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The resurrection of Christ
The importance of Jesus death and resurrection for believers
Topic on the resurrection of Jesus Christ
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most discussed events in all of history. Some would consider it the most important miracles of all time. For Christians it is the one event that serves as the basis for all of their religious claims. Paul, a prominent leader in the early Church, wrote about the resurrection and how the Christians faith is vain without it (1 Corinthians 15:13). The resurrection proves that Jesus was the Son of God and that his sacrifice was sufficient for the forgiveness of sin (Romans 1:4; 3:25-26). The resurrection was the basis for all the apostles preaching in the early Church. This is seen clearly throughout the book of Acts. Throughout the gospels Jesus predicts his death and resurrection. Without Jesus’ resurrection believers would not be filled with the Holy Spirit (John 14:28). The resurrection provides hope for all who …show more content…
Since the resurrection is attested to be a miracle, this paper will address their possibility as well. It will start by discussing the preliminary issue of presuppositions. One will be challenged to assess his or her worldview so as to enter into the discussion with as little bias as possible. Next, terms and definitions will be discussed. The reader must understand how each side interprets the terms and ideas used in the discussion. Then, a brief survey of the argument’s development over the course of history will be provided. A discussion of David Hume’s particular argument will be discussed as well. Before an apologetic method is practiced or developed, two approaches will be assessed. Finally, an integrative apologetic method will be presented and implemented, hopefully illustrating the strength’s of the apologetic approaches discussed in the previous section. This paper, once again, is an attempt to provide an apologetic response to the issue of miracles, specifically the
In his book, Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope, Jonathan Kozol pulls back the veil and provides readers with a glimpse of the harsh conditions and unrelenting hope that exists in a community located in the South Bronx called Mott Haven. Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Just his commentary would paint a very bleak picture of the future. It is the words of the children that give this book optimism and meaning. The courage and care exhibited by the volunteers of St. Ann's after school program and the creativity of the teachers at P.S. 30 are utterly inspiring. They work long hours and go beyond the call of duty to protect the innocence and cultivate the hope that resides in the hearts of Mott Haven's youngest residents.
In 1 Corinthians 15, this is the most important chapter in the bible, when resurrection is the main topic talked about. This section of 1-26, talks about the physical reality and assurance of resurrection. Even though Paul is basically trying to prove that resurrection exists, he is mainly trying to say that Christians will be resurrected. In this passage Paul tries to solve the issues that the Corinthian were dealing with based on the resurrection of the deceased. Paul used vital information and personal experiences in this passage to prove that resurrection occurs not only in Christ but in man as well. He first uses sections 3-11 to try and explain how much the gospel is vital to understanding resurrection and it’s historical importance. Paul shows all confidence in the gospel because of the facts of Jesus’s resurrection. The second section is Paul trying to explain the repercussions if resurrection didn’t exist. He explains that all apostles would be false witnessed and they would still be living in their sins. However, he ends the passage by combining Christ and man’s resurrection and says that Christ is the first of many men to be resurrected.
The New King James Bible explains, "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all ... For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man ... If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (Acts 4:33 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 and 44). Paul explains that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected. Since Jesus was physically buried, then Jesus ' resurrection would represent Him physically rising from the dead. Moreover, Paul explains that we will be resurrected like Jesus because God created humanity. Humanity cannot be physically resurrected because the human body is perishable. However, the spiritual body is imperishable and will live for eternity. Therefore, our physical bodies will be resurrected into an imperishable spirit. The significance of the passage is to demonstrate the historical event that Jesus ' disciples taught the physical resurrection of Jesus and also humanity will be
In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, the idea of miracles is introduced. Hume’s argument is that there is no rational reason for human beings to believe in miracles, and that it is wrong to have miracles as the building blocks for religion. It is because the general notion of miracles come from the statement of others who claim to have seen them, Hume believes that there is no way to prove that those accounts are accurate, because they were not experienced first-hand. In order to believe a miracle, the evidence should be concrete, and something irrefutable. When there is any sort of doubt to a miracle, Hume says that any evidence that can be contrary to the proof of a miracle is merely evidence that the miracle did not happen, and it should be disproved. The only way a miracle can be proven is from the testimony of the person who had witnessed it, while any evidence against the miracle is something that defies the laws of nature. It falls upon the reputation of the witness to prove whether or not he or she actually observed a miracle, because a miracle can only be plausible when it is more likely than the opposing laws of nature. Hume’s reasoning in favour of miracles being insufficient events are also explanations as to why he believes miracles are not probable. First is the idea that human beings are not honest enough to be able to have possibly witnessed a miracle. Next is that human beings want to believe in the supernatural, and that desire allows us to believe in things that could never happen, simply because it would be wonderful and fantastical if that miracle actually did occur. Thirdly, the people who usually report sightings of a miracle are those who are uncivilized, or unsophisticated, so they ...
