Miracles at the Crucifixion of Christ

Genesis Apologetics

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Regardless of religious background, most people would admit that if supernatural events occurred at the crucifixion of Christ and if he actually rose from the grave, it would be the most significant event in history.

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Christ's impact on history is profound. We even divide all of known history by his existence.

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Did something amazing happen at Christ's crucifixion that led to the rapid expansion of Christianity around the

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Middle East, then quickly around the globe? Let's take a look at what the Bible says about the supernatural events that occurred at Christ's death.

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Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour

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Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

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Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened.

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And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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So when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying,

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Truly, this was the Son of God. This passage includes five events that can be evaluated historically.

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Darkness covering the land for three hours, the temple veil tearing in half, a significant earthquake, many graves opening, and the dead coming back to life, and a

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Roman centurion and his soldiers having on -the -spot conversions after seeing the miraculous events at his death.

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Let's take a look at the first one, the three hours of darkness that occurred during the crucifixion, which was recorded by three of the gospel writers.

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The accounts given by Matthew and Mark were very similar, and Luke, the physician, wrote,

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It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour, the sun failing.

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Note that all three writers testify that darkness lasted for three hours and that it covered all the land.

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Was this a natural event or a supernatural one? Actually, we believe it was a supernatural event because natural events that cause darkness, like storms and eclipses, just don't fit the historical descriptions of what happened.

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While storms can create temporary darkness, they don't cause the sun to fail, and none of the historical descriptions of this event, biblical or secular, mention a storm or even rain.

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Eclipses can also cause darkness, but only for minutes, not for three full hours, and history is clear that Jesus was crucified on Friday the 14th of Nisan during the

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Jewish Passover, and Passovers only occur on full moons, making an eclipse impossible because the moon was on the far side of the earth, away from the sun.

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Before looking into the historical support for this event, let's first answer the question, why is it even important?

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At the crucifixion, God the Father placed all the sins of mankind, including yours and mine, upon His Son Jesus Christ, and God poured out

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His wrath upon Him. Jesus stood in our place and bore the punishment we deserve. Jesus cried out in a loud voice,

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My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus was separated from His Father for three hours.

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God signified this by blotting out the sun until Jesus had paid the price for sin in full.

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So the sun being covered in darkness represented what was happening to the sun as He was covered by the darkness of our sin and judgment.

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But is there any historical evidence to verify that three hours of darkness really happened? Actually, there is.

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We'll quickly review just some of the highlights from dozens of ancient historians who documented this event, and we'll use both

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Christian and non -religious sources. We've already reviewed the writings from three biblical authors who recorded them shortly after Christ's crucifixion.

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Then, for centuries afterwards, historians continued to write about this supernatural event in ways that were remarkably consistent.

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Let's review just some of these. Outside of the Bible, the oldest account was written by a historian named

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Talas in A .D. 52. Scholars believe that Talas recorded the event in a way that minimized the supernatural, trying to explain it as just a natural eclipse.

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Though we no longer have Talas' original writings, we have the quotations from his works made by later writers such as Julius Africanus, a leader in the

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Roman Empire who was instrumental in setting up the public library in the Pantheon at Rome. Julius wrote the five -volume set titled

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The History of the World in about A .D. 221. In this work, Julius wrote,

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Talas, in his third book of histories, explains away the three hours of darkness as an eclipse of the sun, unreasonably as it seems to me.

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For the Hebrews celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day according to the moon, and the passion of our

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Savior falls on the day before the Passover. But an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun, and it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction.

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How then should an eclipse occur when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? The writing of Talas shows that the facts of Jesus' death were known and discussed in Rome as early as the middle of the first century, to the extent that unbelievers like himself thought it necessary to explain the matter of darkness as a natural event like an eclipse.

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But Talas did not question the historicity of Jesus, nor the three hours of darkness that occurred at his death.

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Rather, he affirmed it. At the time of his writing, anti -Christians had already been explaining the period of darkness as only a natural phenomenon, such as an eclipse.

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Origen, for example, had written that this idea of it being an eclipse was an invention of the pagans to discredit the

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Gospels. Phlegon of Trallis, a first -century Greek historian born not long after the crucifixion, wrote one of the most well -known books of ancient history, titled

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Olympiads. Phlegon wrote, Phlegon's account reveals several key things.

