Apologetics 101( part 1)

Let's open with a word of prayer. So, Father, thank you that you've brought us here to study apologetics.

Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would lead us in this class, that you would even send more people to fill this room.

Lord, that we would be a people who are able to obey 1 Peter 3 .15. Lord, that we would be ready with an answer for those who ask us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Come on in, there's seats up front here and there's room to set up more.

We are going to begin this class by telling you what your homework assignment is.

Fortunately, it's easy. It is to watch a one -hour video on YouTube before next week, and I'm going to show you the first couple of minutes of it, because I think it will actually whet your appetite to want to watch it.

It's an example of an apologist doing apologetics on a college campus, and how that refutes atheism is the issue.

I'm going to show about two minutes of this, maybe three or four, just to whet your appetite.

The assignment is for everybody to go to YouTube. In fact, who needs a pen? Anybody need a pen? Yes. All right, we need some pens.

Write down Living Waters. You can write down YouTube, Living Waters, atheism.

It will come up as the first thing. It's got like a million hits. The video is made by Ray Comfort, so we're going to watch a couple of minutes of it to begin the class today.

What was Ray's last name again? Comfort. Religion is just absolutely uncalled for.

We are just mere things floating on a rock in space. We are not only figuratively, but literally.

You don't have to go to church on Christmas, and it is about being good, and that's what all religions are about anyway.

Okay. Are you an atheist? Yes. Are you going to kill yourself?

I'd like to. So you're an atheist? Yes. I need to know what to believe in.

Like what happens when you don't. I don't want to be a bag of dust. David, are you an atheist?

Yes. When did you become an atheist? Around age 12. Believing in God makes no sense.

To me, it's the dumbest thing. It's for people that can't accept the fact that they're going to die and rot in the ground like I'm going to do, and it gives them some relief from that thought, because it's not the nicest thought in the world.

Are you an atheist? No. That's about where I was going to stop. Perfect. It's a sign.

Living Waters, and it is called

The Atheist Illusion. Richard Dawkins. Yeah. Richard Dawkins is one of the famous atheists.

You'll see him in the video a bit. So I showed that video, just a little bit of it, first of all, to whet your appetite to go watch more.

It's an example of how apologetics is used to refute things like atheism to defend the

Christian faith. So let's begin. The first question, what is apologetics?

Anybody know? It's right there. The answer is, it's a reasoned defense of the faith.

So it's using logic, it's using reason to defend the Christian faith. 1 .2,

apologetics is crucial for any Christian with loved ones in this culture. Has anybody noticed that our culture is drifting away from the

Christian foundations of this country? So if you were to go to a college campus like Ray Comfort did in this video, you would find that probably it would be a very small minority of people who are believing the

Christian message as it's been handed down for 2 ,000 years. A majority are either agnostic, or even nowadays, atheism is on the rise.

So in this culture, the culture is drifting away from Christianity, and you'll notice about the new atheists that they're becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity.

So it's not just a matter of them not believing that there's a God, but there's actually many who are on the attack deliberately trying to undermine the

Christian faith and to undermine the scriptures. So apologetics is crucial for anyone with loved ones in this culture.

Maybe you feel like, you know what, nobody's going to talk me out of believing in God. I know there's a God. But, it's still important to study apologetics because you could be that lifeline to somebody who is vulnerable.

Somebody who is being led astray by the lies of the enemy. So apologetics is crucial for us in this day and age.

We have to defend the faith. Well, is that actually important? Scripturally, do we need to learn to do that?

The key verse for apologetics being commissioned for us to do is 1 Peter 3 .15.

Would somebody turn there and just read it nice and loud for us? This is probably the most famous verse relating to apologetics.

Sword drill. First one to get it, start reading. But in your hearts, honor

Christ the Lord as holy. Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who acts against you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Okay, so the first thing you notice about the verse is the necessary heart condition of the person who's doing apologetics.

The goal is not to be the smartest in the room. The goal is not to make another person look foolish.

The goal of apologetics is, first of all, an act of worship. Set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts.

There needs to be a humility when we study apologetics and when we study the Bible in general. There needs to be a heart condition that is humble before God.

And it begins with ourselves submitting to God. We can't argue for and lead someone to something that we don't ourselves have.

We have to be believers in the first place. But then notice the rest of that verse says, set apart

Christ as Lord, always being ready to give a defense or a reason for the hope that is in you.

That word is, in the Greek, apologia. Or apologia, however you want to say it.

I think it's actually pronounced apologia. But the word means defense or reason.

So it's defending the hope that we already have. So apologetics, then, is a reasoned defense of the faith.

