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
- JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS AND WAS BURIED
- JESUS TOMB WAS EMPTY AND NO ONE EVER PRODUCED HIS BODY
- JESUS’ DISCIPLES BELIEVED THAT THEY SAW HIM RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD
- 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.
- “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).
. - “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.”
. - “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.