Risen Hope

In just a couple of minutes, N.T. Wright answers a question pertaining to the Resurrection of Christ. Wright is always such a genial and clear thinker and speaker and it is nice to have some of his thoughts not just captured in the many books he has written, but also on video. Enjoy!

In the synoptic gospel tradition Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share this story from Jesus’ ministry where the Sadducees challenge Jesus on the Torah and the resurrection (if you do not remember, the Sadducees denied there was such a thing as the resurrection).

Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures of the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I Am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.” (Mark 12:18-27)

Jesus addresses the Sadducees on at least three different levels here.

Marriage

Marriage and procreation are unnecessary functions of the resurrected in the life to come. The purpose of marriage and family is to continue the human race because we face death. God setup a system to keep us from dying out and going extinct. But in the life to come, there is no death and therefore no need to be married and have children. We live forever and do not need to procreate.

Life After Death

Jesus continues with his argument against the Sadducees by showing them their faulty thinking. Reaching back and using as an example a passage of the Torah that they would accept (the Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament) Jesus talks about Yahweh revealing himself to Moses in the burning bush. He says that Yahweh is the God of the living not the dead, yet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived centuries before Moses and had been dead and buried long ago. The point here is that though their bodies had died, they were in fact still alive, but not only that, this pointed to the general resurrection that would happen in the future. Because they were still alive in a disembodied state, at some point they would be rejoined to their resurrected bodies.

Exodus and the Kingdom of God

Moses led the people out of bondage and slavery via the Exodus from Egypt. The Jews living at the time of Jesus were also under bondage to the Roman empire. They expected the Messiah to provide some sort of nationalistic/political exodus for them. Jesus, viewing all people being held in bondage to sin, saw the act he was about to undergo (death, burial and resurrection) as a spiritual exodus leading the people out of a bondage of sin and death and into the Kingdom of God.

The last comment I want to make about the Swoon Theory, for now, is it fails to account for all the historical evidence for the resurrection. Due to that, it requires other theories to cover the data that it fails to address thus making it ad hoc in its approach.

For instance, since the Swoon Theory claims that Jesus did not rise from the dead, it fails to explain how the resurrection became the central teaching of the Apostles and the early church.[1] If Jesus’ followers knew that he had not died and, by extension, had not risen from the dead, then they must be charged with forming a conspiracy to spread this story. But the Conspiracy Theory is full of all sorts of issues as well and it cannot account for all the data either.

Additionally, to make up the idea that Jesus had resurrected ahead of the general resurrection would have been beyond the followers comprehension given their cultural background.[2] But this is what we would be asked to accept if the Swoon Theory were true.

There is also the critique of the skeptic Strauss that if Jesus had appeared alive to the followers instead of risen, they would not have turned around to worship him, but would have sought out medical attention to try and save him. Also, as mentioned yesterday, a badly wounded and most likely crippled Jesus is not going to inspire conversion in either Paul the church persecutor or James, the skeptical half-brother of Jesus.

Overall, the Swoon Theory is on very unstable ground as a viable theory. It leaves too much data unexplained and fails to deliver as a naturalistic explanation.

Previous posts:

1. Swoon Theory – Part 1
2. Swoon Theory – Part 2

1. See 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
2. N.T. Wright has a lot to say about this in his massive book The Resurrection of the Son of God (Fortress Press, 2003).

I’m taking the following information from my the notes I was provided during my graduate level course on the Defense of the Resurrection taught by Dr. Gary Habermas at Biola University. What follows is taken from those notes as being evidence against the Swoon Theory:

1. The archaeological discovery of a crucifixion victim (Yohanon) indicates the accuracy of the basic outline of crucifixion. The majority medical view is that crucifixion induces death by asphyxiation.
2. The use of a chest wound to insure death seems to be confirmed by extra-biblical sources, especially Quintillian. The majority medical view on the chest wound, involving a flow of blood and water, indicates that the Roman spear pierced Jesus’ heart.
3. In Strauss’ famous critique, he basically held that the Swoon Theory is self-contradictory. The Jesus who died by crucifixion would be in absolutely no shape to convince anyone that he had been raised from the dead. He would obviously be alive, but not raised.
4. How would this hypothesis convince Paul?
5. How would this hypothesis convince James, Jesus’ brother?
6. There are about a half-dozen indications that the man buried in the Shroud of Turin is dead, including post-mortem blood flow and rigor mortis.[1]
7. Of the approximately 18 extra-biblical sources for Jesus, about a dozen mention Jesus’ death, including some details of his crucifixion.
8. Curiously, Mark tells us that Pilate questioned Jesus’ early death, but was satisfied after he called the centurion and asked for details (Mark 15:44-45).
9. Bart Ehrman lists at least 11 independent historical sources for Jesus’ crucifixion (163-164, 291), including further textual support drawn from several historical criteria (156-158).[2]

Previous post:

1. Swoon Theory – Part 1

1. The Shroud of Turin dates from the appropriate time of when Jesus would have been buried. While it bears many similarities to what we find in scripture about Jesus’ death, the best we could claim is that it is probably his burial shroud, but having 100% conclusive evidence that it is his seems difficult.
2. Ehrman, Bart D. Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (NY: Harper Collins, 2012).

