Tues March 22, 2016
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By Mike Sares
If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, Christians are idiots. Think about it. A man claiming to be God is crucified and then reportedly comes back to life. His followers are so convinced of this fact that they not only tell everyone, they travel great distances to tell more people, they write about it for future generations, and then brave all kinds of torture and death because they will not stop talking about it. I wrote a little ditty about this as a young Christian:
resurrection
If I were Peter, James or John
and it was all a hoax,
I don't think I would have died
for what I knew was just a joke.
People don't usually die for a cause they know is a lie. (Obviously, people might die for a cause they believe to be true which, in fact, is not; but the many disciples of Jesus were not in that position.) Jesus' disciples did not show themselves to be brave men at the time Jesus was arrested, on through his crucifixion, and even after when some women came and told them Jesus was alive again. Yet, later on we are told of Peter being crucified upside down, James killed, and John boiled alive in hot oil & left to die in exile on the island of Patmos -- all because they refused to deny their faith in a risen Christ. No wonder the apostle Paul said,
"Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it -- if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we've passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ -- sheer fabrications, if there is no resurrection." - 1Corinthians 15 in The Message
Take it as truth from one who was beheaded in Rome for saying, "Christos anesti!" ("Christ is Risen!")
Truly, He is risen!
-Mike
If I were Peter, James or John
and it was all a hoax,
I don't think I would have died
for what I knew was just a joke.
"Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it -- if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we've passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ -- sheer fabrications, if there is no resurrection." - 1Corinthians 15 in The Message
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