And we see that in 1 Peter 3 .15. It's also very prominent in the book of Acts. You could look up some of the verses

I gave you here on the paper where you see Paul making a defense. Defending the faith, standing up for the faith against false gospels.

You know, in chapter 15, what was the issue? Anybody know?

What was the issue that was dealt with in Acts 15? That's Acts 17, which is a very apologetic chapter too.

They should abide by Judaistic laws and regulations? There were some people who came into the church and started teaching that you must be circumcised in order to be saved.

What do you do when someone shows up teaching something like that? You defend the gospel.

The book of Galatians is addressed to that problem. And the 15th chapter of Acts is where the council comes together in Jerusalem to defend the true gospel of sola fide, faith alone, against the lies that had come into the church.

So, somebody turn to chapter 20, verse 29. Acts chapter 20, verse 29.

Sordja, go. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And Paul warns them that in the church, there will be wolves, savage wolves in sheep's clothing that come to steal away the sheep.

So, this is why apologetics is so important. Because we need to defend the sheep.

The sheep, the believers, right? We have little kids in this church. We have teenagers in this church.

We have young adults and adults. And every last one of these sheep that believe in Jesus Christ is precious to God and precious to us.

Apologetics matters because it's defending the sheep against wolves that will come. They're going to come through the internet.

They're going to come in chat rooms. They're going to come on college campuses or high school or middle school campuses.

At the lunchroom table. Teaching that there is no God. That Christianity is foolishness.

And the question is, will we be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have?

So, apologetics, we all agree, is very important, isn't it? In this day and age, never more so. Third, there are today two major schools of apologetics.

And I don't mean like certain campuses, but rather a school of thought. Two different ways of approaching apologetics.

The first camp is called the evidentialist camp. Evidentialists grant that human reasoning is a common starting point.

Their approach is to offer evidence, right? That's where we get evidentialists. To offer evidence that will prove

Christianity or demonstrate something that's false or true based on the ability of the human to reason and to look at these things.

So, what you're going to see in this video is an evidentialist approach. But, it's interesting, it also brings in elements of the presuppositionalist approach.

So that's the second thing. What is the difference between the two schools? Evidentialists are appealing to evidence and assuming that the person that they're talking to is able to reason logically.

And logic would bring them to the same place of belief that they have. But the presuppositionalist says no.

Because of the fall of man, even the reasoning of the human mind is fallen.

This is what's called the noetic effects of sin. Noetic referring to knowing.

The ability of a person to reason logically is not something that's common to everybody.

There is no such thing as just common knowledge or common wisdom. Because the fall has perverted our way of thinking.

And so, someone who is presented with the greatest arguments, the greatest evidence for God, might very well look at that evidence and say, no.

Why? Because there's something wrong in thinking. This line of reasoning, this school of thought, comes especially from Romans chapter 1.

What are we told there? Having rejected God, they've exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

So there's a fallenness even in the human reasoning that exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

So what does the presuppositionalist do to battle this? The apologist who's using this method won't even grant to the person who's listening that they are logical.

They'll demonstrate that a person, in order to reason together, would have to borrow from Christianity to do that in the first place.

Because if this world is just stardust that's spun into existence, then there's no reason to expect logical consistency in the universe.

There's no reason for that to exist. What the presuppositionalist will do is presuppose that the scripture is true.

That's the starting point. And so, never cede the ground to the unbeliever that the

Bible is under investigation or somehow on the table for conversation. No, the presuppositionalist will say, the

Bible is true. That's my starting point for my reasoning. It doesn't start with natural theology of why there's a

God or some objective thing beyond. Because the human mind cannot come to the place of God on its own.

Make sense? So, just to give you a couple examples of those who use evidentialism. You've heard of William Lane Craig?

He's a strong evidentialist. Mike Vicona, Lee Strobel, J. Warner Wallace, Gary Habermas.

These are all taking an evidentialist approach. Now some of the apologists who have followed the presuppositionalist camp is

James White. Have you guys heard of him? He's probably my favorite. Just got to admit. I listen to James White at least like once a week on his show called

The Dividing Line. Matt Slick, who started one of the biggest Christian apologetics websites.

CARM. Yep, CARM. C -A -R -M stands for Christian Apologetics Research Ministry. He will be here on October 6th and 7th.

Really? So, he's going to be doing our apologetics conference this year. Gordon Clark, Cornelius Vantill.

I like this guy, Si Ten Bruggenkate. Got a weird name, but man, is he sharp as a tack.

I would encourage you to look in and just Google some of these names. Look them up on YouTube. Listen to how they reason with unbelievers and learn from them.

