DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD ? (10)
{copied from
Y-Jesus.com}
Why did Christianity win?
Morison was bewildered that a "tiny insignificant group was able to prevail over the cunning grip of the Jewish establishment as well as the might of Rome. "Why did it win, in the face of all those odds against it?
He wrote,
"within twenty years, the claim of these Galilean peasants had disrupted the Jewish church .. In less than fifty years it had begun to threaten the peace of the Roman Empire. When we have said everything that can be said... we stand confronted with the greatest mystery of all. Why did it win?
By all rights, if there were no resurrection, Christianity should have died out at the cross when the disciples fled for their lives. But the disciples went on to establish a growing Christian movement.
J.N.D. Anderson wrote
"Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little group of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence - and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication.... That simply wouldn't make sense.
A surprise conclusion
With myth, hallucination, and a flawed autopsy ruled out with incontrovertible evidence for an empty tomb, with a substantial body of eyewitnesses to his reappearance and with the inexplicable transformation and impact upon the world of those who claimed to have seen Him, Morison became convinced that his preconceived bias against Jesus Christ's resurrection had been wrong.
He began writing a different book - entitled - Who Moved The Stone? - to detail his new conclusions. Morison simply followed the evidence, clue by clue, until the truth of the case seemed clear to him. His surprise was that the evidence led to a belief in the resurrection.
In his first chapter, "The Book That Refused to be Written," this former skeptic explained how the evidence convinced him that Jesus' resurrection was an actual historical event. "It was as though a man set out to cross a forest by a familiar and well-beaten track and came out suddenly where he did not expect to come out."
Morison is not alone. Countless other skeptics have examined the evidence for Jesus' resurrection, and accepted it as the most astounding fact in all of history.
C.S. Lewis , who once had even doubted Jesus' existence was also persuaded by the evidence for Jesus' resurrection he writes
"Something perfectly new in the history of the Universe had happened. Christ had defeated death. The door which had always been locked had for the very first time been forced open."
Let's discover just one more skeptic who was persuaded by the evidence.
A Stunned Professor
One of those who originally thought the resurrection was simply a myth , only to reverse his position like Morison, was one of the world's leading scholars. Dr Simon Greenleaf. Greenleaf helped to put the Harvard Law School on the map. He wrote the three-volume legal masterpiece A Treatise on the Law of evidence which has been called the "greatest single authority in the entire literature of legal procedure." The U.S. judicial system today still relies on rules of evidence established by Greenleaf.
While teaching at Harvard, Professor Greenleaf stated to his class that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was simply legend. As an atheist, he thought miracles to be impossible. In a rebuttal three of his students challenged him to apply his acclaimed rules of evidence to the resurrection account.
After much probing, Greenleaf accepted his students' challenge and began an investigation into the evidence. Focusing his brilliant legal mind on the facts of history. Greenleaf attempted to prove the resurrection account was false.
Yet the more Greenleaf investigated the record of history, the more stunned he was at the powerful evidence supporting the claim that Jesus had indeed risen from the tomb. Greenleaf's skepticism was being challenged by an event that had changed the course of human history.
Greenleaf was unable to explain several dramatic changes that took place shortly after Jesus died, the most baffling being the behavior of the disciples, it wasn't just one or two disciples who insisted Jesus had risen. It was all of them. Applying his own rules of evidence to the facts, Greenleaf arrived at his verdict.
In a shocking reversal of his position, Greenleaf accepted Jesus' resurrection as the best explanation for the events that took place immediately after His crucifixion. To this brilliant legal scholar and former atheist, it would have been impossible for the disciples to persist with their conviction that Jesus had risen if they hadn't actually seen the risen Christ.
In his book The Testimony of the Evangelists" Greenleaf documents the evidence that caused him to change his mind. In his conclusion he challenges those who seek the truth about the resurrection to fairly examine the evidence.
Greenleaf was so persuaded by the evidence that he became a committed Christian. He believed that any unbiased person who honestly examines the evidence as in a court of law will conclude what he did - that Jesus Christ has truly risen.
But the resurrection of Jesus Christ raises the question: What does the fact that Jesus defeated death have to do with my life? The answer to the question is what New Testament Christianity is all about.
