The
painting is called The Incredulity of St. Thomas, painted by Carvagio, an Italian
Baroque artist in the early 1600s. It captures the moment of Thomas's doubts
about the resurrection of Jesus, dissipating in the light of the evidence
as he puts his finger into the side of Jesus. Is the painting's notoriety due
to Carvagio's skill as a painter, or is it due to the fact that so many of us
can identify with the contents of the painting? All of us go through doubts
about our faith at different times and ask the question, is there enough evidence
to support my beliefs? With Christianity, it all comes down to this. Is there
enough evidence to support Jesus' resurrection from the dead? We all have a
belief or beliefs. Some people believe in evolution and some people believe in
intelligent design. Some people believe in capitalism and still others believe in
socialism. There are those that say they don't believe in anything and yet they
believe in that belief. What do you believe and what is the evidence of your
belief? Three weeks from now, you will present your belief and more importantly,
you will present the evidence of that belief. Any questions?
Hey Caroline. Caroline, hey. Hey, are you okay? Hey Alan. I'm fine, I'm just thinking
about the assignment we got. Yeah, isn't it great? I think it should be a piece of
cake for us since we've been Christians all of our lives. That's just the thing.
I don't know the evidence for why I believe what I do. You go to church your
whole life, but it's like osmosis. You take on everyone else's faith. But you
know why? Well, I mean, I believe because I just do. Don't you see my predicaments?
I mean our predicaments. Well, I think that'll be good for us to explore the
foundation of our faith. I don't even know where to start. How about with the
resurrection since that is the core of our beliefs? How do you even do that? What are
you, a Daring Thomas? Come on.
Oh, I'm getting nowhere with this. You know, Rome wasn't built in a day. Rome
also fell, Neil. What's your presentation about? Evidence for the
resurrection of Jesus. Oh. You believe in that? Well, yeah. And you don't? I did a
personal investigation into the claims of Jesus last semester. What did you find
out? Jesus was a good man, a teacher, a devoutly spiritual person, but as far as
empirical evidence of the resurrection, there is none. It's based on claims of
others that invested three years of their lives following him. It's
understandable they don't want to think their lives hadn't been wasted when he
died. I think his body was stolen. It's Hindu tradition that Jesus traveled
throughout Southeast Asia learning many of his teachings from the spiritual
leaders of India. So you aren't denying Jesus was real? Not at all. I think
everyone would believe Jesus was real, but he did not rise from the dead. Well,
what do you believe then? As a Muslim, I believe his body was taken into heaven so
that he would not experience the crucifixion. That is why his body was
never found. You're relying on evidence that is the source of your claim. We
haven't even discussed what Buddhists, Mormons, and others say. No one has any
idea what occurred with his body, but it didn't rise from the dead. Everyone has
an explanation for Jesus' body not being in the tomb. Why is that? If the
resurrection occurred, if his claims were true, then what? Then we'd be held
accountable to him as being God just like he claimed. So instead, it's explained in
a way that's conducive to one's belief. You're varying beliefs on the
resurrection. Don't prove anything, but you all agreed on one thing with me, and
that is, Jesus' body was not in the tomb. Something did happen.
Old Testament prophecies about Jesus on manuscripts like the Dead Sea Scrolls
which predate Jesus were proven true.
According to F. F. Bruce, if the New Testament were a collection of secular
writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all
doubt. Some speculate that Jesus didn't die but fainted. He'd been beaten,
crucified, and starved for three days. How could he move a hundred pounds of
burial bombs and move a 1500-pound rock? Hundreds of people saw him over the
course of nine appearances. Some were strangers and skeptics. There is no
historical account of group hallucination. When Paul wrote First Corinthians, he
told people to ask the witnesses since they were still alive.
Follow me on this. Okay. The empty tomb. The entrance was blocked by a boulder
that needed levers to put it into place. The boulder itself weighed over 1500
pounds, and the tomb had a Roman seal on it that put a death sentence of being
crucified upside down on anyone who broke it. And besides that, there was a
contingent of at least four Roman soldiers guarding the entrance to prevent
anyone from stealing the body. So the defenses were put in place to keep the
body from being stolen. Exactly. And by this time, most of Jesus' followers had
abandoned him. So why would they try to steal the body anyway? Hey, how much do you
think that fridge weighs? I don't know. Four, five hundred pounds? Try and move it.
Now imagine trying to move a boulder that weighs 1500 pounds. Wow. That'd be like
trying to move a dead hippo. Huh? Oh, I was just reading. Never mind. And that does
even factor in the Roman soldiers or the fear of being crucified upside down. Who
could even pull that off? No one.
In my study of the lives of the apostles, I found that they were men who ran
scared from the local authorities when Jesus was arrested and crucified. They
lost all hope and some went back to their old professions. They gave no
inclination whatsoever that they were about to change the course of human
history. What brought about this abrupt and extreme change within them? The
Apostle Thomas doubted the claims of the resurrection by saying he wouldn't
believe until he could see the marks of the nails in Jesus' hands. What
motivated Thomas, the man who's synonymous with doubt to travel to India
and China to proclaim the truth about Jesus and face martyrdom? The resurrection
of Jesus. 500 witnesses saw him alive in flesh and blood. When the Apostle saw
Jesus resurrected, it became a catalyst that emphatically changed the course of
their lives. If Jesus overcame death, what did they have to doubt or fear?
Nothing. For the rest of their lives, they were persecuted. They were imprisoned
and many died for their faith. Why would they all embrace this life if it were
a lie? Everything hinges on the resurrection. If it's true, then
everyone should believe in God. If it's false, then Christianity should be
dismissed as a farce. Now some people have a hard time believing the evidence
for the resurrection. It happened 2,000 years ago. There's no eyewitness that's
still alive to speak authoritatively on the matter. There is no smoking gun. And
if you only focus on a single piece of evidence, I'm not sure you can make a
compelling case. But if you step back and look at the big picture, a mosaic of
truth emerges. Jesus was who he said he was. He lived, he died, he rose from the
dead. And the world has never been the same since.