Okay? Next, and Casper, you're up in about 10 minutes. So, ready? Okay. Should I come back in and set up?

Yeah, if you need to set up, come on behind me. That's fine. Don't be distracted, guys. Sorry. So, next

I'm going to show you in .5, Arguments for the Resurrection. Casper has been involved with a group at Stockton called

Ratio Christi. Right? And so, he did an apologetic study for about four years. It's more of an evidentialist approach, but it also can include some presuppositionalism.

So, Arguments for the Resurrection, by refuting the viability of alternatives, is essentially an evidentialist approach.

Okay? You guys following me for the difference between presuppositional and evidential? Okay, good. These can be helpful to clear away obstacles in a person's mind.

But mere Christianity is indefensible without the authority of the Bible. So, apologists should never surrender this ground.

Now, follow me for a second. Let's say that we sat down with an unbeliever, and I wanted to argue for the resurrection.

And I say, well, let's look at all the alternatives, which is what we're going to show. We're going to do this in a minute. Let's look at all the alternatives and show how they're just folly.

There's no way that these alternatives could be true. It just doesn't make sense.

And we show that it's more than likely that Jesus actually rose from the dead. That explains the historical data better than anything else.

Okay? Let's say we did that. Would a person necessarily then be a Christian?

No. Why not? Yes. Yes.

Very good. Very good. Okay, even if I could prove the resurrection happened historically, how do

I know what the resurrection means? How do

I know? The only answer to that question is the Scripture. Now, truthfully, the only way we can know that the resurrection happened is the

Scripture. But even the very meaning of atonement. What did it mean that Jesus died?

So what? Many people died. Many people are murdered. The Romans killed and crucified thousands of people, not just one.

What did the meaning of Jesus' death? What is the meaning of Jesus' death?

How would we know that Jesus died as a substitute to pay the penalty of my sin, absorbing the wrath of God and turning away the wrath of God from me, that I would go free?

You can't know that apart from the Scriptures. And so here's the point.

You should presuppose that the Scriptures are true. You can never give away that common ground.

Defend the Scriptures as being consistent. So you will find arguments against the Scriptures. You'll find many arguments about, have you ever heard of the hundred contradictions of the

Bible that Muslims pass out in the inner city? I would come across that a lot. A hundred contradictions in the

Bible. And they would try to find anything that looked like a contradiction to them. Part of apologetics would be defending the consistency of the

Scripture. So that is a presuppositionalist approach to say that the Scriptures are, in fact, true.

And demonstrating that they're consistent at every point. So what I'm going to teach now and just encourage you guys to do is to use evidentialist apologetics, like what we're going to learn now, as a tool to clear away obstacles in the minds of a person.

But to recognize that there is a difference between apologetics and evangelism.

So I think I might have skipped over that point. Up in 1 .1 .2, with my little

Dewey Decimal System thing I do. The aim of apologetics, it's different from polemics or evangelism.

This is important. Apologetics is like a tool in your belt. An evidentialist approach like this, to demonstrate the truth of the resurrection, is a tool that you can use.

But it's different than evangelism. Evangelism is telling the good news.

And there's power in the message of the cross. In the video that we watched earlier, that you're going to go home and watch, by Ray Comfort, you will see a combination of apologetics and evangelism.

And the moment where the conversation becomes evangelistic is very obvious.

You'll see it in the video. It's where the gospel itself takes center stage.

It's where the message of Christ, and why he died, and how he rose from the dead, and how that calls each of us to repent and believe.

That message is the power of God. So evangelism is telling the message of Christ, and trusting that the power is in the word.

That's what's truly going to convert a heart. And apologetics then just becomes a tool that we use.

So are you ready to go? Again, to set this up, this is an apologetic for the resurrection.

It's a very helpful tool. It's one that helped me, and I've used in the past. So I'm going to turn it over to Casper.

Let me say I pray for you, and then the floor is yours. So Father, I pray for Casper, and I ask that you would use him in this teaching.

I pray for all of us to learn from it. In Jesus' name, amen. And guys, I'm going to slip out today at 10 .15

just to get set up for the service. I've told Casper if this goes a little bit longer than that, that's okay, because the service doesn't start until 10 .30.

But we won't go beyond that. So if I do slip out, don't think I'm walking out on Casper.

Thanks for having me. All right. Definitely didn't think this many people would be here today.

I want to say like a month and a half ago, I showed Pastor Jeff a presentation that I did when

I was at Simon. It's a PowerPoint, but it looked like Super Nintendo and the five -year -old did it.

The last couple of days, my wife, she actually put this together in the last couple of days. So it looks really good.

So definitely give all credit to her. She did an amazing job. So actually, can we shut off the light?