Did Jesus Say What Happens
After We Die?
Next post 8th February
TWENTY SIXTEEN - PART FORTY THREE
Hello folks,
Ruth's flu is so bad now she is using the nebulizer. Her blood pressure has gone up even higher this whole week and now hovers around 146/102 and 146/103. She sent an email to Andre explaining our position but hasn't heard from him.
I also sent an email to the lawyer apologizing for non payment this month and that we would be reducing the payment to R300pm as from 1st December. Also have not heard from him.
Tuesday the 8th, Ruth says she is feeling a little better today - her blood pressure is now 126/89 down from 146/103
9th - Ruth's blood pressure up again. 142/95. I lay on my bed and watched her as she was sitting in my chair and I noticed how very labored her breathing has become. I could actually see each inhalation and expiration, unbeknown to her.
She has now gone back to bed. She says the flu is lifting but is very nauseous, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Ruth's blood pressure is still too high. We had fish and chips and vegetables for dinner. She didn't eat much of hers - the balance landed in the compost the following day.
Because of continuous nausea I do research on google and find that she has all the symptoms of diabetes 2. She decides to see the doctor tomorrow, but I can see that she is incapable of driving. She phones to make appointment but as it is Wednesday he is not available. She will phone again in the morning.
I send Danny a whatsapp informing him of the situation and he promises to take her to the doctor tomorrow.
Ruth gets an appointment for 2.30pm
Danny fetches her and they are gone quite a while. When they get back I am shocked - she didn,t even mention the suspected diabetes to the doctor. When questioned she says she forgot as she was confused. Another symptom of diabetes. This was the main purpose of the doctor's visit.
He is under the impression that she just has the flu and ups her medication.
Back to bed, back to square one. Too sick to do anything. I am really taking strain.
Must put my trust in God. He is in control. If you have been following this blog you will have seen how amazingly God has taken care of us. He has been there through every crisis and taken care of us.
This was the reason I started this blog because we went through just as critical a time in 2015 and He amazingly brought us through, but unfortunately I didn,t record it.
We praise Him and glorify His Name. He is truly wonderful. Without Him we would be living in utter despair. We are so thankful that we can call Him Father. We know He loves us and we love Him.
Next post 5th February
IRISH JOKES
"Why do Irishmen like swimming underwater?"
"Because deep down, they are quite intelligent."
\
Lawyer: "Do you wish to challenge any member of the jury?"
Paddy: "I think I could fight that little fellow sitting on the left."
next post 4th February
MY FAVORITE PSALMS -
PART FORTY SIX
Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord, the glory due to His Name; bring an offering and come into His courts with praise.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before Him all the earth. Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved; He shall judge His people righteously.
Let the heavens be glad and let the earth be glad. Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Before the Lord because He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth
The Lord God reigneth, Let the earth be glad let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds of darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgement are the habitation of His throne. A fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round about.
His lightnings enlighten the world; the earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
The heavens declare His righteousness and all the people see His glory.
Confounded be all they that serve graven images; that boast themselves of idols. Worship Him all ye gods.
Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of Thy judgements, O Lord. For Thou art high above all the earth; Thou art exalted far above all gods.
Ye that love the Lord, hate evil; He preservest the souls of His saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.
next post 3rd February
DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD (9)
{copied from
Y-Jesus.com}
Were the Disciples hallucinating?
People still think they see a fat, gray-haired Elvis darting into Dunkin Donuts. And then there are those who believe they spent last night with aliens in the mother ship being subjected to unspeakable testing.
Sometimes certain people can "see" things they want to, things that aren't really there. And that's why some have claimed that the disciples were so distraught over the crucifixion that their desire to see Jesus alive caused mass hallucination.
Plausible?
Psychologist Gary Collins, former president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, was asked about the possibility that hallucinations were behind the disciples radically changed behavior. Collins remarked "Hallucinations are individual occurrences . By their very nature, only one person can see a given hallucination at a time. They certainly aren't something which can be seen by a group of people."
