses to the empty tomb. They ran back and told the disciples that the tomb was empty and they did not believe them. They thought the women were talking nonsense (Luke 24:1-12), so Peter and John both run to the tomb to investigate for themselves.

Early Testimony

The fact that eyewitnesses relay the information demonstrate that it is early. But the fact that Christianity sprung up and took root in the very location where Jesus was arrested, beaten, put on trial, flogged, crucified, and buried followed by His disciples making incredible claims of Him rising again just 50 days later during Pentecost is unbelievable. The last place Christianity should have its beginnings is in Jerusalem. It would be like building an independent bookstore right next to a Barnes & Noble and expecting to survive. It is all about location, location, location and if Christianity’s claims were false, then the worst place to attempt to start the religion would be in the heart of Judaism. But yet, the early claims and beliefs of the first followers were able to do so because of what they experienced – a risen Jesus of Nazareth.

1. Justin Martyr, Trypho 108
2. Tertullian, De Spectaculis 30