Because it's a little dark, so it's a little hard to see. So just going over the resurrection.

I love going over the resurrection. I love apologetics. And the reason why I love going over the resurrection is because Christianity is not a blind faith.

What that means is Christians do not just believe just to believe. We can actually have evidence through apologetics to show people, unbelievers, that this is the evidence.

And this is why we believe. We live according to the evidence. We don't just have a blind faith from no evidence.

So going over the resurrection is one of my passions. So has anyone in their life heard anything that tries to debunk the resurrection?

So the resurrection and someone trying to say, oh, this is what happened. Who has heard a couple things from other unbelievers?

Well, yeah, I mean, Muslims deny that he died on the cross.

Ergo, there was no resurrection. Okay, so he didn't have the denying of the crucifixion.

That he wasn't really dead. He was just in some unconscious state. Okay. That his believers really stole the body.

Okay, good. Anybody else? So what we're going to do is actually go over all of those.

So before I go over this, just to recommend a lot of the information.

I did some research. But all of this information, I don't know if you've ever heard of the person

Doug Powell. He has a book that goes over the resurrection. And he goes over the different alternative theories.

And then also I added a couple things. And did some research on Doug Powell's research as well.

So real quick, just wanted to go over. So what does it matter if Christ rose from the dead?

What does it matter if he rose from the dead or not? Paul says our faith is in vain.

It's meaningless if he didn't. That it was an acceptable sacrifice.

That God had come back from the dead to show that his death was acceptable. And it wasn't just like, he died, that's it.

Great answers. So 1 Corinthians 15, 17 -19.

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless. And you are still guilty in your sins.

In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost. And if our hope in Christ is only for this life,

We are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. So Paul says that if Jesus did not rise from the dead,

Our faith hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. Because if Christ didn't rise from the dead,

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, Paul is saying that all of our loved ones who believe in Christ are lost. We are still guilty of our sins.

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, Then we should be more pitied than anyone in the world. The resurrection is the evidence of Christianity.

So what does this mean? So going over the historical body of resurrection is just important because It means that the one who was resurrected can be trusted.

If there is evidence that he was in fact resurrected on the third day, Then we have good reason to believe that Jesus was telling the truth about everything else he said.

The resurrection is how we know that Jesus can be trusted. So before we talk about the resurrection,

I just wanted to go over So the New Testament scholars, Not all of them agree on everything about Jesus, The historical facts about Jesus.

However, when we talk about When it comes to the New Testament and the resurrection,

There are some facts that the majority of scholars believe, Whether they're atheists, whether they're non -Christian,

Whether they are Christian. What we can do as Christians, Is we can look at the evidence,

Look at the historical facts that The majority of scholars believe in And still come up with the resurrection.

So you do not have to be a believer To look at the evidence that is given. You don't have to believe in the

Bible To show the evidence of the resurrection And show that Jesus rose from the dead.

And that's what Christians have. So they call it the minimum facts argument. So basically the minimum facts is

That the majority of scholars, New Testament scholars, The majority agree on what we call

The minimum facts. So what we're going to do is We're going to go over the different alternative theories

That people have. And if they add up to the minimum facts That the majority of scholars, New Testament scholars,

Accept. So that's what we're going to go over. So the minimum facts argument is

Historically we can point out That Jesus was crucified. That Jesus died. Jesus was buried in a tomb.

The tomb was discovered to be empty just a few days later. When friends saw Jesus, and enemies saw Jesus After the resurrection.

So here as well, I added one more. And so you'll see later. But what I added to this is 11 out of 12 disciples

Died believing in Actually no, they died For what they saw. So that's what we're going to go over.

So the first thing I wanted to go over Is Did Jesus die? So was

Jesus crucified? How do we know that? How do we know Jesus was crucified? How do we know Jesus died on a cross? And so What I put here,

I put Old Testament Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 Because some other religions

Don't believe that Jesus was crucified. They believe in the Old Testament, but they don't believe in That Jesus died

From crucifixion. So I put Isaiah 53 Specifically for Catholics.

They don't believe that Jesus died on a cross. And then what I put here was New Testament Where Jesus predicted that he was going to be

Crucified in all four Gospels. And actually Even prior, you have

Paul And his, Jesus' other disciples They talk about Jesus dying Dying for sins

And stuff like that. So the earliest non -Christian references We have is Tacitus, he was a

Roman historian And what is Tacitus, he was a Roman historian And he talks about The Emperor Nero And the six days of fire

The great fire of how Nero He basically burned A city or burned villages

And so in part of his writings He writes, Christus Christ suffered the extreme

Penalty during the reign Of Tiberius at the hands of one of our Procurators Pontius Pilate.

