Workshop – Aplogetics

Purpose: Apologetics Workshop on the defense for the resurrection of Christ.

Study was based on the book Case for Christ (Specifically chapter 12)

Evie started the night with a powerpoint presentation (from Pastor Tim) on an intro to Apologetics.

Here are the notes Jon researched for the night.  Not everything was covered, however there were good discussions on the topics:
- How Jesus was really dead and buried in the tomb
- How Jesus could not get out by Himself
- Talks about the guards guarding His tomb.
- The first eye-witnesses of Jesus after resurrection
- The discrepancies of the gospels when retelling the witness accounts 

Introduction:

The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word “apologia,” pronounced, “ap-ol-og-ee’-ah.” It means, “a verbal defense.”  

Apologetics is the work of convincing people to change their views.  In this, it is similar to preaching because its goal is ultimately the defense and presentation of the validity and necessity of the gospel. It is an attempt to persuade the listener to change his beliefs and life to conform to biblical truth and to come to a saving relationship in Christ.

Focus today is on defense of the resurrection of Christ and the defense of the empty tomb.

 

Jesus who he was and significance of the Resurrection:

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet who claimed to be the Christ prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures, was arrested, was judged a political criminal, and was crucified. Three days after His death and burial, some women who went to His tomb found the body gone. In subsequent weeks, His disciples claimed that God had raised Him from the dead and that He appeared to them various times before ascending into heaven.

 

From that foundation, Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and has continued to exert great influence down through the centuries. ~Josh McDowell, (http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html) Read Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, a summary of the resurrection

Significance

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains in detail the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Some in Corinth did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in this chapter Paul gives six disastrous consequences if there were no resurrection: 1) preaching Christ would be senseless (v. 14); 2) faith in Christ would be useless (v. 14); 3) all the witnesses and preachers of the resurrection would be liars (v. 15); 4) no one would be redeemed from sin (v. 17); 5) all former believers would have perished (v.18); and 6) Christians would be the most pitiable people on the earth (v. 19). But Christ indeed has risen from the dead and “has become the first fruits of those who have fallen sleep” (v. 20), assuring that we will follow Him in resurrection.( http://www.gotquestions.org/resurrection-Christ-important.html)

 

Therefore, as we have said before, Jesus is the Cornerstone and if we can be reasonably assured of the resurrection, then we can be assured of his dominion over death (Rom 6:9), Jesus will intercede for us in heaven (2 Cor 4:14), upon receiving the grace of justification by faith we can have hope will we be raised by him (Eph 2:6), and that we can have a personal fellowship with him (Matt 28:20)  ~John Piper (http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2008/2675_Let_These_Results_of_the_Resurrection_of_Jesus_Revive_Your_Passion_for_His_Supremacy_Over_All_Things) There are other things that we are assured but these are the basic ones, more on this site

 

 

Questions that Need to be Answer

1. Was Jesus real and claim he was God?
2. Did Jesus physically die?
3. Was he buried and resurrected?
4. Did he appear to others after his death?

1. C.S Lewis in his Book Mere Christianity claimed that Jesus could only be 1 of 3 things

1.  
   1. Legend
   2. Something Worse (Liar)
   3. Mad Man
   4. Son of God

Since then Legend has been erased. For the following reason:

Many religions that diverge from Christianity, will agree that Jesus was a real person and therefore for the most part has been abandoned by sceptics to try to attack the physical person of Jesus

-          Biblical evidence of  Jesus which the accounts are considered historically accurate Chapter 1 in Case 4 Christ by Blomberg is good. It’s important to discuss reliability of scripture because it is going to be a running theme . CARM = http://www.carm.org/evidence.htm has good references too

-          A lot of people don’t know that there is a lot of non-biblical evidence. In fact, we could get the same kind of picture of Jesus from non-biblical sources alone.

o   Some Writers from 100-150 years after Jesus (Roughly 17 sources)

§  Tacitus

§  Jospheus

§  Plinty the younger

§  Thallus

Did he Claim to be God?

Many Muslims will assert that Jesus never asserted that he was the Son of God.

He claims

Ch 9 and chp 7 in Case 4 Christ deals very well with this topic. The following are verses I got from CARM:

1.      John 1:1,14  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us…”

1.      This shows that Jesus is God in flesh. 

2.      If you say that John 1:1 should be “a” god, then…

3.      If Jesus is “a” god, then isn’t that polytheism?

4.      If Jesus is “a” god, then how many gods are their in JW theology?

5.      If Jesus is “a” god, then is he a true God or false god since the Bible says there is only one God (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8)?

6.      If Jesus is “a” god, then why does he tell people to come to him and not the Father (Matt. 11:28)?

2.      John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” With Exodus 3:14 “God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

1.      Jesus uses the same title for Himself that God uses of Himself.

2.      If you say that the verse is really, “I have been”, then why did the Jews want to kill him — especially when in John 10:30-33 they say they want to kill Him because He claimed to be God?  Where and what did Jesus say to cause them to think that?

3.      John 10:30-33, “‘I and the Father are one.’ 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, ‘I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?’ 33 The Jews answered Him, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.’”

1.      Re:  John 10:30-33, What was Jesus saying that caused the Jews to accuse Jesus of claiming to be God?  If you can’t say, then you don’t know the text or the culture well enough to address the issue of Christ’s deity.

4.      John 20:27 

1.      In John 20:27 Thomas called Jesus God by saying to Jesus, “My Lord and My God”.  If Jesus is not God, then why did Jesus did not correct Thomas. Four verses later, it says that this is written so you might believe that Jesus is the son of God, (John 20:31). Therefore, we can see that the term Son of God is saying that Jesus is God.