Hallucination is not even a remote possibility according to psychologist Thomas J. Thorburn. "It is absolutely inconceivable that ..... five hundred persons of average soundness of mind ... should experience all kinds of sensuous impressions - visual, auditory, factual - and all of these ... experiences should rest entirely upon hallucinations.
Furthermore, in the psychology of hallucinations, the person would have to be in a frame of mind where they so wished to see the person that their mind contrives it. Two major leaders of the early church, James and Paul, both state forcefully that they encountered a resurrected Jesus, neither expecting, or hoping for the pleasure. The apostle Paul, in fact, led the earliest prosecutions of Christians, and his conversion remains inexplicable, except for his own testimony that Jesus appeared to him, resurrected.
The hallucination theory then appears to be another dead end. What else could explain away the resurrection?
FROM LIE TO LEGEND
Some unconvinced skeptics attribute the resurrection story to a legend that began with one or more persons lying or thinking they saw the resurrected Jesus. Over time the legend would have grown and been embellished as it was passed around.
On the surface this seems like a plausible scenario. But there are three major problems with that theory.
* First, legends don't develop while
multiple eyewitnesses are alive to
refute them. One historian of ancient
Rome and Greece, A.N. Sherwin-White,
argued that the resurrection news
spread too soon and too quickly for it
to have been a legend.
* Second, legends develop by oral
tradition and don't come with
contemporary historical documents
that can be verified. Yet the Gospels
were written within three decades of
the resurrection.
* Third, the legend theory doesn't
adequately explain the fact of the
empty tomb or the historically verified
conviction of the apostles that Jesus
was alive.
Therefore the legend theory doesn't seem to hold up any better than other attempts to explain away this amazing claim. Furthermore the resurrection account of Jesus Christ actually altered history, beginning with the Roman Empire. How could a legend make such an enormous historical impact with such a short time period?
next post 1st February
RECIPE TIME - CHINESE RICE
Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1 cup mushrooms chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons chopped green peppers
1 tablespoon butter
1 chicken cube
salt
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
Method:
Fry onions, green peppers and celery in a little butter or oil - add rice then chicken cube dissolved in the boiling water and cook.
When the rice is cooked add the mushrooms and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Add the cubed chicken and heat thoroughly.
next post 30th January
TWENTY SIXTEEN - PART FORTYTWO
Hello folks,
Ruth is still in bed with the flu. Fortunately we found some mentholatum
and some nasal drops among my belongings which should ease the situation a little bit.
Saturday 6th - Ruth is still very ill. She can't remember when last the flu hit her so hard. She hardly ever gets the flu so this is very unusual.
Sue and Steve pay a short visit - her sister is in the hospital and so they called on here while in the vicinity. They didn't get to see Ruth as she was holed up in her room - keeping her flu germs to herself.
She is really very ill, when she gets up she staggers around like a drunk. She is nauseous and drops things and bumps into things.
Ten thirty pm - another bombshell - email from Andre and Amanda - says he is not a coin dealer and hasn't got the time to find a buyer or buyers for the coins. He wants his money by Monday which is tomorrow - he doesn't state a date but tomorrow is Monday.
He has sympathy with our situation but cannot afford to support us as well as all his other commitments. We know he is not responsible for us, we are nothing to him in reality, except of course being brothers and sisters in Christ,
but we thought we had satisfied him with the coin collection and ring total value of R62000, because that is what Amanda told us but apparently she was wrong.
We don't know where we stand - the goal posts just keep moving.
Continue to wait on the Lord. Praying earnestly for a solution. Also praying for Hester, Sue's sister, she is also very ill. Praying for Daniel, his working equipment was stolen out of his car recently and without it he can't work.
Through all of this we know that God is in control. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
next post 29th January
IRISH JOKES
An Irishman went on "Mastermind," and chose Irish history as his special subject.
"In what year was the Easter rising?"
"Pass" He replied
"Who was the leader of the easter rising?"
"Pass" he replied
"Where did the easter rising take place?"
"Pass" he replied
"Good man, Seamus, " came a voice from the audience. "Don't tell them anything."
next post 28th January
MY FAVORITE PSALMS -
PART FORTY FIVE.
The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever.
