How to Defend Jesus' Resurrection for a Skeptic

[Deadworm]

How often have you tried to witness to educated skeptics?  This thread reflects my experience of what does and does not work in my many efforts at such a witness.  1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is the best starting point for defending Jesus' resurrection from a skeptic's dismissal of Gospel resurrection appearances as later legends.  That is because skeptics accept the claims of liberal Gospel critics that none of the Gospels are written by eyewitnesses of Jesus and  that Gospel resurrection narratives are often contradictory.  

In 15:3 Paul introduces his initial presentation of  the Gospel this way, "I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received."  Received from whom?  We can be certain that he  confirms his list of resurrection appearances through  direct contact with the eyewitnesses, if indeed he does not receive this list from them.  Prior to writing  1 Corinthians, Paul has made 2 trips to Jerusalem, during which the eyewitnesses of the resurrection validate the Gospel as Paul presents it (Galatians 2:2, 6).  On his first visit, he meets with "Cephas [Peter] and James the Lord's brother (1:18)" and on his second visit he meets with  "James, Cephas [Jesus' brother], and John (2:9)."  So let's examine the extent to which we can independently confirm Paul's list of resurrection appearances.

First, we need to address who is excluded from Paul's list.  One of my NT professors dismissed Jesus' appearances to Mary Magdalene and the other women as legendary on the grounds that Paul would have mentioned them.  But the testimony of women   was trivialized in Jewish society, and so, female testimony to the resurrection was probably omitted for practical reasons.  But for that very reason it is unlikely that the appearances to women would be invented1!  But why does Paul omit the appearances to the Emmaus disciples?  Probably because they were not part of the inner circle of disciples.  

"He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve (1 Cor. 15:5)."  When the 2 Emmaus disciples return to Jerusalem to report Jesus' appearance to them, the disciples respond, "The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon (= Peter--Luke 24:34)!  Jesus then appears to "the eleven."  This confirms Paul's sequence "to Cephas, then to the Twelve."  "The Twelve" is a technical name for Jesus' disciples and is not meant to be taken literally.  Thus, it excludes Judas Iscariot and Thomas (John 20:24) in Jesus' first appearance to the disciples.

"Then He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:6)."  The implication is that Paul is intimately acquainted with some of these witnesses and has been updated on the passing of some of them.  Where did this appearance occur?  No Christian house or building was large enough to contain so large a crowd and it is unlikely that this appearance occurred in the Temple, where many unbelievers would have been present.  Why and where would 500 believers be gathered together like this?  This is likely an allusion to the mountain appearance in Matthew 28:16-20: "Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.(28:17)."  Jesus had probably told them where He would appear to them either during His announcement of a Galilean resurrection appearance in Mark 14:28 or in His first resurrection appearance to them.  But that advanced knowledge of the landmark meeting place suggests that many of Jesus' other followers would have been notified of Jesus' imminent appearance there.  The text never says that only the eleven went to that locale and we are told, "But some doubted (28:17)."  It is unlikely that any of the 11 would still doubt after 2 Jerusalem appearances during which Jesus allowed His body to be touched and even ate fish (Luke 24:39-42).  The doubters surely come from some of the 500 plus other witnesses.

The mountain where Jesus appears to the 500+ is likely one of the mountains near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, probably either the mountain of the Feeding of the 5,000 or the Sermon on the Mount site.  So I view the Galilean appearance by the shore (John 20:1-14) as part of Jesus' extended appearance sequence on the mountain.

"Then He appeared to James [Jesus' brother], then to all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:7)."  The Gospels repeatedly tell us that Jesus' own family rejected His messianic claims and ministry (Mark 3:19-20; 6:4; John  7:5).  Yet we find Jesus' mother and brothers joining the disciples in the prayer vigil leading up to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:14).  The best explanation of their sudden conversion is Jesus' brother James's testimony to his private encounter with the risen Lord.  The case for identifying the appearance to James in our Gospels is complicated; so I won't address it here, suffice to remind you that each Gospel resurrection narrative is incomplete. The final appearance "to all the apostles" refers to the appearance during which the Ascension occurs (Acts 1:6-11).

"Last of all, He appeared to me (1 Cor. 15:8)."  The blinding light appearance of Jesus to Paul is particularly evidential because it transformed him from a leading persecutor of Christians into the faith's most effective defender (see Acts 9:1-8)

[Who me]

I think that when talking with skeptics one must establish terms and what they will accept as valid evidence.

