BAYO'S PERISCOPE

Dr. Samuel Bayo ArowolajuThursday, April 29, 2006
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THE FACTS AND FALLACIES OF THE RESURRECTION


can still remember like yesterday; years ago, growing up as child in Omuo-Ekiti now in Ekiti East Local Government of Ekiti State of Nigeria. Every Easter Sunday morning brought a re-enactment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, about 2,000 years ago. Usually, at about 4 O'clock in the morning, Christians from all denominations gathered together to celebrate the Resurrection. They joyfully sang "He is risen; hallelujah; Jesus is risen" and danced round the town in praise of the Resurrected Christ. Half awake and half asleep, the thoughts would run through my mind as they passed by our house with the childish belief that Jesus had in fact freshly resurrected that morning and was in fact in their midst. Frightfully but faithfully I would want to go out to see the "dead man walk". Later in the day those who sang and danced earlier in the morning and many more in their new special Easter dresses would gather in their different churches to worship the only one who conquered death. The following day called Easter Monday, usually public holiday, more than any other day, always tasked my curiosity and brought greater mysteries and power of the man called Jesus of Nazareth. This was usually another day when more believers and fun seekers all gathered together; children and adults alike, gaily dressed and in festive moods, to meet Jesus in Galilee.


The 'Galilee' in Omuo-Ekiti in those days could be anywhere from the school playing field or any other designated open air place which can accommodate about a thousand adults and children. In my innocent and unfettered childish faithfulness, I was always looking out for a strange face in the midst of the hundreds of local people in whom I have the unshaken belief to be Jesus Christ. No wonder. Jesus Himself said that except we all have the faith of the little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. For me as a child, I never had any iota of doubt in my mind that Jesus rose after three days in the grave and when He asked His disciples to meet Him in Galilee, He was always there in the 'Galilee' at Omuo-Ekiti. Believe me; I never knew that there was another or the real Galilee anywhere outside of Omuo-Ekiti.

This is my story of the Resurrected Christ as a child. Now that I am a man, I have put aside all those childish thoughts; I can now sieve the facts from fallacies or fantasies of my childish knowledge of the Resurrection. As it was in Israel more than 2000 years ago, so it is today, we still have facts mixed with fallacies of the Resurrection. Sieving through these will be the focus of this write up.

I don't think there is any need in making the point that there was a man called Jesus of Nazareth who walked the land of Judea and Samaria about 2000 years ago. So, say what we may, it has become a historical fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, was raised in Nazareth, and was baptized in River Jordan. As a Galilean, most of His adult life was in Galilee with a group of twelve men who left everything behind - their family and fortune to follow him. He did not only teach in Synagogues among His fellow Jews and visited homes but he also preached and healed on the streets, mountain tops, valleys and plains where thousands gathered around him; some, to listen and follow him, some to criticize and fault him and many others because they wanted him to feed them. Many hated him, some loved and adored him; many wanted him dead and eventually killed him, yet many died because they believed in his life, teaching, death and resurrection.

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The above proved beyond all reasonable doubts that Jesus the Christ was not a mirage or a faceless and ageless legend but that He is real. A man who lived in times and days of Kings like Herod of Judea, Governors like Quirinus of Syria, Ceasars like Augustus of Rome, political leaders like Pontius Pilate of Jerusalem, religious leaders like Caiaphas as the High Priest in the Temple of Jerusalem and acknowledged by Jewish writers and historians like Flavius Josephus of the second century. Surely, Jesus lived, walked the walk and talked the talk physically on this earth. He left not only His footprints on the sand of time but billions of believers and followers still follow Him. It is interesting as well as revealing that as early as the year 93 CE, Flavius Josephus a respected Jewish Historians wrote about Jesus saying:

"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared. - Jewish Antiquities, 18.3.3 �63 (Based on the translation of Louis H. Feldman, The Loeb Classical Library.) Josephus was never a known follower or admirer of Jesus Christ.

The crucification of Jesus is beyond doubt acknowledged even by His enemies but His Resurrection is what has generated the biggest question and greatest mystery of His and our time. Enemies or opponents of Jesus and his followers have insisted albeit unsuccessfully in disputing the Resurrection miracle and mystery. They have brought or conjured some stories as alternate views to those of the early Old Testament prophets, the apostles and disciples of Jesus, the historians and theologians after them.

There have been many arguments and postulations about Jesus' death on the Cross and His subsequent Resurrection from the grave. Many skeptics have risen from the ranks of academia, philosophers, atheists, agnostics, religious groups and plain free thinkers who have proffered theories to support their views that Jesus might have not even existed or died on the Cross let alone resurrected. To these people and their followers, the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the latter epistles of the apostles principal of which was Apostle Paul existed only in the imaginations of the writers. People like Frank Morison, a very educated lawyer; Dr. William McNeil, a world historian, Professor Thomas Arnold, Dr. Tom Huxley and David F. Strauss to mention a few believe in Plato, Aristotle, Socrates or Pharaoh but not in Jesus of Nazareth and his Resurrection.