O come let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise unto the Rock of our Salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God; and a great King above all gods.
In his hands are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills are His also. The sea is His and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me and saw My work.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said "it is a people that do err in their heart; and they have not known My ways."
Unto whom I swore in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest."
O sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name, shew forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.
For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
next post 27th January
DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD (8)
{copied from
Y-Jesus.com}
CONSISTENT TO THE END
As if the eyewitness reports were not enough to challenge Morison's skepticism, he was also baffled by the disciples behavior.
A fact of history that has stumped historians, psychologists and skeptics alike is that these eleven former cowards were suddenly willing to suffer humiliation, torture, and death. All but one of Jesus' disciples were slain as martyrs. Would they have done so much for a lie, knowing they had taken the body?
The terrorists on September 11 proved that some will die for a false cause they believe in. Yet to be a willing martyr for a known lie is insanity. As Paul Little wrote
"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. Jesus' disciples behaved in a manner consistent with a genuine belief that their leader was alive."
No One has adequately explained why the disciples would have been willing to die for a known lie. But even if they all conspired to lie about Jesus' resurrection, how could they have kept the conspiracy going for decades without at least one of them selling out for money or position? Moreland wrote,
"Those who lie for personal gain, do not stick together for very long, especially when hardship decreases the benefits,"
Chuck Colson, implicated in the Watergate scandal during Nixon's administration, pointed out the difficulty of several people maintaining a lie for an extended period of time.
"I know that the resurrection is a fact and that Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true . Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world - and they couldn't keep a lie for 3 weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible!"
Something happened that changed everything for these men and women. Morison acknowledged,
"Whoever comes to this problem has sooner or later to confront a fact that cannot be explained away .... This fact is that a profound conviction came to this little group of people - a change that attests to the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave."
Next post 25th January
RECIPE TIME - QUICHE LORAINE
Pastry Ingredients:
4 0z flour
pinch salt
21/2 oz butter
2 egg yolks
water
rub the butter into the flour and then add the salt and egg yolks add water to form dough and roll out thinly. Line a pie dish with this dough.
Ingredients for filling
1/4 oz butter
1 medium onion
salt, pepper and cayenne
11/2 oz Parmesan cheese
1/4 pint milk
1 clove garlic
2 oz chopped ham
11/2 oz grated cheese
1/4 pint cream
2 eggs
method:
Melt butter - fry chopped onion and garlic till transparent and allow to cool. Mix with chopped ham and cheeses and spread into pie plate .
Whisk together cream, milk, eggs and seasonings. Pour into the pie plate and bake low down in the oven at 3500F till set. About 30 minutes. Serves 4
next post 23rd January
TWENTY SIXTEEN - PART FORTY ONE
Hello Folks,
Wednesday 26th October, no water in the taps again so I am unable to do my eye treatment - the cleansing ritual.
Amanda is having a lot of people over for a "Fasting and prayer" week. Soon after it starts she finds out it is supposed to be a "Feasting and Prayer" week.
Ruth went over for a while and so we each get a plate of food.
27th October - each got a plate of food from next door again. I have been treating my eyes regularly - still having lots of trouble with them.
Amanda says to speak to Andre next week when the prayer meetings finish, about bartering the coins. They will end on Wednesday, 2nd November.
Friday 28th - Ruth gets aid from our usual friend and is able to do a small shopping stint - we are now able to get some very necessary items that are depleted.
Ruth not feeling well - keeps to her room most of the time.
Tuesday 1st November - Ruth goes to town to do the shopping. Still not feeling well. She sees her doctor who discovers she is now suffering from high blood pressure - not surprising after all she has been through. She is gone all day - power goes off again at 4.30pm
2nd November - Today Ruth gives her diamond ring and the coin collection to Amanda. Amanda says, now that we have given her these things we need not feel embarrassed about the rent anymore.
We took our blood pressure again today and Ruth's is much too high - 145/96 - should be 120/80.
3rd November , Ruth is getting flu on top of everything thing else. Her blood pressure is still very high.
Friday 4th - Ruth in now in bed with the flu - she is not well at all. We did not take her blood pressure as she is not feeling up to it.