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The sun was darkened during Christ's death along with a great earthquake. The time of the darkness agrees with Matthew 27.

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His entry also gives us the year of the crucifixion, with the 202nd Olympiad running from July AD 29 to June AD 33.

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Also, several of the early church fathers quoted him, so there seems no reason to doubt his word.

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Another historian, Philippon, confirms the historicity of Phlegon's statement by writing, It is clear that he did not know from his sources about any similar eclipse in previous times, and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar.

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Another well -known historian, Origen, when responding to Celsus, a critic of the supernatural elements in the

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Gospels, wrote, But regarding these, we have in the preceding pages made our defense, according to our ability, adducing the testimony of Phlegon, who relates that these events took place at the time when our savior suffered.

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Julius Africanus even wrote, Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth, manifestly that one of which we speak.

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Additional writers who refer to Phlegon's account of the darkness include, Together, this makes seven ancient writers who directly quote

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Phlegon, qualifying this fragment as one of the best attested ancient writings. Fourth century records from the early church fathers include the letter of Pontius Pilate, which he wrote to the

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Roman emperor concerning Christ. Well -known historian, Justin Martyr, even referred to these records.

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And the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour.

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Tertullian, a jurist consul familiar with the Roman archives, wrote in A .D. 197,

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At the same moment about noontide, the day was withdrawn, and they, who knew not that this was foretold concerning Christ, thought it was an eclipse.

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But this you have in your archives. You can read it there. He continues, Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ no doubt thought it was an eclipse.

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Writing about the year A .D. 315, Eusebius, who was a historian of the emperor Constantine, wrote,

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Also at that time, in another Greek compendium, we find an event recorded in these words,

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The accounts of the darkness that occurred at Christ's crucifixion continued even into the sixth century A .D.

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The historian Cassiodorus wrote, Isn't it amazing that so many references exist that testify to such an unusual event?

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Next, we'll take a look at the second of the five events that the Bible says occurred at the crucifixion of Christ, the temple veil tearing in half.

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Matthew states, The curtain referred to comes from the

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Aramaic word paraket, which was a one -foot -thick piece of fabric covering the entrance of the

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Holy of Holies in the second temple. The veil of the temple had always shown to people how approaching a holy god was difficult for a sinful man.

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The only way a sinful man could approach God was through the high priest who would enter into the Holy of Holies through the veil of the temple, only after making many sacrifices.

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The idea was that God cannot be approached by sinful man, lest he be destroyed. That all changed when

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Christ, who was the perfect sacrifice, gave us access to God at the very moment he died. So, how do we know this actually happened?

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Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that the temple in Jerusalem during King Herod's reign did in fact have a huge east -facing curtain, a veil, that was suspended on the eastern lintel in front of metal doors marking the entry of the holy place.

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The AD 33 earthquake evidently displaced the temple's lintel, tore the curtain, and shifted the pivots for the metal doors.

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Next, we have the earthquake. We don't have to do much research to find out there was an earthquake when Christ died.

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Let's start with the federal agency, the National Centers for Environmental Information. NOAA, the

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a

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United States government federal agency. Their website has a database of major earthquakes throughout history.

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According to their website, in 33

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AD, the earthquake occurred at the crucifixion. That is, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

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This account matches the historical record in the Holy Bible. Jesus Christ was about 33 years old when he was crucified.

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There was an earthquake and the sun was darkened. According to their website, in the nation we today call

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Israel, which was previously called Palestine, back in the year 33

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AD, they show that an earthquake occurred that destroyed a city, and in their words, it was at the crucifixion.

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This is based on their references, dating back from 1853 and 1985.

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This matches the account given in the Holy Bible, which shows that Jesus Christ, when he was about 33 years old, was crucified.

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The sun was darkened, and there was a great earthquake. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching

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Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,

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Truly this was the Son of God. We've already covered many of the historical accounts that attest to both the darkness and the earthquake at Christ's crucifixion.