It is an irrefutable historic fact that Sidahartha Gautama (Buddha) and founder of Buddhism died in 483 BC in Kapilvatu in India. The followers never claimed that he resurrected because he did not and his remains still remain in his tomb till today. Mohammed also known as Ubu'l Kassim and founder of Islam died in 632 AD in Medina in Saudi Arabia. None of his followers claimed he ever rose from his grave where he remains till today. Jesus Christ also known as Yeshua HaMashiach and Yeshua ben Nazareth died in Jerusalem in April of AD33. He was buried the same day BUT from the third day till now His grave has remained empty and not the smallest fragments of His remain ever found even by His enemies. His disciples and followers from then till now affirmed His Resurrection and His being alive till today. There were eye witnesses' accounts of this momentous event that is, those who saw Him after Resurrection. There are historic facts and logics beside the childish blind faith that support the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Though in certainty there are fictions and fallacies in the midst of the facts and faith of the Resurrection.

The Fallacies of the Resurrection

Starting with my childhood beliefs, it was a fiction or fallacy that Jesus was walking, singing and dancing physically with the Christians on the streets of Omuo-Ekiti. It is a fiction or fallacy that there was another Galilee any where but in Israel where Jesus physically met with His disciples after His Resurrection. However, it is a spiritual fact and symbolism that the Risen Christ is always or ever present in the midst of those singing, dancing and worshiping Him in truth and in spirit either in Omuo-Ekiti or anywhere in the world for that matter; either on Easter Sunday or Monday or any other day or time. Jesus Christ, the LORD over all things is capable of being here and there at the same time without diminished glory and power and honor. This is a fact because where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there.

It is a fallacy or fiction that Jesus was not clinically dead by the time He was lowered from the Cross and put in His borrowed grave. From the ancient to the modern times, every person executed by the state is officially certified dead before removal for burial. From the execution chamber in Texas, USA to Golgotha in Jerusalem, Israel, the rule has not changed. Come to think of it, Jesus was not killed by a fearful mob but was professional executed by Roman soldiers backed by the religious and political authorities of the time. It is almost unthinkable or impossible for Roman soldiers to treat condemned criminals with such outlandish levity. It is a fact that the Roman soldiers did not guess or assume that Jesus was dead on the Cross. As if to make their assurance of His death be without any doubt, they pierced his heart with their spear which brought out blood and water (John 19:34). This act alone was enough to kill anybody. Modern science has explained that the blood and water which came from the heart of Jesus was the result of the "congealed red blood corpuscles which got separated from the watery serum". It is said that a post-mortem examination would have put the cause of death as "heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium." The separation of blood from water in His body was therefore undeniable fact that Jesus had died before the spear was rammed into His heart. The physicians will know this better than I.

It is also a fact that some of His friends and family were on hand during His execution including a member of the Jewish Council, Joseph of Arimathea who volunteered his prepared grave for Jesus' burial. There and then in the full glare of the Roman soldiers, the body of Jesus was embalmed with about 90 pounds of spices, wrapped and laid in the grave with a Roman seal. Nobody will embalm a living body. It is a historic fact that about 16 Roman soldiers were assigned to guard the grave and body on a shift duty of four soldiers for four hours each to ensure efficient and effective security of the body and the grave for which Roman soldiers were known for.

It is a fallacy that His friends later came to steal His body away while the soldiers were asleep as alleged by the Roman and Jewish authorities (Matthew 28:11-15). This is the most ludicrous and unreasonable fallacy of the story of the Resurrection. If the soldiers were sleeping, how did they know who took or stole the body? Were all the sixteen soldiers dead that the disciples could walked pass them, rolled the heavy stone (about two tons) away from the grave and stole the body? An average soldier knows even today that to have allowed such a dereliction of duty is as good as death sentence and will therefore do everything and anything possible to prevent such 'sleeping' on duty.

It is a fallacy that Jesus merely passed out on the Cross and after three days in the grave He regained consciousness, got resuscitated and not resurrected; stood up and just walked away from the tomb. Wow! So with all the injuries, aches and pains from the torture of his trial and execution, any man could just walk out of his grave without a stretcher and ambulance? How or from where did Jesus get the strength to roll away a two-ton stone that covered His grave? Did He overpowered His guards (the Roman soldiers) or did they help Him to escape or did they help Him to the nearest hospital? These are cynical, comical, ridiculous, bogus and unintelligent presumptions and assumptions about the Risen Christ that should put people with these shallow thoughts and ideas to shame.