Trusting and waiting on the Lord.
next post 22nd January
IRISH JOKES
Paddy got a job with a big firm.
On His first day the boss handed him a brush .
"Your first task is to sweep the floor."
"Hold on there! I'm a university graduate!"
"Okay," said the boss, "give me the broom and I will show you how."
next post 21st January
MY FAVORITE PSALMS -
PART FORTY FOUR
O Lord, how great are Thy works and Thy thoughts are very deep.
A brutish man knoweth not, neither does
a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they will be destroyed forever.
But Thou Lord, art Most High forever. For lo, Thine enemies, O Lord, for lo, Thine enemies shall perish, all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But my horn shalt Thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
Mine eyes also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and my ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm
tree and shall grow like
a cedar in Lebanon.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. To shew that the Lord is upright; He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, where with He hath girded Himself; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.
Thy throne is established of old; Thou are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves.
next post 20th January
sorry this post is late but I was offline yesterday
DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD
(7)
{copied from
Y-Jesus.com}
As Morison continued his investigations, he began to examine the motives of Jesus' followers. Maybe the supposed resurrection was a stolen body. But, if so, how does one account for all the reported appearances of a resurrected Jesus?
Historian Paul Johnson, in a History of the Jews wrote, "What mattered was not the circumstances of His death but the fact that He was widely and obstinately believed by an expanding circle of people, to have risen again.
The tomb was indeed empty. But it wasn't the mere absence of a body that could have galvanized Jesus' followers (especially if they had been the ones who had stolen it) .
Something extraordinary must have happened for the followers of Jesus ceased mourning, ceased hiding, and began fearlessly proclaiming they had seen Jesus alive.
Each eyewitness account reports that Jesus suddenly appeared bodily to his followers, the women first.
Morison wondered why conspirators would make women central to its plot. In the first century, women had virtually no rights, personhood or status. If the plot were to succeed, Morison reasoned, the conspirators would have portrayed men , not women, as the first to see Jesus alive. And yet we hear that women touched Him, spoke to Him, and were the first to find the empty tomb.
Later, according to the eyewitness accounts, all the disciples saw Jesus on more than ten separate occasions. They wrote that He showed them His hands and His feet and told them to touch Him. And He reportedly ate with them and later appeared alive to more than 500 followers on one occasion.
Legal scholar, John Warwick Montgomery stated,
"In 56 AD (The Apostle Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and most of them were still alive " - 1st Corinthians 15:6)
It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.
Bible scholars Geisler and Turek agree "If the Resurrection had not occurred why would the Apostle Paul give such a list of supposed eyewitnesses? He would immediately lose credibility with his Corinthian readers by lying so blatantly.
Peter told a crowd in Caesarea why he and the other disciples were so convinced Jesus was alive.
"We apostles are witnesses of all He did in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by crucifying Him, but God rose Him to life three days later ... we were those who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. " Acts 10:39-41
British Bible scholar Michael Green remarked,
"The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity - There can be no rational doubt that they occurred."
next post 18th January
RECIPE TIME - CURRIED EGGS
Ingredients;
6 - 8 hardboiled eggs
1 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoons cream
1 onion
2 tomatoes.
Method:
Fry the onions until translucent - add skinned and cut tomatoes, curry powder and milk. Boil for about 2 minutes - remove from stove and add cream, salt and pepper.
Cut the eggs in halves - sideways, and lay on a bed of rice - spoon sauce over the eggs.
next post 16th January
TWENTY SIXTEEN - PART FORTY
Hello folks,
The power went off again during the night and only came back on this morning at 9.30.
I want to wish my grandson, Struan, a happy birthday - his birthday is the day after mine - but do not know how to contact him. He lives in Australia. Try unsuccessfully to find him on face book.
My friend Marieta phones me (a day late) to wish me for my birthday. Danny arrives and sorts out the recurring toilet problem. The house is very old and the pipes have narrowed overtime due to impacting of waste on the walls of the pipes.
Decide to give transcription jobs another try. Find a nice post on google which also offers a download of an application form - looking promising - take screenshots with tablet as the article is approximately six pages long.
