The majority of people today don’t know much about the
beginnings of Christianity. A lot of people seem to think religions just kind
of spawned out of nothing or some dude just wrote a book and started yelling at
people and some people just believed, or maybe that political leaders made up a
system of government that was used to manipulate people with so-called
“spiritual truths”.
Though some religions probably have spawned in these ways or
for these purposes, the case with Christianity is quite contrary.
Christianity arose in the midst of a Jewish and Greco-Roman
context right around 0 A.D.
After the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and his death around
33 A.D., people suddenly came to worship the crucified man in droves. This is
attested to not only by reliable Biblical sources (anyone who’s studied the
exceptional historian Luke and his Gospel and Acts of the Apostles accounts of
early Church history understands his knack for historicity) but by external sources
as well (Pliny the Younger, Josephus, etc. ) This might not seem significant at
first, but referring back to our historical context and the proceeding
historical events surrounding the early Church we see that it is very much so.
The people who professed this Jesus as their saviour and
Lord were heavily persecuted in both Jewish and Greek contexts for varying
reasons. Social pressures were intense – confess and practice this faith, and
you very well could die. In fact, 11 of the 12 disciples of Christ died
horrible deaths; upside down crucifixion, being boiled alive and skinned alive,
etc. So this raises an important question: why would people be willing to go
this far for a man who had simply died?
I think the best explanation for this is simply that they
had every reason to believe that he was no longer dead; that indeed, this man
had been resurrected. The Bible claims that at least 500 people saw Jesus alive
after his crucifixion at some point. This was actually an early claim of an
apostle in a letter, written well within a generation after Jesus’ death. This
is then a claim that could have been verified by talking to apparent
eyewitnesses, as could be the claims about the empty tomb that were circulating
at that time.
To be honest, I can’t see thousands of people falling to
their knees in worship of a man who had just been brutally murdered unless they
truly believed he was who he claimed to be (that is, they believed that he was
resurrected and therefore his claims were vindicated). There were many
self-proclaimed messiahs and prophets before Jesus of Nazareth who also had
radical claims and were eventually put to death for them – but none of those
men had thousands of people worshipping them post mortem amidst persecution and
even death.
This then is the miracle. Nothing natural can suitably
explain the rise of the Christian Church. There is no good reason why Jesus
Christ should still be worshipped as God today unless his seemingly
preposterous claims were vindicated by his post mortem appearances. Only then
would people face death fearlessly knowing with full assurance that their
Saviour was alive.
Hopefully this has you thinking, and if it does, I’m sure
there are many questions and potential rebuttals floating around in your head –
all are welcome here. Don’t simply let this pass over you – if Jesus did rise
from the dead, it matters, and so we should inquire honestly, and I know many
have challenged these claims before (and still do today). I might like to look
at these different proposals/challenges, so if you can think of any or find
any, post away and we can discuss.
Until then, stay frosty.
Corey
