The Resurrection: Hope or Hoax?

by Pastor John.

I can understand where people are coming from. I really can. I understand why they think we are crazy.

Many people hold to a naturalistic worldview that would affirm the scientific method as the ultimate source of truth. Therefore, claiming the historical truth of an event like the resurrection of Jesus seems not only implausible but also preposterous.

We have to say more to people than "just believe".

Our faith is not a blind faith, but a reasoned faith that brings us to logical hope.

Recently I discovered the one-minute apologist, a youtube channel that seeks to "give credible answers to curious questions". An apologist is someone who logically defends the Christian faith. But one of the challenges to apologetics is that it is an incredibly broad field. There is a lot to research.

But Bobby Conway has put together succinct answers that are digestible for the average follower of Jesus.

I've put together a youtube playlist of some of the best of the one-minute apologists arguments for the resurrection. You can click on that playlist here, or you can see the videos below with a summary of their argument. I hope this helps you have a reason for your hope.

The witnesses, the prophecies, the missing body never appeared, post-resurrection appearances to 500 people, and the life change of believers all point to Jesus really, historically rising from the dead.

Was it a conspiracy? There were too many people involved for a successful conspiracy.

What benefit would the NT writers gain by inventing the resurrection? There were 1000s of Christians before a line of the NT was written, because the NT writers did not create the resurrection. The resurrection created the NT writers.

An early creed (statement of belief) shows that there wasn't time for a myth to develop around the resurrection.

Were those who claimed to see Jesus just delusional and hallucinating? This would be highly unlikely.

If the disciples started saying "Jesus is risen!" after someone stole his body, why wouldn't the thief produce the body to debunk the theory?
Was it possible for Jesus not to die?

Do the hypothesis that supposedly debunk the resurrection fit the facts that most scholars believe happened? The resurrection is actually the best explanation of what actually happened.