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These include Phlegon of Traus, who said an earthquake occurred in Bithynia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicaea, as well as certain places in Italy, Origen who noted the great earthquakes which took place during the crucifixion,

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Pontius Pilate who said the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour, and of course

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Matthew's account, which even many secular historians consider valid. Even Pliny the

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Elder wrote an account of an earthquake occurring in the surrounding regions at that time. Leading up to more recent times, geological research dating back nearly a century has also documented earthquakes during this time in Jerusalem, Judea, and Bithynia.

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Within the last couple of decades, geological studies published in several scientific journals document a significant earthquake occurring in that region in A .D.

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33. These studies have been reported in mainstream media outlets like NBC News and others.

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More recently, several geologists have studied the sedimentary layers of the Dead Sea and other areas surrounding where Christ was crucified.

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They found geological markers for several earthquakes that occurred at times that correspond with dates indicated from historical documents.

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Dr. Steve Austin explains. Now take a look at some sediment layers. You can see in the mud from the

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Dead Sea the kind of gray layers which is clay mud. There we see clay mud.

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We see clay mud here. And then we see the white layers which are calcium carbonate mud.

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And that's a different kind of mud than the clay mud. And it creates this alternating light and dark layering that is very evident in the sediment layers and is undisturbed.

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Now what is interesting about that is how little disturbance there is except for the earthquakes.

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And this graphic shows the idea of how earthquakes create a record within the sediment layers of the

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Dead Sea. So you have laminated sediment as shown here in the pre -seismic situation.

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Pre -seismic Dead Sea sediment. And it's laminated. It's laminated right here.

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Now what happens is an earthquake occurs and it shakes the sediment and the upper part of the sediment liquefies or becomes lofted during the earthquake and then recompacts to make a disturbed layer.

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And then post -seismic after the earthquake that layer is buried. And so you have a record inside of the sediment layers of the earthquake.

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Take a look at the detail of 33 AD. You can see the thin layer running right along here.

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And then you can see the post -disturbance layer. And all that wrinkling going on there is the effects of the earthquake wave impacting that sediment.

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The light layers are the chemical carbonate layers and the gray layers are the clay layers. And it looks like an earthquake of about magnitude 5 .5,

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maybe magnitude 6 shook the bottom of the lake. It's amazing. There. Dr.

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Austin's research has been published around the world. Next, we have the graves opening and numerous people being raised from the dead after Christ's resurrection.

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Matthew recorded, The graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

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Wow. If this really happened, it certainly would have set Christ's death apart from any other in history, and it would have created quite a stir among the people of that time.

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The apostolic father, Ignatius, records the earliest commentary we have on this event, and his works have been widely trusted throughout church history.

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Ignatius wrote to the Trallians, For says the scripture, many bodies of the saints that slept arose, their graves being opened.

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He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but he arose accompanied by a multitude. He also acknowledged this event in a letter to the

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Magnesians between A .D. 70 and 115. Early church fathers in the

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East also verify the historicity of Matthew's account. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, But it is impossible, some will say, that the dead should rise, and yet Elijah twice raised the dead when he was alive and also when dead, and is

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Christ not risen? But in this case both the dead of whom we speak himself arose, and many dead were raised without having even touched him.

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For many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and they came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city.

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Evidently, this city in which we now are, and appeared to many. Finally, we have the letter of Pontius Pilate to the

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Roman Emperor where he mentioned that people were terrified, having seen dead men risen, as even testified by the

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Jews. Many other biblical and secular scholars confirmed this resurrection event, including

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Hilary of Potiers, Chrisostom, and even St. Augustine, St. Remigius, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin.

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Finally, we have the centurion and those with him who witnessed the earthquake and other events who feared greatly and proclaimed, truly, this was the

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Son of God. What type of events would it take to persuade a battle -hardened Roman centurion in charge of an execution to come to great fear and acknowledge that Christ was the

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Son of God? Think about it. Here is a guy in charge of 80 soldiers that has moved to such fear that he admits, right in front of his subordinates, that the very person they are trying to execute is the

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Son of God. There must have been extremely out -of -the -ordinary things going on for this to happen.

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So, there we have it. The darkness, temple veil, earthquake, dead people rising from their graves, and the same -day conversion of a

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Roman centurion and his soldiers. These events were followed by Christ's resurrection and 2 ,000 years of changed history.

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Seems to be on the miraculous side to me. Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs?

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Download the Genesis Apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and more.