In the previous two posts, we have gone over the importance of the apostles ' martyrdom for the resurrection argument, as well as a summary of Sean McDowell 's findings concerning their martyrdom. Now the question arises, is this evidence enough? The short answer is, yes. All the resurrection argument requires is that some apostles who claimed to have experiences of the resurrected Jesus were martyred for their faith. The idea is that if the apostles had invented the story of the resurrection they wouldn 't be willing to die for it. If they were martyred then they truly believed that they had experienced encounters of the resurrected Jesus, adding credence to the resurrection argument and disproving the possibility that
In explaining Hume’s critique of the belief in miracles, we must first understand the definition of a miracle. The Webster Dictionary defines a miracle as: a supernatural event regarded as to define action, one of the acts worked by Christ which revealed his divinity an extremely remarkable achievement or event, an unexpected piece of luck. Therefore, a miracle is based on one’s perception of past experiences, what everyone sees. It is based on an individuals own reality, and the faith in which he/she believes in, it is based on interior events such as what we are taught, and exterior events, such as what we hear or see first hand. When studying Hume’s view of a miracle, he interprets or defines a miracle as such; a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, an event which is not normal to most of mankind. Hume explains this point brilliantly when he states, “Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it has ever happened in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man seemingly in good health should die on a sudden.” (Hume p.888) Hume states that this death is quite unusual, however it seemed to happen naturally. He could only define it as a true miracle if this dead man were to come back to life. This would be a miraculous event because such an experience has not yet been commonly observed. In which case, his philosophical view of a miracle would be true. Hume critiques and discredits the belief in a miracle merely because it goes against the laws of nature.
Wright obviously has a passion for the resurrection and devotes a significant portion to the word “resurrection”. According to Wright, “resurrection in its Greek, Latin, or other equivalents was never used to mean life after death … resurrection was used to denote new bodily life after whatever sort of life after death there might be.” This, again, narrows the focus on the fact that the resurrection can be used for us to understand how this world could be
A look at the historical life of Jesus Christ reveals that he was born to the Virgin Mary and his father Joseph in the year 6 B.C.E. His birth occurred during the Judean reign of King Herod. (Fisher, 2006) There isn't a lot of written history concerning Jesus' early years up to the age of about 24 years old. Jesus was a simple carpenter who was known for his fierce devotion to the Lord. He began to preach publicly at the age of 25 or so. (Fisher, 2006) This time during his life was a very successful one, he was adapt at healing the sickly and exercising demons. On a pilgrimage to Nazareth, Jesus was said to have been baptized by John, who later became one of Jesus' Apostles. This occurrence marked the beginning of Jesus' public life and rose his preaching to a higher level of interest among both his followers and his detractors. (Maas, 2003) Shortly prior to the first Passover of his life Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem and abruptly cast out the buyers and merchants who had been accustomed to buying and selling their wares in the holy Temple for a long time. The death, and the eventual resurrection of Jesus Christ which happened on the day after the Last Supper, was a major point in the Christian religion. Both occurrences had major impacts on the religion, while Jesus' resurrection is looked at as the most memorable historical event in the religious theatre.
In this paper I will look at David Hume’s (1711-1776) discussion from the An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Of Miracles regarding whether it is a reasonable assumption to believe in the existence of miracles. I will first discuss why the existence of miracles matters and how miracles relate to our understanding of the laws of nature. Secondly, I will look at how Hume argues that it is never reasonable to believe in miracles. I will then provide objections to this argument which I feel support the idea that belief is not only reasonable but a necessary condition for a faithful life.
5. Paul’s testimony on the resurrection of Christ is an asset to Christian apologetics. In addition, The early historical record that the apostle provided in his letters about the death and resurrection of Jesus the Nazareth make the strong argument that the miracle of resurrection was not a myth or legend. The early historical records are poor that the resurrection was not a myth or legend invented by his followers. (124,
When other popular teachers died, their movement died with them. However, after the death of Jesus, his movement continued to build strength and grew rapidly. James, Peter, John and Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews were convinced of Jesus’ resurrection, they believed this with such conviction that they did not even try to defend or prove this. They stated it as fact. “In each narrative, names are given of those to whom the resin Christ presented himself (Barnett 130)”. This can be verified and proven true, based on eyewitnesses. After the death of Christ, the lives of the writers of the New Testament were radically changed. They traveled where they had not gone to reach out to people outside their comfort zone. They died in their challenge
One of the most perplexing events in the ministry of Jesus Christ is His resurrection from the dead. Many skeptics look at it as made up stories or hallucinations, or mass hysteria, yet the biblical accounts and other evidences point to another conclusion. This research paper will explore three pieces of evidence that the resurrection story is factual and can be accepted as a historical event.
Dahl E. "The Resurrection of the Body: A Study of First Corinthians 15." Journal of Bible and Religion (1963): 31-2. JSTOR. Web. 1 May 2014.
In this paper, I will examine Jesus’ resurrection from the dead because, according to many scholars, there is no other event in the life of Jesus that is as significant. In order to better comprehend the magnitude of this event, I will begin by looking at what can be discerned from the Resurrection of Jesus. Then, I will explore the two different kinds of resurrection testimony that there are: the confessional tradition and narrative tradition. For the confessional tradition, I will look at a few examples including St. Paul’s confession in First Corinthians which is composed of four parts: Jesus’ death, the question of the empty tomb, the third day, and the witnesses. For the narrative tradition, I will briefly examine the two sources of information
Theologians have been stuck on this topic as well. Without the Resurrection, the Christian’s faith