Be Convinced

C.S. Lewis once wrote regarding the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ, "If the thing happened, it was the central event in the history of the earth", which is why it is still an "issue" to this day.

A person is defined as a "theological liberal" based on their stance on the authority of the Bible, the divinity of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. For those of us who are more conservative or "biblical" in our beliefs, we would say that without the resurrection there is no Christianity at all. For us, everything rises and falls on the resurrection, or at least it should.

I recently heard the President of Gonzaga University enthusiastically promote a book that he just finished reading. The book was by N.T. Wright called The Resurrection of the Son of God. Gonzaga is a Catholic University in Washington and N.T. Wright is a conservative Anglican from England, and yet I have heard many Protestant scholars hail this book as one of the greatest works of the past century. Why is the resurrection so important? Another man from England, Michael Green put it so well when he wrote, "Christianity does not hold the resurrection to be one among many tenets of belief. Without faith in the resurrection there would be no Christianity at all." In other words, it is the chief tenet!

Please allow me to be of assistance in building your faith. Below is a partial review of the book The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright. I want to encourage you to read this review and then purchase the book, especially if you find your faith weak. N.T. Wright is accepted across the board as one of the greatest New Testament scholars of our day, or any day for that matter. Instead of reading all the bad news in the papers or on the internet, read his book and allow your faith to be built up in the risen Lord!


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RICHARD N. OSTLING
Associated Press

Easter is a day not only of hope, but discord - at least among theologians.

Throughout modern times, liberal scholars have challenged a central tenet of Christianity: that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead after being crucified by the Romans on Good Friday.

Whether the Resurrection occurred, they say, is ultimately unimportant compared with Christ's message.

But to myriad Christians - who each Sunday profess faith in Jesus' Resurrection and, ultimately, their own - that's heresy. Now, a conservative theologian is backing their viewpoint with a new book.

The Rev. N.T. "Tom" Wright, who will be consecrated in July as bishop of Durham, the fourth-highest Church of England post, has just produced the most monumental defense of the Easter heritage in decades.

Wright, 54, a prolific writer of both scholarly and popular books, is currently canon theologian of Westminster Abbey and a former university instructor at Cambridge, Oxford and McGill in Montreal. He often visits the United States, lecturing in his strong baritone.

Wright's 817-page The Resurrection of the Son of God (Fortress Press) marches through a clearly organized case that confronts every major doubt about Easter, ancient and modern.

He disputes those who think the Resurrection is "beyond history."

There's a historical question, Wright insists, that is inescapable: Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly, with such power, and why did believers risk everything to teach that Jesus really rose?

He concludes the best explanation is that the earliest Christians held two strong convictions that worked in tandem:

Jesus' tomb was discovered empty on Easter morning.

Jesus then appeared to his followers alive in bodily form. In other words, they held the convictions that make up the unvarnished New Testament story.

Wright carefully sifts the New Testament and adds to that his circumstantial and logical arguments.

The best history can provide with ancient events is a "high probability" they occurred, he says. The Easter story qualifies as true because all proposed alternatives fail to explain the early power of Christianity.

The oldest alternative, mentioned in Matthew 28:12-15, was the claim Jesus' body was stolen from the tomb. Wright notes the New Testament writers presented that possibility even at the risk of "putting ideas into people's heads." They did so, he says, precisely because skeptics were trying to explain why the tomb was empty.

Saturday, April 19, 2003

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Be convinced of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, purchase N.T. Wright's book!

Go Read,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries