Was the resurrection a hoax?

Good Tuesday morning, my friends.

We are in the midst of Holy Week and I hope you can take time each day to slow down a little and contemplate just what the weekend ahead signifies and commemorates.  We were rescued by our Creator!  He came to the earth as one of us; taught us for several years; stood in our place to be punished for our sins; and then rose triumphantly from the dead to defeat death itself!

The last part of this - the rising from the dead thing - is the part many people have a hard time believing.  I know for me, when I was struggling with the whole concept of God and faith I spent a lot of time researching this.  How can we know if it is true?  That the disciples did not make it up?   The most convincing argument I have read on this subject comes fromCharles Colson.  Many of you will recognize that name.  You may have read some of his books.  Or you may remember that he served 7 months of a 1-3 year sentence for obstruction of justice in the "Watergate Affair" that brought down US president Richard Nixon.  Here is what Colson said:

I have been challenged myself many times on the resurrection. My answer is always that the disciples and five hundred others gave eyewitness accounts of seeing Jesus, risen from the tomb. But then I'm asked, "How do you know they were telling the truth? Maybe they were perpetrating a hoax."

My answer to that comes from an unlikely source: Watergate.

Watergate involved a conspiracy to cover up, perpetuated by the closest aids to the President of the United States—the most powerful men in America, who were intensely loyal to their president. But one of them, John Dean, turned states evidence, that is, testified against Nixon, as he put it, "to save his own skin"—and he did so only two weeks after informing the president about what was really going on—two weeks! The real cover-up, the lie, could only be held together for two weeks, and then everybody else jumped ship in order to save themselves. Now, the fact is that all that those around the President were facing was embarrassment, maybe prison. Nobody's life was at stake.

But what about the disciples? Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.

Don't you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did.

You see, men will give their lives for something they believe to be true—they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.

The Watergate cover-up reveals the true nature of humanity. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will, in the crunch, save their own necks, even at the expense of the ones they profess to serve so loyally. But the apostles could not deny Jesus because they had seen Him face to face, and they knew He had risen from the dead.

No, you can take it from an expert in cover-ups—I've lived through Watergate—that nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and is Lord. 

(http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/ccolson.htm)

Jesus is alive, and He is Lord!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

O God,

who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross,

and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy:

Grant us so to die daily to sin,

that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. 

Amen.

1979 Book of Common Prayer

Bruce MacPherson  macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address.  Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.