FROM CBN NEWS
Two of the most high profile former American atheists have attended a Truth for a New Generation conference in North Carolina to talk about how they ended up as strong defenders of the fact Christ really did rise from the dead.
As a successful cold-case detective, J. Warner Wallace became so well known at solving decades-old murders that he ended up as the foremost expert on national TV true crime shows.
But as an atheist, he decided to turn his superior detective skills on disproving the Resurrection of Jesus Christ — or even proving it, if the evidence should somehow take him there.
He remembered telling himself, “I’m going to have to figure out how to evaluate that for its truthfulness given this skill set that I had as a cold case detective.”
ATHEIST SET OUT TO DISPROVE THE RESURRECTION AND FAILED
As a young atheist, lawyer Josh McDowell set out to write Evidence That Demands a Verdict to show the evidence about Christ, including His Resurrection, was so weak that the verdict would be “Not True.”
“The Resurrection was one of several things I knew I had to refute as a non-believer,” McDowell recalled.
But instead of refuting, he became so convinced it happened, he spent dozens of pages in his book knocking down false theories, like the one suggesting Christ didn’t really die, but woke up and escaped from the tomb.
DISPUTING THAT CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS
For years, some doubters clung to a theory that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, but was just nearly dead and revived later.
Wallace pointed out that when you work with dead bodies all the time, like he has and people in Christ’s time did, you can definitely tell “dead” from “nearly dead.”
“As a homicide detective, I’m thinking ‘I’ve seen a lot of dead people, and I know what dead people look like,’” he said.
“That hot blood’s going to stop circulating. You’ll be cool to the touch. And we can actually judge time of death based on how cool.”
JESUS REALLY WAS DEAD
This author of Cold-Case Christianity explained: “You won’t be as flexible as you would be if you were just unconscious.”
Warner finds in the Gospel of John a key point of proof that Jesus wasn’t faking it and that He really did die.
It’s a line about blood and water coming out of Jesus’s body on the cross when a Roman soldier pierced him with a spear.
“Water will collect in your lungs and if you pierce that cavity, you will see a separation of blood and water.”
“JOHN WAS EITHER A GENIUS OR HE JUST REPORTED WHAT HE SAW”
It struck Wallace powerfully that John wrote of this, saying: “He was either so clever that he included some little-known biological fact that nobody would discover for 1,800 years, or he just reported what he saw.”
“As a result, we have a good piece of hidden science that confirms Jesus actually died of cardiac arrest and was dead at the point of the body being taken off the cross.”
Josh McDowell explained why it would have been impossible for Christ to escape from the tomb.
“There were a hundred and some pounds of encasement of aromatic spices and gumming of cement consistency around His body, wrapped tightly in three separate linen cloths weighing about 117 pounds (53 kilograms),” McDowell told CBN News.
“Christ was encased in that, and it becomes hardened.”
“How would He be able to move in such a state like that, a one-and-a-half to two-tonne stone away from the entrance?”
DID THE DISCIPLES STEAL THE BODY?
Another theory is that the disciples stole the body .
Jewish leaders opposed to Jesus were so worried about that happening, they convinced the Romans into putting as many as 16 soldiers outside the tomb.
McDowell scoffed: “The impossibility of that! That they could have climbed through there, tiptoed around all the guards, and become invisible to the guards in front of the tomb and then rolled a one-and-a-half to two-tonne stone that 20 men couldn’t move.”
JESUS APPEARED TO ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE
Debunkers say in the Biblical accounts, Jesus only showed up to his closest followers, those most likely to lie about His Resurrection.
McDowell argued the opposite is true.
“He appeared to the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, who was anything but a follower of Christ.”
“He despised Christ as a false Messiah,” McDowell attested.
He also pointed out Jesus appeared to his brother James, saying: “James was not a follower of Jesus Christ. He was embarrassed by his brother, going out and doing these things and claiming these things.”
NO TWO PEOPLE, LET ALONE 500 HAVE THE SAME HALLUCINATION
The Bible talks about Christ after His Resurrection showing up before 500 people.
Some debunkers say that it was likely just a mass hallucination.
Neither Wallace nor McDowell buys that.
They interviewed five experts and learned: “No two people ever have the same hallucination because there’s no external reference to it. It’s all internal.”
WORSHIPPING JESUS AND BREAKING THE SABBATH
All the early believers were fervent Jews who believed they faced dire danger if they broke the Sabbath.
Alex McFarland – who organised the Truth for a New Generation conference – points out how that changed right after Jesus’s Resurrection.
“Pious Jews whose very relationship with God is contingent on keeping a Sabbath that they’ve observed for centuries, suddenly, overnight, began to worship on Sunday.”
The Resurrection on a Sunday was the proof positive that Jesus was indeed the Risen Lord, worthy of worship on that day of the week.
PROOF THAT JESUS IS GOD INCARNATE
“If Christ physically rose from the grave, then that proves His identity, message, and credentials,” McFarland pointed out.
“What was His identity? God Incarnate.”
“What was His message? Salvation by faith in what He did on the cross.”
“His credentials? Virgin-born, sinless life, rose from the dead. He is the Saviour.”
“HOPE THAT AS CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD, I SHALL BE TOO”
Josh McDowell told CBN News that it still touches him deeply more than half a century after he first came to believe Jesus was indeed the Resurrected Son of God, able to conquer death.
“It gives me hope that as Christ was raised from the dead, I shall be, too. Because of that,” he stated.
McFarland added: “In the empty tomb, we have it all, ironclad, guaranteed.”
“I tell people the tomb was left empty so that your life could be made full.”
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