KNOW YOUR FAITH, LIVE YOUR FAITH,TEACH YOUR FAITH!

Is Christ’s Resurrection a REAL fact? Part-2

This is the second part of the series on the evidence of the resurrection, we saw last time how Thomas Arnold and Sir Lionel Luckhoo were two among many who really researched for years the evidence of the resurrection. They said that without doubt Christ is risen from the dead. This is based on the fact that many scholars have looked at the bible and saw that historically it is very valid. So, people started to come up with these different theories, four in total, where they try to conceal the truth of the resurrection. We will see two theories on this video and two others in the next.

Before going with the first theory, we should understand that in Matthew 17:22-23 ‘When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.’ This is one verse among many were Christ has said that he will die and after three days he will be raised from the dead once more. So, we must understand that this is a huge statement, imagine you are trying to make friends and as your relationship with them is deepening come to them one day and you say guys I’m going to die and in three days I will be raised up. Wait for me here. What they will think of you? They will think that you are a lunatic. It has been said about Christ that we have three options when we look at His life or His works. Either he is a liar, or he is a lunatic, or he is Lord. So, is God a liar? It has shown very clearly from the Bible that he is not, and he said I’m the way, the truth, and the light he has spoken the truth. The second point is he truly is a lunatic? When he said this verse, what was going through his mind? But, was he a lunatic? Because we see that for the remainder of his life everything that He said, He did, including all the miracles, all the wisdom of the teaching. There is not a wiser man on earth than Christ. He is God-Man, the incarnate Logos. So, then He must be truly Lord. So, if He is Lord, He can be raised from the dead.

The first theory is called “The Swoon Theory” or “Faint Theory”. It says that Christ was beaten obviously very harshly prior to the cross. So, when they put Christ on the cross He fainted, because of the poor knowledge in the medical field at that time, they thought that He was dead. They took Him down from the cross. He wasn’t dead, He had just fainted and they rapped Him and put Him inside the tomb. Then, three days later, as He awoke and regained consciousness, He got out of the tomb and told His disciples that He is raised from the dead. Now, looking at this theory very quickly it seems to make sense, but if we look at it in its details, we will see how it does not make any sense at all.

Let’s see if this theory stands. We must understand that at that time people were treated barbarically. So, when someone is scourged like Christ was, he is not hit with a rod. he is hit with a flagrum. The flagrum has pieces of bones and metal in it. They said historically that it used to pick up the flesh from your back or wherever you were scourged. So, people would have their muscles laid bare, their veins laid bare. It was very brutal. Also, solders had an amazing experience in crucifying people. They could not make a mistake judging if someone is dead or not.

First, because of their experience. Josephus the historian says that at some point in 7 AD they used to crucify over five hundred people per day. The level of experience was extremely high.

Secondly, the soldiers were extremely afraid if they did not do their job properly. So, if that happens and they fail at their mission someone will take them torture them and then kill them and they are guaranteed that and that only and that’s why in Acts 16 you find an example of a soldier, who thought he didn’t fulfil his mission, was about to take his sword and kill himself without hesitation, because he is guaranteed death and, prior to it, torture.

Number three is the fact that they brock the legs of the two thieves, but not the legs of Christ because on the cross people can’t breathe so they push with their legs to be able to breathe. But, since Christ was already dead they did not need to break His legs. They broke the legs of the two others to accelerate their death by asphyxiation. But, they didn’t break His legs because they knew he was already dead. Let’s say He wasn’t dead after all of this, the people who took Him down, Saint Mary, Saint John, Joseph, and Nikodimos, at some point they had to touch His body. Wouldn’t anybody have felt that he was still breathing? But nobody felt the fact that He was still breathing because He was dead. What if He wasn’t, then they took a cloth and put it around His face another cloth around His body. How would He breathe with the cloth on His face? That would surely kill him. Moreover, when they pierced Him with the spear. water and blood came out. So, medical experts say that this is because His heart was ruptured because of all the effort that Christ had done and that was obvious that He couldn’t even carry His own cross to Calvary. He was tired, His heart was ruptured and so the blood into the heart was mixed with the water and that is why when He was hit with the spear water and blood came out. Even after all of this let’s say He wasn’t dead, when He was taken and put into the tomb for three days approximately thirty-six hours in the cold without medical attention, without food or drink in that state, does He have a chance to survive? But the people that uphold this theory believe that, not only He survived, but that He had the strength to remove the cloths, and He got up and pushed the huge rock and cut the seal and fought the soldiers, because they were probably awake. After He fought the soldiers, He went to travel to Emmaus for seven miles with His pierced hands and feet, and to many other places and somehow made the disciples believe that he was raised from the dead. How would you believe such a theory? It is obvious that Christ had truly died on the cross.

Historically and biblically it is evident that Christ died on the cross and the fact that matters is His tomb was empty on Sunday morning. Like He had said that He will be raised after three days before He died. But the Jews do not want to believe in the resurrection. Therefore, in Matthew 28, they came up to the soldiers, gave them a large sum of money and told them “Say that His disciples came at night and stole the body while you were asleep”. But, there are many problems with this statement. The first one is; how do you know who stole the body if you were asleep? If you know, it is because you saw and if you saw it means that you were awake. Secondly, if this was true we know that the soldiers would have their heads cut off immediately like we had explained before. Number three; where would the disciples of Christ have this courage to come and steal the body? They were afraid and scared as we saw nobody was under the cross except for Saint John. Supposedly, they came and rolled this big rock and made noise and still the soldiers were asleep the chances of this happening are small. Another point is, in John 20, St. John and St. Peter walked inside the tomb. Now we need to be a bit more specific about the cloth. We have a handkerchief on the head of Christ, and we have a set of cloths on his body.

Now, John 20, it says that the handkerchief was folded and was put separately from the remainder. Now what kind of thief, as he walks in to steal, is folding things?

In addition to this, let’s go back to Saint Peter and the disciples and how they were afraid. If we take Saint Peter for example, he was afraid of a servant girl, so he denied Christ in front of a servant girl in Matthew 26 that demonstrate how afraid he was. But, after he saw Christ’s resurrection he was a completely different person. In Acts II we will see that he gives this powerful ceremony were three thousand people are converted and baptized. In Acts 4 he is face to face with Jewish leaders and they are telling him and other disciples not to preach in that name. His response was “But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). Look at the courage that he has, and we know eleven out of the twelve apostles were martyred. And you very well know Saint Peter was martyred crucified upside down. Where did this power come from? Unless they truly believed that Christ was raised from the dead. So, this theory that the disciples stole the body implies that the disciples knew that they had lied and had stolen the body and afterward had lied and they believed in their own lie to the point that they died for it. That makes no sense whatsoever, and that’s why the second theory is also refused.

Remember know your faith, live your faith,

and teach your faith.