The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ Essay -- essays research papers

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ     No opposite event in history has been the object of as much scrutiny andcriticism as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ isthe basis upon which all told Christianity stands. If the resurrection neverhappened, then there would be no Christianity, as the Apostle Paul says in 1Corinthians 1514, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is uselessand so is your faith." This is why opponents of the Christian faith have triedto attempt to discredit the Biblical invoice of the resurrection. Of the manytheories of the resurrection, the Biblical account is the sole(prenominal) historicallyreliable and possible explanation of the resurrection.     The historical reliableness of the Bible is the first subject that needsto be discussed. There are three criteria that the military historian C.Sanders lists as principles for documentary historical proof thebibliographical she w, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test(McDowell 43). The bibliographical test is the examination of text by thedocuments that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the NewTestament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the prison term intervalsbetween the time in which the piece of literature was written and our soonestcopy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations.Totally there are around 24,000 total MSS for the New Testament. The nextclosest document in respect to MSS is the "Illiad" by Homer, with 643manuscripts(McDowell 43).     The textual reliability then continues with respect to the time intervalbetween the original and the first known manuscript. The shorter the interval,the more reliable the text is. Homers "Illiad" was written in 900 BC and theearliest copy was found in 400 BC. This is c ompared to the New Testament thatwas written from 40-100 AD. The first known manuscript of the New Testamentwas found in cxxv AD. This twenty-five year gap is very impressive as comparedto the Illiads five hundred year span (McDowell 45). This first test hasbasically shown that the text which deal have in their possession isessentially the original text.    &... ...Roman governor (McDowell 230). The sealwas used to show authenticity, to prove that Jesus was inside the tomb (McDowell230). If the women had gone to the scathe tomb there would have been no brokenseal, because it was not common for dead bodies to be protected by the Romangovernment.     The Biblical account of Christs resurrection is the only historicallypossible version of the resurrection. The other theories that have beenintroduced all have large holes in them. Many do not take into account all ofthe facts of the resurrection, because they do not view the Bible as thehistorically reliable piece of literature that it is. When one takes intoaccount the reliability of the Bible, and the many facts of the resurrection itis impossible to conclude any other theory than that of the Bible. Christ diedon the cross for mans sins. On the third day He rose from the grave, provingall He had preached and taught. The fact of the matter is this all theopponents of Christians at the time of Christs resurrection had to do was findthe body and march through the city square. They werent able to, because itwasnt there, He has arisen, and thats a fact