Evidence for the Resurrection – Part 2

ABDUCTIVE REASONING – making a probable conclusion from what you know; inferring to the most reasonable explanation; coming to a CONCLUSION based on EVIDENCE.

Gary Habermas – Minimal Facts Approach to Prove the Resurrection

  1. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS AND WAS BURIED
  2. JESUS TOMB WAS EMPTY AND NO ONE EVER PRODUCED HIS BODY
  3. JESUS’ DISCIPLES BELIEVED THAT THEY SAW HIM RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD
  4. JESUS DISCIPLED WERE TRANSFORMED FOLLOWING THEIR ALLEGED RESURRECTION
OBSERVATIONS
The evidence for these statements is so overwhelming that even the harshest scholarly critics ofChritianity AGREE with them.
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See Cold-Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace, and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
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Here are two common arguments AGAINST the Resurrection and one argument FOR it.
  1. “THE DISCIPLES WERE _________ ABOUT JESUS’ DEATH”
    Jesus died on the Cross. The Roman soldiers didn’t even have to break His legs to speed up His death. But to BE SURE, a soldier stabbed Jesus in the side with a spear. It went through His ribs, lung, and heart. John the disciple witnessed this (John 19:34).
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  2. “THE DISCIPLES _______ ABOUT THE RESURRECTION”
    This view doesn’t address just how difficult it is to pull off such a lie – a conspiracy. The disciples died as martyrs without ANY of them changing their story.
    Remember Lee Strobel’s quote from last week: “People will die for their religious beliefs if they sincerely believe they’re true, but people won’t die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false.”
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  3. “THE DISCIPLES __________ _________ THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS”
    If you aren’t BIASED against a SUPERNATURAL explanation, and you use ABDUCTIVE REASONING, the last option is the best: THE DISCIPLES ACCURATELY REPORTED THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, and it explains the evidence the most simply and completely.

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