Tiberius was the Governor. So here This was, Tacitus Was either

Born from 55 to 120 AD, so between The first and second century he

Wrote this. And here The second part would be Flavius Josephus So Flavius Josephus He was a

Jewish priest And what he wrote was Pilate condemned him to Be crucified and to die.

His disciples Reported that he had appeared to them Three days later after his crucifixion And that he was alive

So actually Flavius Josephus His writings are actually Disputed among scholars.

However When, and the reason why is Because when Flavius Josephus, he was A Jewish priest

And a Jewish priest in some of his writings Actually sounds in favor Of Jesus.

So what they actually Did was, Matt Slitway Actually does, is he puts The writings

Of Josephus and he took out Actually the parts of what The writings that favored

Jesus And he took them out and you still Get the crucifixion. So the crucifixion

Scholars still would accept that At least that Jesus was Crucified. And so He also

So now we're going to The different alternative theories And how the

Minimal facts Don't add up. So the first We're going to talk about is the swoon theory. So I remember Charles I remember

Charles, he said that Jesus fainted On the cross. And that's exactly what The swoon theory states.

It's basically What Jesus did was He actually just fainted on the cross And the Roman soldiers thought that he

Just fainted and ordered him down. And when he was in the tomb, in the atmosphere Of the tomb,

Jesus was able To heal over, you know, a couple days That he was in the tomb and he was able To revive, he was able to revive

And he was able to appear Resurrected. So How this goes over The minimal facts

So we have Jesus Who was crucified. We have We don't have that he died

He was buried The tomb was discovered empty And then friends saw Jesus, enemies saw

Jesus and then his Disciples were murdered Believing that Jesus rose from the dead

So how does, so this goes over How does the minimal facts Actually stand up To the swoon theory

So Roman soldiers Actually in the first century, if they did not kill Their victims, then they would actually be put to death

So the fact that In this case, Jesus The Roman officers, if they didn't kill

Jesus Then they would actually be persecuted So the idea of that Jesus, killing

Jesus Was a big priority for them So before Jesus was crucified He was actually, we all know the story

That Jesus was whipped He was scorched And so the process

Of being whipped This phlegm would be whipped And it had bones, it had metal

Like metal balls and it had Actually pieces of bone and the idea Was to rip off flesh

This was the idea of scorching For when you were When you were being whipped

And so when I put to Isaiah 52 and 14 Jesus was so badly beaten he could not be

Recognized as a man So Crucifixion, so actually

The word excruciating Actually means out of the cross This is where the word excruciating comes from And so the process

Of crucifixion is nails Nails are in the wrists that hold the body upright Hands are partially paralyzed

From nerve damage Nails penetrate through the feet and ankles Which holds the weight of the person And gives the victim something to push on Shoulders and elbows may be dislocated

From the weight of the body Making arms almost useless Victim's weight

Forces to inhale And make exhalation very difficult Victims must relieve the weight

In order to exhale By pushing on the nails and the ankles And pulling on the wrists So actually crucifixion

Nails on your wrists and your feet Actually when you're hanging You can't breathe

So what you have to do is push yourself up And actually inhale So the evidence

That Jesus died Go to the next slide please So the causes of death

Would be shock from blood loss Asphyxiation, congestion Partial to part failure and dehydration

Victims could live for several hours To a couple of days So Roman officers, what they would do

Is to speed up the process They would actually break the legs And so they would die in minutes

So they actually did From the Journal of American Medical Association They actually did some research

On this and you have Doctors actually looking at the Historical evidence and actually seeing

Where Jesus died from And so what that says is that Jesus' death

Wasn't short by the thrust of a soldier Spearing his side Modern medical interpretation of the historical

Evidence indicates that Jesus Was dead when taken out From the cross

So we see the Roman officers when they speared Jesus from the side, blood and Wounder actually came out

And if you were to speak to a physician This is actually something that happens Because the sac around the heart

It fills up with blood And you die So Historically When Jesus He was scourged, he was whipped

He was crucified and he was speared In the side So I know it's a lot of words so excuse me

So it says that Jesus did not die from scourging The process of crucifixion or being pierced in the side

Then Jesus would have died of blood loss If the swoon theory was true It implies that Jesus woke up from the tomb

Used his torn hands to relocate His shoulder back into place Stood on his torn feet

And rolled back the tombstone that weighed Hundreds of pounds Overpowered the Roman officers Walked seven miles to Emmaus Walked seven miles to Jerusalem Walked through Jerusalem without fear of others

With his pendants exposed While only wearing his grave clothes Find out where his disciples

