www.AdamTerrell.com

Adam Terrell
Foundations for a Christian Worldview (FCW)

From Death to Heights

Christianity is the world's most popular religion.  The core of this religion's message is Jesus' crucifixion, death, and resurrection.  If this one, central aspect of Christianity is not true, nothing else about it is any longer valid.  So was Jesus' death on the cross real?  Was it possibly faked—if so, how?

To answer this question, look at the stress that a crucifixion places upon a person's body.  Most people do not know why hanging on a tree like that causes death.  First of all, Jesus was flogged (Matthew 27:26).  This causes severe bleeding, and usually exposed bone in the process.  Jesus was then been forced to carry his cross part of the way to Calvary.  This severely exhausted him.  He was then laid on his flogged back to have nails put in his wrists and feet.  When the cross was stood upright, Jesus' arms were pulled out of socket.  The only way he could exhale (because of his arms being pulled apart) was to push himself up on his nailed legs.

The Romans would leave the prisoner like this until they decided to go ahead and kill him.  They would then break his legs so that he could no longer breathe.  Suffocation would then occur within minutes.  On top of all of this bleeding (causing heart failure), pain, and suffocation, the Bible says that a Roman soldier stabbed Jesus through the side (John 19:34) to make absolutely sure he was dead.  The Romans were trained in killing people, plus they would have their lives taken also if Jesus had been left alive.

Despite all of this evidence of Jesus' death, there is a theory that suggests Jesus awoke in his tomb and was able to escape by rolling away the boulder and sneaking past the guards despite all of these injuries.  Yet there are archaeological facts that prove his tomb was empty.  There is a creed in I Corinthians 15:3-8 that mentions the crucifixion, death, resurrection, and post-death appearances of Jesus.  This is agreed upon to be one of the earliest creeds of the Church.

This is evidence for the missing body.  Most everyone will agree that the tomb was empty.  If it was not, the authorities and other people who wanted Christianity stamped out would not have made excuses for its emptiness.  If the tomb was not empty, the reply to the Christians', "He is risen!" would be, "No, He's not.  He's right over here!" instead of making excuses as to why they could not find His body.

Apart from the creed mentioned above, there are other evidences for Jesus' post-death appearances.  The four Gospels all confirm that Jesus was seen after His death (Matthew 28:9, 17, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, Luke 24:15, 36, John 20:14, 19, 26, 21:1).  As it has already been confirmed in previous essays that these are reliable, this is enough evidence in itself.  As Christians believe that the Bible is infallible, this is evidence enough.  For the non-believer, incredible amounts of research have been done on both, opposing views of the Bible.  All of the evidence which has been made against the Bible has never been enough to cause reasonable doubt on the world's most widespread religion.  Now the question is, "Why does everyone still not believe it then?"  The Bible itself tells why.  Find a Bible and read Romans 1:20-23.  That sounds exactly like the theory of macroevolution.