Without this there is a risk that they will have mobile standards of evidence.

Questions like what do you believe and what evidence do you have for that belief are useful as they get them talking about themselves and if we listen will give clues as to where we need to take the conversation.

 

For the atheists have a problem. There is no reason for not believing in God other than emotional grounds.

The evidence, the reasons are all in favour of Christianity.

[RVKM]

On 8/27/2020 at 11:36 PM, Who me said:

I think that when talking with skeptics one must establish terms and what they will accept as valid evidence.

Without this there is a risk that they will have mobile standards of evidence.

Questions like what do you believe and what evidence do you have for that belief are useful as they get them talking about themselves and if we listen will give clues as to where we need to take the conversation.

 

For the atheists have a problem. There is no reason for not believing in God other than emotional grounds.

The evidence, the reasons are all in favour of Christianity.

I don't think that is true. Plenty of skeptics disagree with the claims of Christians for good reasons--none of which may be emotional.

[Who me]

3 hours ago, RVKM said:

I don't think that is true. Plenty of skeptics disagree with the claims of Christians for good reasons--none of which may be emotional.

Skeptics disagree with Christianity for many reasons. That historically there is evidence that Jesus lived, was crucified, hurried, his tomb was found to be empty and in the weasel words of atheistic historians, the disciples believed they had met with the risen Jesus.

That wording is used to avoid facing the problem of acknowledging that Jesus had been faced to life.

There is no logical reason for that only an emotional reason of " I don't want Christianity to be true! "

 

 

[RVKM]

On 8/29/2020 at 5:47 AM, Who me said:

Skeptics disagree with Christianity for many reasons. That historically there is evidence that Jesus lived, was crucified, hurried, his tomb was found to be empty and in the weasel words of atheistic historians, the disciples believed they had met with the risen Jesus.

That wording is used to avoid facing the problem of acknowledging that Jesus had been faced to life.

There is no logical reason for that only an emotional reason of " I don't want Christianity to be true! "

 

 

 I don't believe in the resurrection because I don't think circular arguments are particularly compelling. You can't use the Bible to prove the claims of the Bible. You need actual evidence for your claims.

Edited November 14, 2020 by Alive
deleted bad language

[Alive]

Please choose appropriate language on this forum.

[Paul James]

On 8/19/2020 at 7:29 AM, Deadworm said:

How often have you tried to witness to educated skeptics?  This thread reflects my experience of what does and does not work in my many efforts at such a witness.  1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is the best starting point for defending Jesus' resurrection from a skeptic's dismissal of Gospel resurrection appearances as later legends.  That is because skeptics accept the claims of liberal Gospel critics that none of the Gospels are written by eyewitnesses of Jesus and  that Gospel resurrection narratives are often contradictory.  

In 15:3 Paul introduces his initial presentation of  the Gospel this way, "I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received."  Received from whom?  We can be certain that he  confirms his list of resurrection appearances through  direct contact with the eyewitnesses, if indeed he does not receive this list from them.  Prior to writing  1 Corinthians, Paul has made 2 trips to Jerusalem, during which the eyewitnesses of the resurrection validate the Gospel as Paul presents it (Galatians 2:2, 6).  On his first visit, he meets with "Cephas [Peter] and James the Lord's brother (1:18)" and on his second visit he meets with  "James, Cephas [Jesus' brother], and John (2:9)."  So let's examine the extent to which we can independently confirm Paul's list of resurrection appearances.

First, we need to address who is excluded from Paul's list.  One of my NT professors dismissed Jesus' appearances to Mary Magdalene and the other women as legendary on the grounds that Paul would have mentioned them.  But the testimony of women   was trivialized in Jewish society, and so, female testimony to the resurrection was probably omitted for practical reasons.  But for that very reason it is unlikely that the appearances to women would be invented1!  But why does Paul omit the appearances to the Emmaus disciples?  Probably because they were not part of the inner circle of disciples.  

"He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve (1 Cor. 15:5)."  When the 2 Emmaus disciples return to Jerusalem to report Jesus' appearance to them, the disciples respond, "The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon (= Peter--Luke 24:34)!  Jesus then appears to "the eleven."  This confirms Paul's sequence "to Cephas, then to the Twelve."  "The Twelve" is a technical name for Jesus' disciples and is not meant to be taken literally.  Thus, it excludes Judas Iscariot and Thomas (John 20:24) in Jesus' first appearance to the disciples.