Were hiding Find a way to break into the locked room The disciples were in Without anyone seeing them

And then appear to them As if he rose from the dead And that all is well So if the swoon theory is true

At the very least The disciples would have thought that Jesus needed medical attention Not that he would

Have rose from the dead So if he only fainted And he appeared to his disciples

His disciples would say He needs medical attention He fainted, he needs medical attention

He didn't rise from the dead, he just fainted So according to the Minimal facts

We see that So according to the minimal facts The fact that he didn't die

Doesn't add up to the minimal facts So the next one is the wrong tomb theory

So the wrong tomb theory states That the reason why Jesus' followers

Found the empty tomb Is because everyone simply went to The wrong tomb After all the tombs look alike

It would be easy to confuse One with the other Since the tomb they mistook for Jesus Was not being used

They explained that by hanging He had been resurrected from the dead So how does this alternate theory

Add up to the minimal facts So we have he was crucified Died, he was buried in the tomb

The tomb was discovered empty Does not explain why Jesus' friends of Jesus People who like Jesus saw him

Does not explain that his enemies saw Jesus Does not explain why the disciples

Were martyred Actually believed in what they had seen That Jesus rose from the dead So I want to work backwards

So the Toledot Jesu is a historical Source of the empty tomb

So I want to go over the empty tomb And just the historical evidence of the empty tomb And so what this

Jewish book That was written around 518 Is the story of Jesus' life That is different from the

Bible Most Jewish scholars don't think this book can be trusted as history However scholars do think it's clean

That Jesus' body was stolen Is what the Jews believed at that time It also means they believed

That the tomb was empty So the Toledot Jesu Has been written

On the first day of the week His old followers came to Queen Helen With the report that he who was slain

Was truly a Messiah And that he was not in his grave He ascended to heaven as he prophesied

Diligent search was made And he was not found in a grave Where he had been buried

So this was in 518 And then So we're going to go a little bit closer

To the first century So then we're going to talk about We'll go to the next one This one

So we're going to The Christian evidence would be Church father

Justin Martyr He wrote a book around 150AD Called The Dialogue with Trifle In chapter 108

He reports that Jesus' body was stolen Which means they believed his tomb was empty

The Jews have sent An ordered man throughout all the world To proclaim that a godless and lawless

Heresy And sprung from one Jesus A Galilean deceiver Who he crucified

But his disciples stole him by the night From the tomb where he had laid

When unfastened from the cross And God deceived men By asserting that he was risen from the dead

And ascended into heaven So looking at history We see some sources that They don't like Jesus Or they talk about Jesus And in some cases we have

People who may say that the body was stolen However We can point out that First that Jesus was crucified

And then two, that the tomb was actually empty So from the

Historical evidence we can look at That Jesus was crucified Jesus was buried And that the tomb was empty

According to that So We're going to go over the wrong tomb theory

And why this can't work So the explanation of the wrong tomb Does not make sense of the minimal facts

It does not give reason For why Jesus' father said they saw him After he had been raised from the dead

It also fails to show Why some of Jesus' enemies Also claim to have seen

Jesus After he had been killed and buried If the disciples went to the wrong tomb Then Jesus would be

In the right tomb All the Roman and Jewish leaders would have to do Is go to the correct tomb

And debunk the resurrection Also Women who discovered the empty tomb

Had seen Jesus' birth So they would know which tomb to look for Not only that but When the women told the disciples about what they found

If the wrong tomb theory was true They would actually have to go Back to the wrong tomb a second time

Which is very unlikely When Peter and John heard this They ran to the tomb to see for themselves

This means that they knew where to go And to find the same thing And to go to the same

Wrong tomb Is again unlikely Especially when Jesus' tomb Was the only one with Roman soldiers guarding it

So we see Where we have People looking at Or seeing where Jesus was buried

And actually have to go into a wrong tomb twice And then another group of disciples Go into the wrong tomb

So the idea of the wrong tomb Doesn't add up to why Jesus' enemies

Would become followers And it doesn't add up to why Jesus' followers That love

Jesus Why they would be willing To die for If Jesus was in the right tomb

There would be no reason for the behavior of the disciples To actually die for what they saw Including what they saw in Jesus' resurrection

Okay So this is the stolen body theory So this theory is I've heard this theory

One of the theories That you'll hear most common Is that the body was stolen So what we're going over is

We're going over the reasons Maybe what people may have A reason to steal the body

So going over the stolen body theory Go down So the stolen body theory

States that someone broke into Jesus' tomb And took the body There are only three groups who might have stolen the body

You have the Romans You have the Jews And then you have the disciples So going over the minimal facts checklist

