1) Nature can't cause itself, because the evidence is trillions of causes and no evidence for something in nature happening all by itself. It requires a cause that is uncaused.
That which is uncaused is what we call God. And the universe can't always have been existing due to the exponential progression of conscience, for mankind would not still be sinning to the extent it still does.
2)
Who is God? Jesus. But why?
The evidence is the
multiple attestation in various group settings of the eyewitnesses who said they saw Jesus resurrected. Group hallucinations are impossible. If you have no naturalistic explanation to explain away the data of the New Testament, a few secular sources who mention Jesus, early apologists and church fathers; then you don't even have to say it, but you are admitting Jesus is God.
The second generation apostles, called Apostolic fathers, such as Polycarp who was a student of John was taught by John that John saw Jesus resurrected; and Clement of Rome, another Apostolic father, was a student of the apostle Peter who said Peter taught him that Peter saw Jesus resurrected.
Were Peter and John lying to their students?
When Peter, Paul, James and other Apostles were martyred for saying they saw Jesus resurrected, and Stephen a deacon,
show me where in history people die for something they know is a lie? You need to stop killing my brain cells with your mindlessness and address the central issue - we call this the Minimal Facts Approach because it is not dependent on inerrancy of Scripture, just those few things most skeptical scholars agree on:
1. Jesus died by crucifixion.
2. He was buried.
3. His death caused the disciples to despair and lose hope.
4. The tomb was empty (the most contested).
5. The disciples had experiences which they believed were literal appearances of the risen Jesus (the most important proof).
6. The disciples were transformed from doubters to bold proclaimers.
7. The resurrection was the central message.
8. They preached the message of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem.
9. The Church was born and grew.
10. Orthodox Jews who believed in Christ made Sunday their primary day of worship.
11. James was converted to the faith when he saw the resurrected Jesus (James was a family skeptic).
12. Paul was converted to the faith (Paul was an outsider skeptic).
In
The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel (p. 112), Mike Licona said, "[Gary] Habermas has compiled a list of more than 2,200 sources in French, German, and English in which experts have written on the resurrection from 1975 to the present. He has identified
minimal facts that are strongly evidenced and which are regarded as historical by the large majority of scholars, including skeptics. We try to come up with the best historical explanation to account for these facts."
The only possibly conclusion for this evidence is that logically Jesus was resurrected and therefore, He must be God just like He said He was.
The most dependable non-Christian sources such as the the Talmud, Tacitus, Josephus, Lucian and Mara Bar-Serapion all testify to Jesus having lived and died on the cross and said there existed a claim about Jesus being resurrected from the dead and being God.
Jesus appeared 12 times to different group sizes ranging from just one person to 500 people:
1) Mary Magdalene (Mark 16.9-11; John 20.11-18), Peter in Jerusalem (Luke 24.34; 1 Cor. 15.5), Jesus' brother (insider skeptic) James (1 Cor. 15.7).
2) the other women at the tomb (Matthew 28.8-10).
3) The two travelers on the road (Mark 16.12,13; Luke 24.13-34).
4) Ten disciples behind closed doors (Mark 16.14; Luke 24.35-43; John 20.19-25).
5) All the disciples, with Thomas (excluding Judas Iscariot) (John 20.26-31; 1 Cor. 15.5).
6) Seven disciples while fishing (John 21.1-14).
7) Eleven disciples on the mountain (Matthew 28.16-20).
8) A crowd of 500 "most of whom are still alive" at the time of Paul's writing (1 Cor. 15.6).
9) "Then to all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15.7) which includes the Twelve plus all the other apostles.
10) Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24.44-49).
11) Those who watched Jesus ascend to heaven (Mark 16.19,20; Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.3-8).
12) Least of all Paul (outsider skeptic) with others present as though he was not living in the proper time (1 Cor. 15.8-9; Gal. 1.13-16; Acts 9.1-8, 22.9, read all of chapters 22 and 26; 13.30-37; 1 Cor. 15.10-20; Gal. 2.1-10).
For further consideration, observe these points:
- Luke has no problem between Paul's appearance and those made to the disciples in Luke 24, Acts 1.1-11. Luke records both types of appearances of Jesus to the disciples and to Paul.
- "Last of all he was seen of me also" (1 Cor. 15.8).
- "Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" (1 Cor. 9.1).
- Others saw the light and heard the voice during Paul seeing Jesus bodily, however because Paul's experience was post-ascension, it may be slightly different.
- Evolution of a resurrection theory actually devolved from the accounts of the 40 days with the disciples to when Paul saw Jesus (Gal. 1.15-16).
- "To reveal His Son in me" (Gal. 1.16,18) took three years following the Damascus road experience. Don't mistake this portion as being the bodily appearance.
- "And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man" (Acts 9.7). This presumes that Paul saw the man.
- Many years after Paul saw the vision on the Damascus road, he testified, "Wherefore . . . I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision" (Acts 26.19).
- Paul reports knowing some of the disciples personally who had seen Jesus resurrected including Peter, James, and John. Acts confirms this (Acts 9.26-30; 15.1-35). And Paul says in 1 Cor. 15.11 that whether "it was I or they, this is what we preach," referring to the resurrection of Jesus.
- Altogether, there is Paul's writings, oral traditions in creeds, hymns and sermon summaries in various NT books, and writings of the early church fathers such as Polycarp and Clement of Rome who personally knew the Apostles, John and Peter.
Now if so many people saw Jesus resurrected, is it really so hard to believe the saved will be resurrected at the consummation of the age of the dispensation of grace-the end of the mystery age of the church?
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