"Then He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive though some have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 15:6)."  The implication is that Paul is intimately acquainted with some of these witnesses and has been updated on the passing of some of them.  Where did this appearance occur?  No Christian house or building was large enough to contain so large a crowd and it is unlikely that this appearance occurred in the Temple, where many unbelievers would have been present.  Why and where would 500 believers be gathered together like this?  This is likely an allusion to the mountain appearance in Matthew 28:16-20: "Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.(28:17)."  Jesus had probably told them where He would appear to them either during His announcement of a Galilean resurrection appearance in Mark 14:28 or in His first resurrection appearance to them.  But that advanced knowledge of the landmark meeting place suggests that many of Jesus' other followers would have been notified of Jesus' imminent appearance there.  The text never says that only the eleven went to that locale and we are told, "But some doubted (28:17)."  It is unlikely that any of the 11 would still doubt after 2 Jerusalem appearances during which Jesus allowed His body to be touched and even ate fish (Luke 24:39-42).  The doubters surely come from some of the 500 plus other witnesses.

The mountain where Jesus appears to the 500+ is likely one of the mountains near the shore of the Sea of Galilee, probably either the mountain of the Feeding of the 5,000 or the Sermon on the Mount site.  So I view the Galilean appearance by the shore (John 20:1-14) as part of Jesus' extended appearance sequence on the mountain.

"Then He appeared to James [Jesus' brother], then to all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:7)."  The Gospels repeatedly tell us that Jesus' own family rejected His messianic claims and ministry (Mark 3:19-20; 6:4; John  7:5).  Yet we find Jesus' mother and brothers joining the disciples in the prayer vigil leading up to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:14).  The best explanation of their sudden conversion is Jesus' brother James's testimony to his private encounter with the risen Lord.  The case for identifying the appearance to James in our Gospels is complicated; so I won't address it here, suffice to remind you that each Gospel resurrection narrative is incomplete. The final appearance "to all the apostles" refers to the appearance during which the Ascension occurs (Acts 1:6-11).

"Last of all, He appeared to me (1 Cor. 15:8)."  The blinding light appearance of Jesus to Paul is particularly evidential because it transformed him from a leading persecutor of Christians into the faith's most effective defender (see Acts 9:1-8)

There is an excellent book called, "Who Moved The Stone?"  by Frank Morrison.  Available on Amazon from $4.65 second hand.  Mr Morrison was a skeptic who set out to prove that the resurrection didn't happen.  Halfway through his research he discovered that there was overwhelming evidence that proved the resurrection, so he completed his research and wrote the book to show that the resurrection of Christ really did happen.

[Who me]

There is plenty of intellectual arguments for the resurrection.

It should be remembered that it is up to the challenger, the skeptic to prove the resurrection did. Not happen.

For the Christian sites like coldcasechristianity provides a detectives assessment of he new testament and of there validity as witness statements.

He also lists and comments on the many hostile contemporary witnesses to Christianity.

Another useful site is reasonablecfaith and wintery knight, both have articles on the accuracy and reliability of scripture.

Books Lee Strobel the case for Christ's, Josh McDowell, Evidence that demands a verdic.

For biblical resources answersingenesis ( yes I know a yec site, but they stand on the accuracy and authority of scripture, so are a helpful resource. )

 

[Deadworm]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:21 AM, Who me said:

There is plenty of intellectual arguments for the resurrection.

It should be remembered that it is up to the challenger, the skeptic to prove the resurrection did. Not happen.

 

 

By your logic an honest seeker must accept the divine source of the Book of Mormon unless he can prove it wasn't written on the gold tables shown to Joseph Smith just as he claimed.

 

Paul James, specifically which arguments from "Who Moved the Stone" do you imagine would convince a modern skeptic?

[R. Hartono]

On 11/23/2020 at 10:21 PM, Who me said:

There is plenty of intellectual arguments for the resurrection.

 

We dont need to argue with peop!e or try to memorize arguments, just say the truth that Jesus has resurrected, full stop.

Its the job of Holy Spirit to open people's heart, not our job, we only need to share Gospel with love but without forcing people to believe.