As we were going over So we have the crucified guy He was buried in the tomb And so if the stolen body theory

Was true Then we have But it does not add up to the minimal facts

The friends of Jesus saw him And the enemies of Jesus saw him But it doesn't add up that the disciples

Of the behavior would be willing to die For just stealing a body So going to the next

So the reason why The Romans would probably have the possibility Of stealing

Jesus' body Is because he claimed to be a king And so all they would have to do

Is steal the body And to debunk the resurrection And the

Jews The reason why they would have to steal the body Would be actually to Destroy Jesus' ministry

So the Jews They saw that Jesus claimed to be God It was considered blasphemy

And so to steal the body for the Jews The incentive would be to Crush Jesus' ministry

And show to the world That Jesus had not risen from the dead So the

Jews If they would steal the body They would just show that he has risen from the dead And if the Romans had any incentive

It would be to The fact that he claimed to be king And that they would exclude the dead body

To kill The movement of Jesus' followers So So what

I want to go over is The historical facts of 5 and 6 So Jesus was seen by friends and enemies

So we're kind of going to go over These two historical facts And then we're going to go back to The stolen body theory

And why they can't add up So we have People saw Jesus after he died

And was put in the tomb They were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead Many of Jesus' followers believed they saw

And spoke with him after his death Some of his enemies also believed They encountered him after his death

So off the bat When we're looking at the friends of Jesus Really this is not like Too hard to Explain to someone because people are like Of course

Jesus' disciples would see Jesus But we have So the friends of Jesus We have the twelve disciples

We have the women of the tomb And other followers were present at the first appearance To the apostles

First Corinthians 15 .6 says Then he appeared to over 500 brothers At one time.

Most of them were still alive But some had fallen asleep So we have Jesus' followers

He appeared to over 500 brothers At one time. Most of them were still alive But some had fallen asleep And then these are the twelve disciples

So everyone who liked Jesus And wanted to follow Jesus So then the next one

So this is the enemies who saw Jesus These are people who did not like Jesus Before Something happened

Some action in their behavior Changes after Jesus When the tomb was empty

Something changes And they claim that they saw Jesus After he died After the tomb was empty

The first person we talked about is Paul Saul of Tarsus He was an enemy who persecuted the

Christians Acts 8 .1 -3 Acts 8 .1 -3 Acts 8 .1 -3 Acts 8 .1

-3 Acts 8 .1

-3 Acts 8 .1

-3 Acts 8 .1 -3

Acts 8 .1 -3 Acts 8 .1

-3 Acts 8 .1 -3 Acts 8 .1 -3 They claimed that they saw Jesus. Another person is

James, the brother of Jesus. So James, the brother of Jesus, was an enemy before Jesus.

James did not believe in Jesus, John 7, 5. He thought Jesus was insane, Mark 3, 21.

Then he became a friend after Jesus' death. James believed that he had seen the risen

Jesus and became an apostle, 1 Corinthians 15, 7. James became the leader of the church in Jerusalem, Acts 21, 18.

He wrote the book that bears his name, James 1, 1. He was murdered for his belief in Jesus.

Tradition says that James was thrown from the highest point of the temple in an attempt to kill him, but when he was found, he was beaten to death with a club.

So what would it take for you to believe that your brother was God according to you? So you had James who didn't believe in Jesus before, thought he was insane, and then after you had one of the largest ministries in Jerusalem and he actually was killed for believing that he encountered

Jesus and had actually seen Jesus after he was crucified, died, and was resurrected.

Another person I actually wanted to talk about is Peter. Also Peter, if we look at Peter before, we all know that Peter denied

Jesus three times, and then after he was actually crucified upside down. So we have friends of Jesus who claimed to see

Jesus after the tomb was empty, and then we have friends of Jesus who claimed to see them, and then we have enemies of Jesus after the tomb was empty, who claimed to see

Jesus as well. People who killed Christians, people who did not believe in him, and yet actually gave their life to preach the gospel and spent the rest of their life preaching the gospel.

Okay, so going back to the stolen body theory, the stolen body theory does not explain the minimal facts checklist where the enemies of Jesus would have any reason to follow him, as we had seen in the previous slide.

Also, this does not explain the behavior of the disciples who were tortured, beaten, imprisoned, and suffered tremendously for what they claimed they had seen, not just believed.

That means they would have died for a lie that they knew was a lie since they were the ones who made it up.

People do die for what they believe, but people do not die for the lies that they invent. So if the disciples stole the body, that means that they would have to, they knew that they stole the body, that they invented

Jesus rising from the dead and committing their entire lives, being beaten, being imprisoned, suffering tremendously for this lie.