It is a fallacy that the Apostles were merely hallucinating when they reported that Jesus Christ Resurrected. That after the arrest and crucification of Jesus, the apostles in order to cover their shame and embarrassment just put up the boldfaced story of the Resurrection as they would have wanted to see it but which they never saw or as an illusion ever hoped for but never achieved. It is a psychologically rare occurrence for two people to have the same or similar hallucinating experience. It is a fact that more than five hundred people were eye witnesses of the Resurrected Christ. Among them was Thomas a disciple of Jesus who never believed the Resurrection story until he saw Him and felt the holes in His hands and feet. There was also ironically, James, the brother of Jesus who did not believe Him until after His Resurrection when he became a disciple. Both men died later defending the Resurrection of the man they earlier denied.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most significant event in the history of mankind. Before Him, Enoch was taken by God and did not suffer the pang of death - no body, no grave. Moses, the most revered Jewish leader died and was buried by the Angels, no body and no grave. Prophet Elijah was taken up into the heaven before the eyes of this servant Elisha in a chariot of fire - no body and no grave. Lazarus, a friend of Jesus was in the grave for four days before Jesus resurrected him; he lived and died after the momentous miracle. None of these compared with what happened that April morning of AD 33 when the power of the Holy Spirity quickened the mortal body of Jesus Christ in His grave, healed His wounds and took the aches and pains away. It is the same Almighty power that rolled away the stone that covered the grave and made way for the glorified Christ to walk away from death and the hade. He did not just survive the torture and pains, He conquered death and make a public disgrace of Satan.

If the Pharisees and the High Priests did not deny or doubt the Old Testament stories of Enoch, Moses and Elijah, what gave them the doubt that the same God could not resurrect Jesus by His powers? The facts of the Resurrection cannot be denied as they are more reasonable than its fallacies.

Peter denied Jesus after His arrest and there was no record of any of the apostles and disciples who wanted to die in His place or with Him. Only John followed Him to Golgotha. All others deserted Him and went into hiding fearing persecutions after what happened to their Master. It was recorded "And they all forsook Him and fled." Who will blame them? If Jesus could suffer His fate, there was no hope for lesser men and women who lived and believed Him for just three years. My people say that if a fresh wood makes a wonderful burning flame, what else does one expect a dry wood.

Let us play the tape back to that night at the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was betrayed by one of His friends called Judas. Like a common criminal He was arrested and led away before His disciples. Not even the violent reaction of Peter could deter His enemies. He even rebuked Peter for his attempt to rescue Him. He still had time and compassion for an eleventh hour miracle of restoring a severed ear. "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment" (Isaiah 53: 7-8).

He was mocked, spit upon, cursed, whipped and beaten; all these in public view. He was sentenced to death by crucifixion, which was then the most shameful and atrocious form of capital punishment. As it is written; "Cursed is every one hanged on a tree". There on the tree Jesus died. "He could not safe himself, yet, He saved others"; His mockers said. What an open shame and disgrace especially to His followers who watched this spectacle in stunned shock and unbelief. To them, how else would they see the whole bloody and deadly drama? Here was there hope dashed. Their dream killed. For three years, they had left home, vocation and family to follow Him. To them they had forsaken everything for nothing. Here was a Messiah they had seen with demonstrated powers, signs and wonders, He healed the sick. The lame was made to walk and the blinds see with the touch of His hand. He walked on the sea and silent the storm. Peter had confessed Him as the Son of the Most High Living God. They had accepted Him as the Messiah - a Savior of the world and now before their eyes He was dead in disgrace and shame on a common cross meant for robbers and murderers. Where now is their hope and faith in a man so beaten, smitten, mocked, humiliated, rejected, despised and disgraced? Is this another faked messiah; as many had come and gone before Him? No wonder, they must have felt frightened, humiliated and defeated and therefore went into hiding!

But those thoughts and conditions would not last for too long. Early in the morning of the first day of week, the third day of the burial of Jesus, Mary Magdalene frantically ran to the hiding place of the apostles and broke the Good News probably shouting "HE IS RISEN! HE IS ALIVE!! I SAW HIM!!!" She thus became the first Evangelist; bringing fresh or renewed hope and faith to the hopeless, hapless and faithless disciples. Latter, they all saw Him, touched Him, walked with Him, and ate with Him. He gave them fresh hope and faith. He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who will lead and empower them for the Great Commission. Then, suddenly, they all remembered all what He had taught them about His death and Resurrection. Then they remembered what the prophets of the Old Testament had said of his life, death and resurrection. That was how the disciples, the apostles and the world changed forever.

To be concluded

ALSO SEE

The facts and fallacies of the resurrection (Concluded)

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Copyright - 2006 Dr. Samuel Bayo Arowolaju