Good Friday & Easter – Christians must be daft – isnt it all just a myth?

There are some who look at what Christians do at Easter and think we are mad or weird. We carry a cross down a street on Good Friday and get excited about the person who was executed on it. If you think we are stupid (because you may be atheist or agnostic, or maybe you can’t be bothered) here’s the reversal of your world: you are fighting a battle against history!

Jewish historians alone logged as a fact both the existence of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, as well as his death. He lived, he existed, he died. Historical facts. It’s also true to say that he said he was God. When asked during his trial, he stated clearly that he was, and it was on this basis of blasphemy (and that alone) that the Jews claimed he had to die. And then executed him.

If you thought Jesus never existed, then – no offence, but you are fighting a daft battle that is akin to arguing that the world is flat. At best that’s a hilarious position and historically silly, at worst we’d have to question a lot of the other things you say too. No, that’s not where real question is.

The real question is whether Jesus rose from the dead.

Okay, let’s take a look at that. The first thing that people say about the resurrection is that Jesus didn’t actually die. Yes, he was nailed to the cross, but he didn’t die. Would you mind if we pull that one to shreds for a second?

Jesus was beaten to bloody shreds by the whip used by the Roman guards. Jesus was so weak after His torture that He couldn’t carry the patibulum of His cross to the crucifixion site. Jesus had spikes driven through His wrists and feet and hung bleeding for six hours. The Romans thrust a spear deep into Jesus’ side, confirming beyond doubt that Jesus was dead. Jesus was prepared for burial according to exacting Jewish custom. His body was encased in wrapped linen and spices. Jesus was then entombed, and a massive, heavy rock was rolled across the tomb entrance. A unit of highly trained Roman guards vigilantly guarded the entrance—knowing they would be punished if Jesus’ body went AWOL.

In his article, A Lawyer Examines The Swoon Theory, Texas attorney Joseph “Rick” Reinckens satirically unpacks this theory. I will just share a snippet of this must-read:

“Even in His weakened condition, in a quiet private cemetery, Jesus manages to push back the stone door without any of the guards noticing! Why go half-way? Jesus has been whipped, beaten and stabbed, is hemorrhaging, and hasn’t had any food or drink for at least three days. Does He just push the stone open enough to squeeze through? No, He pushes the stone door COMPLETELY out of the way!!!”

Adds J. Hampton Keathley, III, a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and a pastor of 28 years:

“If Christ had only swooned, He still would have still been half dead. A great deal of time would have been needed for recuperation. In His weakened condition He could not have walked the seven miles on the Emmaus road. It would have been impossible for someone who had only resuscitated from the agonies the Lord endured with the beatings and crucifixion to so quickly give the impression that He was the Conqueror of death and the grave, the Prince of Life.”

Could the Roman soldiers have been asleep? Is that how Jesus supposedly made His sneaky escape? 

Peter Kreeft, a popular writer of Christian philosophy, theology and apologetics, says no way:

“The story the Jewish authorities spread, that the guards fell asleep and the disciples stole the body is unbelievable. Roman guards would not fall asleep on a job like that; if they did, they would lose their lives. And even if they did fall asleep, the crowd and the effort and the noise it would have taken to move an enormous boulder would have wakened them.”

So that argument is way off and just doesn’t stand a chance of being correct. The next thing people say is that those who saw all this happen (and there were loads) were hallucinating. It’s important to note that hallucinations come from within a person, not outside a person. Meaning hallucinations are entirely subjective. Science tells us that, generally, only particular kinds of people have hallucinations: persons who are paranoid or schizophrenic, or people under the influence of drugs.

The New Testament tells us, however, that all kinds of people saw Jesus after His resurrection. Different ages, different occupations, different backgrounds, different viewpoints.

Dr. Gary Habermas observes:

“That these different individuals in each of these circumstances would all be candidates for hallucinations really stretches the limits of credibility.”

Says Peter Kreeft:

“Hallucinations usually happen only once, except to the insane. This one returned many times, to ordinary people. Five hundred separate Elvis sightings may be dismissed, but if five hundred simple fishermen in Maine saw, touched and talked with him at once, in the same town, that would be a different matter.”

Adds Dr. Michael Licona, a professor of theology:

“Hallucinations are like dreams. They are private occurrences … You could not share an hallucination you were having with someone any more than you could wake up your spouse in the middle of the night and ask him or her to join you in a dream you were having.”

Hallucinations do not cause people to change or create new beliefs. The fact that many people chose to believe in Jesus, after talking with Him and touching His wounds, also helps to refute this theory. Hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination, that’s a bigger miracle than the resurrection.

The next and only option (apart from the actual truth that he did rise again from the dead) is that this was a conspiracy. The conspiracy theory goes like this: Christ’s disciples simply stole His body and fabricated the resurrection story.

The great historian Eusebius (A.D. 314-318) was the first to argue that it is inconceivable that such a well-planned and thought-out conspiracy could succeed. Eusebius satirically imagined how the disciples might have motivated each other to take this route:

Let us band together to invent all the miracles and resurrection appearances which we never saw and let us carry the sham even to death! Why not die for nothing? Why dislike torture and whipping inflicted for no good reason? Let us go out to all the nations and overthrow their institutions and denounce their gods! And even if we don’t convince anybody, at least we’ll have the satisfaction of drawing down on ourselves the punishment for our own deceit.

Chuck Colson, special counsel to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal in the 1960s, knows full well how difficult it is to keep a conspiracy together. Says Colson:

“I know how impossible it is for a group of people, even some of the most powerful in the world, to maintain a lie. The Watergate cover-up lasted only a few weeks before the first conspirator broke and turned state’s evidence.”

Adds Paul E. Little, author of Know What You Believe:

“Men will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie.”

So the only possible option left is that Jesus did actually rise again from the dead. Now who’s daft? Perhaps it’s time you considered the facts before deciding that you don’t believe all this (as you might call it) "twaddle".