Trey

I am a professional writer with solid experience writing copy for major newspapers, magazines, and journals. A 2004 recipient of the Keith L. Ware Liberty Bell Award in journalism and a 2003 Pushcart Prize nominee, I am currently one of the automotive page correspondents at the Baltimore Examiner for which I primarily write stories/ interviews on car customizers. I am currently pursuing a graduate degree in Systematic Theology at St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute of Theology in Baltimore, MD. If you're looking for a freelance writer who can turn your information into a dynamic presentation, don't hesitate to contact me.------- Anyone seriously inquiring about the question of God’s existence must wrestle with the person of Jesus Christ. Today, most scholars accept, regardless of claims, that a person named Jesus likely existed and had a Messianic movement and following. But, it doesn’t stop there!I’ve summarized some points from various scholars that anyone must confront when considering the truth of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead:1. The idea of physical grave-emptying was not an idea that you find in 1st century Judaism. Yet this is precisely what the Apostle’s were claiming. If Jesus’ resurrection was a farce created by the Apostle’s why would they come up with such an extraordinarily non-Jewish claim if they were claiming that Christ was the promised Messiah within the Jewish tradition? You would want to FULFILL the expectations and hopes of the people, not give them cause to scratch their heads.2. Jesus could not have been thrown into a common grave. This point is well-attested to in deductions applied to scripture, going so far as to give the person to whom patronage was assigned, Joseph of Aramathea. This Pharisee is unlikely to be a Christian invention as connecting a name with a conspirator would have easily allowed any historian of the time to challenge the authenticity of that name or simply ask Joseph himself about his role. Further, mentioning a member of the court that condemned Jesus, only for one of their own to honor him, hardly seems like a fanciful invention. There seems to be no overriding challenge convincing enough why we should believe otherwise.3. The earliest evidence of an empty tomb comes from the testimony of his enemies! The Pharisees charged that “his apostles came in the night and stole the body.” This is a fascinating point since, while the explanations were different, no one was debating that the tomb itself was empty! It is interesting to note that all accounts of Jesus’ burial during this time are unanimous and there is no competing burial tradition.4. The testimony of women being the first witnesses to the empty tomb would have done more harm than good to the Christian faith. Because the testimony of women was regarded as worthless in a court of ancient Judaic law, it’s amazing that if the redactors of the New Testament were trying to make Jesus and the Christian movement MORE credible that they would keep this “embarrassing” fact in the pages of scripture. If the original writers were in fact Greek, trying to appeal to a larger Greek audience as was true of Philo or Josephus, why not just make the visitors to the tomb Greeks?5. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul puts his reputation on the chopping block and that of the Resurrection! In this important passage, Paul claims the witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, including 500 some witnesses, are still alive. If the resurrection of Christ were a farce, one would have to wonder why Paul would enjoin the testimony of hundreds of people, any of which could have come forward and denied this claim. Given Paul was only writing 20-30 years after Christ, this would have been entirely plausible.6. That Paul was an enemy of Christianity cannot be overlooked! Once a major instigator sent to crush the movement, Paul claims to encounter Christ and have a radical transformation. More telling, are the “snippets” he adds about some of the churches who react to his conversion suspiciously. This creates a “complete” and believable psychological profile, rather than merely saying Paul converted and was received with open arms. In fact, we find throughout his converted life, challenges to his apostleship.7. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem seemed quite inconsequential. From a Messianic perspective, if you were trying to convince people that Jesus was in fact God’s chosen vessel, why would he have begun in such obscurity? Certainly Jews believed (and rightly so) that the Messiah would come through the line of David. We have no reason to pair up Bethlehem with the Davidic line of kings. This would be the kind of information you’d want to scrub from the text.8. Most significant is the early testimony of the Apostles. Certainly no theory of complicity explains away their change of heart. Here, uneducated fisherman, carpenters, etc., from the Capernaum and Galilee region (of no Messianic worth) upon claiming to see the Risen Lord become staunch witnesses of God, emboldened, rather than scattered, in the aftermath of Jesus’ death, and begin preaching boldly that Jesus is Israel’s savior. If there were a conspiracy to “create” a resurrection story, surely these men wouldn’t have put their reputations and their very lives on the line to defend what they knew was certainly a lie. In the history of psychology, no one has died for a belief they KNOW to be untrue.9. Jesus was most definitely an historical figure and the Bible ought to be considered trustworthy on this matter! When the challenge comes up (as it sometimes does) that nowhere else is Jesus mentioned by his contemporaries, we must take this into account. The sparse amount of writing produced between the years of 30-90 A.D is measurable and well known. Works by Phaedrus, an inscription to Pilate, oratories by Quintillian, and Pliny the Elder. The only person who might have even considered Jesus is Seneca, but it is doubtful he would have found a localized movement around a peasant Messiah to be very useful or interesting given his troubles with Nero.10. Unlike any other leader of a religious movement or spiritual revolution, Christ Jesus claimed to be without sin, provided moral and physical structure for our lives, but did what no person did: In dying, not only did he seal his testimony in blood, but in RISING, he validated everything he said during his life, showing that he was indeed WHO he said HE was, having power over death and the life to come. No other religious figure has done this. The promise of life after death, seminal and transparent through every religion as is the fear of death, was triumphantly heralded in the resurrection of Christ. That is why “No man can come to God except through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).”Finally, we are all asked, what will we do with this Jesus Christ? Not only are we called to confess our sins and believe, but we are entreated to FOLLOW. True belief requires that we surrender control of our lives and hand the reins to Him. That freedom is found in servitude to God is an unpopular concept in today’s culture that feeds on self-assertion. Whether we like it or not, one day we will be called to account for our lives. Because we all have sinned, we all need a Savior. Only Christ, who died for us, is sufficient to deliver us salvation. Because he was sinless, and the only atonement for humanity.I was a sinner for many years. I ran with the wrong crowds. I tried to portray an image of stability, confidence, and toughness. I thought I knew God, but deep down I could honestly confess my life wouldn’t rise to the level of righteousness. If you asked me where I was headed, I would say “I hope heaven.” But I couldn’t tell you for sure. So instead of blow it off, take my chances, when I was one day confronted with the person of Jesus Christ and how he died to take away my sins, I decided that the life in this world was not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us in the life to come. Through Christ, I made the decision to give him control and render myself “dead to the world” so that I might be “alive in Him.”We only get one shot at this, folks. Sin kills the soul and the pleasures of this world last for just a moment in comparison to what’s in store for us in eternity. Consider the expanse of this universe, and ask yourself, “is there a God out there who could love me the way the Bible claims?” Make that decision today. As you approach this Easter weekend, some of you will go to church out of habit and some not at all. All the while Jesus Christ is knocking at the door of your heart, asking to be your Savior. All the bluster of atheism has not controverted the well-established facts of the resurrection and the faith experience of intelligent men and women who are convinced both by their hearts and minds that Christ is Lord. Won’t you be one of them?