Why? From the behaviors of the disciples before who did it, who were scared, some of whom who denied

Christ, some of whom are Jesus' enemies who denied Christ, and then invent this lie that they stole the body.

It just doesn't add up from the behavior. They have no reason, they have no incentive to do this. None of the disciples confessed of conspiracy in an escape to survive being killed.

These disciples gave up their lives, comforts, and homes to travel faraway places to tell people about Jesus.

They did not receive fame, riches. They were rewarded with beatings, persecution, imprisonment, and hardships.

There was no incentive to steal the body and lie about it. Nothing to gain, but everything to lose.

So this idea of the stolen body theory, it does not make sense. When you think of the behavior of the disciples who denied

Jesus, something happened that changed their behavior. You have enemies who changed their behavior and actually was willing to die for what they claimed to have seen.

Okay, so this is the hallucination theory. Sorry, it's a little cut off. So this is a theory that the disciples hallucinated.

So this is the theory that states that the followers of Jesus were so upset by the death that they began to think that they saw him, even though he was not there.

Some had private hallucinations, others had group hallucinations, and sometimes there were a mass hallucination where several hundred people all believed they saw

Jesus. So this is the hallucination theory. Excuse me. So, according to the minimum of facts, we have the crucifixion, the death, the burial, the resurrection, friends saw

Jesus, enemies saw Jesus, and 11 out of 12 disciples were martyred for believing that Jesus resurrected.

So the last three, or the last four, does not add up to the minimum of facts argument.

Okay, so real quick, because we're running out of time.

So the minimum of facts, so the hallucination theory does not add up because the enemies of Jesus claimed to have seen and would have no reason to believe in Jesus.

So if the hallucination theory was true, the enemies of Jesus would have no reason to believe in Jesus because they did not like Jesus for one thing.

So, for example, Paul had no reason to be sad or distraught about Jesus' resurrection.

He had him committing his life to the gospel. James, the brother of Jesus, who thought he was insane, he had no reason to claim he had seen

Jesus after the envy to and the claim of the resurrection of what they'd seen. So, moving on to the next slide.

I know we only have a couple minutes, so I'm just going to go over it. Okay, so hallucinations are like dreams people have when they're awake, but no dream, no matter how vivid someone's dream or hallucination is, would never confuse their experience with reality so much that they would die for it.

Jesus, just as people are easily convinced that a dream was not reality, can be talked about as believing that a hallucination was real.

Some 100 people all said that they saw Jesus and received information from him, although some people were alone with him and others were in groups and crowds.

The different reports give a unified picture of Jesus that don't contradict one another. The people's description of how he acted all agreed as if they had seen the same thing.

When people hallucinate, it's usually personal. So, when usually people hallucinate, it's personal.

It's not a group hallucination. Usually, it does not happen. So, hallucinations, it's personal because it's the person's own mind.

Each hallucination is unique and different. Also, it does not explain the sighting of Jesus and other than 500 people who had no reason to be stressed or sad.

So, you have people who, apart from Jesus, disciples, who claim to have seen

Jesus after he was resurrected, that they were sad or stressed. So, the twin, real quick, so, the twin theory is that Jesus had a twin.

So, just trying to go over, because we don't have time, is that Jesus had a twin. And the reason why this doesn't add up is because this twin is not recorded in the

Gospel of Luke. This twin would have to actually be willing to die on the cross and then he comes out of nowhere and then

Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus, would understand and know that she has two sons that are twins.

This did not happen. And so, also, this does not explain the empty tomb. If Jesus had a twin who died on the cross, then the tomb would still be empty.

And that, it doesn't explain the behaviors of disciples who would know, especially

James, who was the brother of Jesus, he would know if his brother was a twin and that he would not be willing to convert and be willing to die.

So, the legend theory, real quick, the legend theory is this idea that the legend theory develops over time.

So, going to the next slide. So, the legend that this idea, that the legend developed over time, does not explain that the tomb was discovered empty, that friends saw

Jesus, that enemies saw Jesus, it doesn't explain the behavior of the loving unto one disciple. So, going to the next slide.

So, real quick, I can't go over it because I'm running out of time, but the idea of the,

I'll go back, I'll go back a little bit. So, in 1 Corinthians, the Creed was a proclamation of faith that these

Christians would say for their faith. And so, Paul, he writes, for I pass unto you as most important of what

I have received. So, he's saying that this, that he received what others had told him. And, real quick, an atheist new scholar.

Time, Casper. Sorry. This guy's going to go all day. Thank you, guys.

We'll pick this up next week where we left off. Watch that video, and I'm going to be teaching on the whole atheism, agnosticism, and what you see in the notes there.