Late afternoon Ruth and I discuss it - and she reads the screenshots. We both decide to give it a try - she asks me to email it to her so that she can download the application form and we will take it from there.
Now I want to email it and I cannot find it. I waste a lot of data in my search. I decide to reread the screenshots and discover that if you download you make yourself liable for R10 per day.
I have been caught like this once before, "in the good old days" before our financial woes began - It is done so subtly that you don't know you are being led into a trap. The previous one was for R7 per day and was worded in such a way that you were unaware of the implications and it took me 25 days at R7 per day before I discovered I had been "taken for a ride".
So transcription jobs are blocked once more. If anyone out there knows how we can overcome this problem I will be so pleased if you would communicate with me . We so badly need to do this - but can't figure out how. It may be that someone out there can offer us some transcription work.
next post 15th January
JOKES
Pizza perils
A Twitter exchange between and angry customer and an apologetic Domino's Pizza manager
Customer : "Yoooo! I ordered a pizza and it came with no toppings on it or anything. It is just bread."
Dominos: " We are so sorry to hear this!"
Customer: (a few minutes later) "never mind, don't worry about it. I opened the box upside-down"
next post 18th February
MY FAVORITE PSALMS -
PART FORTY THREE
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress, in Him will I trust. Surely He will deliver me from the fowler and the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover Thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night nor the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For He shall give His angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot.
Because he hath set his love upon Me and I will answer him and be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and shew him My salvation.
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises to Thy Name, O Most High. To shew forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night.
Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery, upon the harp with a solemn sound. For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work. I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.
next post 13th January
DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD? (6)
{copied from
Y-Jesus.com}
The Matter of the Empty Tomb
No serious historian really doubts Jesus was dead when He was taken down from the cross. However, many have questioned how Jesus' body disappeared from the tomb.
English journalist Dr Frank Morison initially thought the resurrection was a myth or a hoax, and began research to write a book refuting it. The book became famous but for other reasons than its original intent.
Morison began by attempting to solve the case of the empty tomb. The tomb belonged to a member of the Sanhedrin Council, Joseph of Arimathea.
In Israel at that time, to be on the council was to be a rock star. Everyone knew who was on the council. Joseph must have been a real person. Otherwise the Jewish leaders would have exposed the story as a fraud, in their attempt to disprove the resurrection.
Also Joseph's tomb would have been at a well-known location and easily identifiable, so any thoughts of Jesus being 'lost in the graveyard" would need to be dismissed.
Morison wondered why Jesus' enemies would have allowed the "empty tomb myth" to persist if it weren't true. The discovery of Jesus' body would have instantly killed the entire plot.
And what is known historically of Jesus' enemies is that they accused Jesus' disciples of stealing the body, an accusation clearly predicated on a shared belief that the tomb was empty.
Dr. Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, similarly "If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable... to conclude that the tomb, in which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered... that would disprove this statement."
The Jewish leaders were stunned. They accused the disciples of stealing Jesus' body. But the Romans had assigned a 24-hour watch at the tomb with a trained guard unit (from 4 to16 soldiers).
Josh McDowell notes that these were not ordinary soldiers. "when that guard unit failed in its duty - if they fell asleep, left their position, or failed in any way - there are a number of historical sources that go back and describe what happens.
Many of them are stripped of their own clothes, they are burned alive in a fire started with their own garments or they are crucified upside down. The Roman Guard unit was committed to discipline and they feared failure in any way.
It would have been impossible for anyone to have slipped by the Roman guards and to have moved a two-ton stone. Yet the stone was moved away and the body of Jesus was missing..
If Jesus' body was anywhere to be found, His enemies would have quickly exposed the resurrection as a fraud.. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyer's Association, summarizes the strength of this argument.
With an event, so well publicized, don't you think that it is reasonable that one historian, one eye-witness, one antagonist would record for all time that he had seen Christ's body? .... The silence of history is deafening when it comes to the testimony against the resurrection.
So with no body of evidence, and with a known tomb clearly empty, Morison accepted the evidence as solid that Jesus' body had somehow disappeared from the tomb.
next post 11th January 2017
DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD ? (10)