CARM, http://www.carm.org/cut/Jesus.htm, Last one is one from the C4C

5.      Matthew 14:17

1.      But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. don’t be afraid.”

This runs the same idea as no.2. NIV almost gets it wrong by saying Take Courage! It is I. It really should be quoted as saying “Take Courage! It is I AM.”, just as God had said to Moses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Physical Death

Common Theory that people give is, swoon theory:

The swoon theory has been thoroughly refuted by many people and very few continue to bring it up as a possibility.  Nevertheless, following is an outline of why the Swoon theory can’t work.  Basically, it is because Jesus’ ordeal was far too serious to permit Him to survive.

Six trials – three before Jewish officials (Annas, John 18:12-14; Caiaphas Matt 26:57-68; the Sanhedrin, Matt. 27:1-2), and three before Roman officials (Pilate, John 18:28-38; Herod, Luke 23:6-12; Pilate, John 18:39-19:6).

In these trials, Jesus was beat on the face (Matt 26:67).

Scourging

Scourging was done with a flagrum, a short whip with several leather strips which were either embedded with pieces of metal and glass or small metal balls were tied to the ends of the leather strips.  The victim was either tied to a post or tied bent over an object with his back exposed.  The person inflicting the blows had been trained on how to properly administer the beating so as to assure the most painful and damaging punishment.  The whipping consisted of 39 lashes.  Each lash was administered and pulled across the back so as to rip the back open.  Often the back muscles were so badly shredded that the skeletal structure was exposed.  People very often died from this punishment alone.

     Jesus suffered 39 such lashes.  Undoubtedly, his back was very badly beaten and bloody.

Crown of thorns

A crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus (Matt. 27:29).  There are different thorn bushes growing in the region with thorns being very short to quite long.  Even short thorns can tear the scalp.  The crown was woven and then pressed down around the head ripping the skin.  Bleeding would then occur.

Purple Robe

Wearing a purple robe (John 19:5) may not seem like a physically harmful thing to do.  But, when you consider that Jesus had just undergone a terrible scourging and that His back had been ripped open and was quite bloody and raw, the robe on His back would cause additional pain by rubbing against it.  Additionally, as the blood began to congeal, it would congeal into the fabric of the robe.  When the robe was ripped off, more excruciating pain would result.

Crucifixion

The arms are pulled apart and nails driven through the wrist into a cross beam which is raised in place.  This dislocates the shoulders.  The nails in the wrists sever the median nerve resulting in a burning pain as well as paralysis in the hand.  To breathe Jesus had to press up on the nails in His feet, scraping His raw back on the wood.  The body gradually drains of blood causing the heart to beat faster and faster.  Dehydration is occurring.  The breathing becomes more labored and intense as well as frequent adding to the agony.  The blood loss results in extreme thirst as the body craves water to restore the lost blood. Jesus said, “I thirst” (John 19:28).  The heart beats so hard trying to compensate for the loss of oxygen (due to the lack of blood) in the body, that it eventually ruptures.  At this point the chest cavity fills with fluid.  The soldier pierced Jesus’ side and out came blood and water, signifying that the heart had stopped beating and the blood was settling in the chest cavity.  Jesus was dead.

Burial

Jesus’ body was wrapped in linen (Matt. 27:59).  This wrapping was done tightly around the whole body from head to toe.  We see from the resurrection of Lazarus, that Lazarus had to be unbound (John 12:44) since help was needed to get out of the linens.

Three days without medical attention in the cold tomb

The tomb was cold and Jesus laid in it for three days without medical attention.

Moving the stone

A “large stone” had been placed over the entrance to the tomb (Matt. 27:60).  Unless Jesus had some help, which isn’t mentioned, He would have had to move the large stone.  The stone had to be large enough to cover an entrance big enough for people to walk into.  Even if they ducked to get in, the stone was large enough that it would take more than one person to move it in place.

Presence of the guards

The Romans guards on the tomb were given the job to guard the tomb.  Since there had been rumors that the body of Jesus might be stolen, they were ready to meet the challenge.  In Roman society, if the prisoner of the guard escaped, the guard would then take the prisoner’s place in punishment.  The guards had a strong motivation to not let anyone take the body of Jesus.

Walked on pierced feet to get to the disciples.

Jesus appeared to several people after His resurrection.  Does this mean He walked on feet with holes that had been made by nails several inches long? 

     The swoon theory falls apart quickly when you consider that Jesus had undergone six trials, been beaten, then scourged with 39 lashes that left His back raw, exposed, and bloody, had a crown of thorns forced upon His head, ripping His scalp, been crucified with nails in the hands and feet, hung there for six hours bleeding and dehydrating, had his side pierced with a spear which emitted blood and water, was left in a tomb for three days, and was tightly wrapped up.  Was anyone in this condition able to revive, get himself out of the tight wrappings, walk on pierced feet, and single handedly move a large stone with hands that were unusable due to the wrist piercings which severed the median nerve in the hands and paralyzed them, and then some how got by the armed guards given the charge of watching the grave side?  Are we to further believe that Jesus managed to walk a long distance on feet which had been pierced through and appear to the disciples as a victorious conqueror of death?  It makes no sense.  In fact, it would take more to believe this ridiculous conjecture than it would to believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

 

CARM, http://www.carm.org/evidence/swoon.htm

 

 God Bless