We briefly touched on this particular skeptical theory here. But that is not all. Even skeptical and atheistic scholars agree that Jesus actually died on the cross and did not swoon.

The Swoon Theory says that Jesus did not die on the cross. Instead, he passed out from his wounds and the trauma. After lying in the coolness of the tomb for a period of time he revived, took off his burial clothes, rolled the stone away by himself, got past the posted guard, walked approximately 1 mile (perhaps more) to where the disciples were staying and presented himself (a bloody, wounded mess) as their risen Lord.

Here is a short video of Dr. Gary Habermas (world’s leading expert on the Resurrection) and Dr. Antony Flew (one of the world’s leading atheist philosophers at the time) discussing this point.

In the next two posts, I’ll provide more detailed information on why the Swoon Theory fails as an explanation for the disciples belief that Jesus rose from the dead.

In this final post and short video in this series of Resurrection Myths with Dr. Michael Licona, he addresses the myth of the Lost Gospels. What are we to do with these documents and the skeptics claims regarding these Lost Gospels.

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. Beyond that, Credo House is currently involved in a Kickstarter campaign that I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Kickstarting the Resurrection. Please consider helping fund this excellent course so that more Christians can be trained in defending this very important doctrine of the Faith.

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
7. Resurrection Myth #7 – It Was Merely a Legend
8. Resurrection Myth #8 – Science Proves that Resurrections Cannot Occur
9. Resurrection Myth #9 – Not Enough Evidence

We know that there is evidence pointing to a resurrection, but is there enough evidence? In this short video, Dr. Michael Licona tells us how the evidence for the resurrection measures up to other ancient figures and their supporting evidence.

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. Beyond that, Credo House is currently involved in a Kickstarter campaign that I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Kickstarting the Resurrection. Please consider helping fund this excellent course so that more Christians can be trained in defending this very important doctrine of the Faith.

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
7. Resurrection Myth #7 – It Was Merely a Legend
8. Resurrection Myth #8 – Science Proves that Resurrections Cannot Occur

You will get no argument from me that resurrections can occur by natural causes. I doubt anyone would say that they could. In this short video, Dr. Michael Licona helps us to understand what is different about Jesus’ resurrection in this regard.

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. Beyond that, Credo House is currently involved in a Kickstarter campaign that I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Kickstarting the Resurrection. Please consider helping fund this excellent course so that more Christians can be trained in defending this very important doctrine of the Faith.

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
7. Resurrection Myth #7 – It Was Merely a Legend

Michael Patton over at Credo House had a vision: to create high quality courses on apologetic and theological topics that the lay person could afford so that they could study alongside the top scholars in their respected fields.

For instance, this past summer Credo House had another kickstarter campaign where they created a course on Textual Criticism taught by one of the world’s foremost and respected scholars on the subject, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace. This course looks to be delivered to the public for purchase in September of this year.

Credo House has several ideas for future courses to be created over the next couple of years. The next course on the list, which happens to be a topic that is close to my heart and mind, is on the Resurrection. This course will be taught by none-other than Dr. Gary Habermas. Dr. Habermas has spent nearly the last 40 years on this topic studying, lecturing, writing, debating, etc. Now, Credo House is bringing him in to create and teach on this topic, but they need our help to do so.

The Resurrection is the most important topic in Christianity because all of Christendom is founded upon this singular historical event. All one needs to do to demonstrate that Christianity is false is to disprove the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Dr. Habermas has taught countless of people both in an academic setting and through his articles and books to defend the historicity of the Resurrection event.

If you have the means, the ability, and the heart to do so, I would strongly encourage you to donate to this wonderful course. I am sure Michael and the rest of those at Credo House would appreciate the gesture. Also, it would be such a wonderful study and tool for the church in general to use to train those in their congregations how to defend this cherished and crucial doctrines of Christendom.

To see the kickstarter campaign for the Textual Criticism course taught by Dr. Wallace, you can see that here.

To see the kickstarter campaign for the Resurrection course taught by Dr. Habermas, please go here and back it if you are so led.

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