Can We Trust Eyewitness?

So what do we have to go on? We Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead. That there is a God - a no brainer. That Jesus lived and died - undesputable. That he rose from the dead...now this is the crux upon which our faith is founded. Are we a bunch of gullible Garys?

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. (1 John 1:1 NIV)

Can you trust such eywitness accounts about Jesus? Trust is a difficult thing these days. It seems like everybody lies to get ahead. However, though we doubt our ability to trust people, we all drive. We trust the other guy is going to stay on his side of the road. We eat out and trust that the food was not scraped off the bathroom floor. We take medicine from the pharmacy without performing our own in-house substance analysis - we trust the pharmacy is being truthful.

Let's take the pharmacy example and apply it to eyewitness accounts of Jesus. Why do we drust the pharmacist?

1. He will not gain from giving false medecine. Sure he may make some more money in the beginning, but as soon as people find out that his medecine doesn't work, he loses his business.
The eyewitnesses of Jesus had nothing to gain by lying. No one gave them money, the apostles never ended up with power or position because of the message about Jesus. There was no promise of success here on earth - only examples of failure by other groups that tried to lead revolutions.

2. He will not get away with fraud. We live in a country with a strong FDA regulating what is sold in pharmacies. Sooner or lator, the officials would produce evidence that this was a fraudulant opperation.
The eyewitnesses could not have gotten away with fraud. There are no first century claims of evidence agianst the resurrection of Christ, or against the facts of the story that the eyewitnesses were spreading. Both the Jewish authorities and Roman government had much to gain by proving this sect wrong, but no such evidence was produced. No one gets past a Roman guard sealing a tomb. This is not a possible explanation. If the eyewitnesses had been lying, they would have been shot down - quickly.

3. The pharmisist will face punishment by selling fraudulant medicine. There would be lawsuits, government fines and prison time - not to mention a revocation of his liscence and the ruin of any hopes of practicing pharmacy again.
The eyewitnesses actually told their story in the face of punishment. They must have believed the punishment for preahing against the resurrection was greater than the punishment for preaching for it. History records all the apostles (accept John who was tortured) being put to death rather than change their story.

John was sure about what he proclaimed. There was no mistake. He knew it enough to be tortured for it. John was never a rich or powerful person. Instead, he stood with the other eyewitnesses for the resurrection of Christ. Can you trust people? Can you trust eyewitness? If you can take medicine that might make you better at the risk of being killed if it is fraudulant, can't you partake of the water of life Jesus provides through faith?

I still believe those who saw and heard, felt and knew him who is the Resurrection and the Life. They carry more reason for believability than modern doubters. Those who listen to the athiests today are the gullible Gary's (no offense to anyone named Gary out there) who believe without evidence.

You'd better believe it!

Is Hell Still Valid?

After a break from the blogging scene, it is time to begin the process again. I hope to add a post once per week.

In a couple weeks I will preach a sermon on the reality of Hell. It is not a plesant topic. It is not a topic upon which I want to focus. But Jesus had a lot to say about it. It has been an unpopular subject to preach on for a long time, but it still holds the intimidating power I believe the Bible intends for it to have - Eternal Fire? No thank you. Lake of burning sulfur? I'm running. The one place where God is not present? Get me as far away as possible!

Is it still valid to preach on Hell? Is it a cheap scare tactic used by crazy fundamentalist Christians to minipulate the gullable into the pew? A Pentacostal church in Cedar Hill, Texas spends thousands on a haunted house that portrays Satan's prison using hellish imagry as an evangelistic tool. A Baptist church in Chicago where the youth minister dresses up as Satan and people try to beg their way out of eternal torment convinces young people.

WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?)

Jesus used both fear and hope to call people to him.

Fear
"...It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Mat. 5:30)

"...where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mat. 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30)

Hope
"In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you..that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2,3)

Paul said that because of the fear of the Lord "...we try to persuade men." ( 2 Cor. 5:11) He said that he would use "...all possible means...[to]save some." (1 Cor. 9:22)

Hebrews both warns of destruction; "For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (Heb. 2:2-3) and pulls with hope; "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest..." (Heb. 4:1)

James uses fear addressing the rich; "Your gold and silver are corroded. their corosion will testify against you and eat you rflesh like fire." (Heb. 5:3) He also uses hope; "You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near." (Heb. 5:8)

Peter uses hope of our inheritance in 1 Peter and fear of destruction in 2 Peter both to encourage faithfulness to the truth and endurance through earthly suffering.

Revelation might be considered the ultimate fundamentalist propoganda. The overriding theme is that those who do not remain faithful to Jesus will end up in the lake of burning sulfur with Satan, but those who remain faithful will be with God in heaven, forever.

If scripture carries such a balanced presentation, I believe it is incumbant upon Christians to also preach a balanced message of fear and hope. However, this means that both need to be loud and clear.

Are the methods of churches like the "Hell House" concept to frighten people valid? They report that 2/3 of the people who go through it want to become Christians. If that helped them to respond to the good news - praise God. The good news of salvation is truly good news if we realize we are saved from something undesirable. Salvation is incredible in light (or dark) of the alternative.

Peter listed love as the highest stage of Christian development (2 Pet. 1:5-7) May we all grow from fear to love.

And may we all be faithful to the truth even when it is unpopular.