IS JESUS CHRIST ALIVE?

                                           IS JESUS CHRIST                     ALIVE?
part one

Recently while sorting       through some of my old     books and documents, I came across an article which I had hand copied from a book many moons ago. It was so long ago that I have no memory of the name of the book or the name of the author. There were only a few ragged pages and they had yellowed with age.

After re-reading the article, I thought it would be a shame to destroy it, which had been my original intention.  So I decided to text it to my notebook. I also have no idea whether there is a copyright restriction or whether the book is now in the public domain. However I have a strong conviction that this message should be shared and as I am not doing so for any financial gain but rather to further the gospel I feel sure that  no one will object.


IS JESUS CHRIST ALIVE?

Val Grieve, a Manchester lawyer, produces the evidence and calls the witnesses for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any court case must begin with the facts. Once we know these the case can proceed and a verdict be given.

WHAT ARE THE FACTS ABOUT CHRIST?
History tells us three things:

He lived more than 1900 years ago.
He was crucified on a cross
Three days later His body had disappeared.

These facts are what lawyers call "common ground"  they are admitted by friend and foe of Christianity alike.  What we have to do is to find some explanation for them.  The vital question is what happened to Jesus?

Let us look at three answers:  Right from the beginning Christians have claimed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. A miracle took place. In fact this is what Christianity is all about. 
"That Christ died for our sins and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

What evidence is there for this?
Did it really happen ?

I certainly believe that it did and I want to tell you why. However, before I do this I must ask you to try to be unbiased - don't be like the man who once said "I have made up my mind - don't confuse me with the facts."

What then are the facts?  Is Jesus Christ Alive?

Was the resurrection story a deliberate fraud? A wishful fantasy?  or an inescapable fact?

Professor Joad of London university was once asked , "If you could meet any person of the past and ask just one question , who would you ask to meet and what question would you ask him?"

He answered  "I would like to meet Jesus Christ and ask Him the most important question in the world - did You really rise from the dead?"

The professor was right - the most important question in the world is  whether Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive today.

As a lawyer I have carefully studied the evidence for the resurrection of Christ and am convinced that this really happened.  Let us look at the evidence.

In Matthew's gospel we find the Jewish guard saying that whilst they were asleep outside the tomb, the disciples came by night and stole the body. The disciples then invented the story that Jesus had risen from the dead. Christianity is one big fraud.

IS THIS REALLY SO?  I certainly don't think so. First of all, if I could get the guard commander in court, I would ask him one question:  "If you were asleep, how do you know what happened? "    

What a ridiculous story this is!

Then too behind nearly every crime, there is a motive - what was the motive here?  Most of the early disciples died for their faith. Is it likely that they would die for something that they knew was a deliberate lie?

Above all, this explanation is contrary to what we know about the disciples. Fraud means that they were not just deceived but deliberate deceivers who carried out the greatest confidence trick of all time.

Some people have tried to say that the disciples expected Jesus to rise from the dead and they then went on to imagine that this had really happened. The whole thing was wishful thinking.

At first sight this explanation seems likely, but further consideration rules it out. Its basic assumption is that the disciples expected Jesus to rise from the dead, but the reverse is the case. The resurrection caught them by surprise. They were unbelieving and incredulous. The truth is the disciples did not convince themselves that Christ was alive, it was Christ Who had to convince them.

Then too, it is exceedingly unlikely that over 500 people would suffer the same fantasy. Yet the Bible clearly tells us that Jesus once appeared to as many as that at the same time.

Above all, any explanation must cover all the facts, this one does not. If the disciples were deluded then all their enemies had to do was produce the body of Jesus, but they did not do this for there was no body to produce. THE TOMB WAS EMPTY.

Our original question - "what happened to Jesus?"  still stands.


To be concluded in next post
 on 16th November