God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty (19 page)

Pliny the Younger
, a Roman governor of Bithynia, not only referred to Jesus but also alluded to belief in His deity in a letter to the emperor
Trajan
in AD 112:

They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.
⁸

As a particularly interesting secondary source, the third-century historian Julius Africanus cited the first-century historian
Thallus
, who wrote about the darkness that occurred at the time of the crucifixion:

On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places
in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the 263 book of his
History
, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Savior fails on the day before the passover [see
Phlegon
]; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun?
⁹

References to Jesus even appear in unsympathetic Jewish sources. For instance, near the end of the first century, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentioned Jesus,
John the Baptist
, and the death of Jesus’ brother John.
¹⁰
The details of the most detailed quotation about Jesus are more controversial due to their positive portrayal of Him, but the reference is most likely original. In addition, several Jewish rabbinic traditions allude to various details of Jesus’ life and ministry.
¹¹

T
HE
G
OSPELS
AS
H
ISTORICAL
R
ECORDS

The Bible is not one book. It is actually a collection of sixty-six ancient books that have been gathered together and established by a multitude of scholars as reliable. The notion that the Bible’s claims about Christ is somehow circular reasoning is absurd. More than forty different authors wrote down their witnesses
to the working of God in history. The fact that these diverse writings were gathered into one larger book should in no way disqualify the things that are said, any more than a history book of the United States should be dismissed because it combines the numerous historical documents of that country.

The life of Jesus was recorded in four distinct accounts in the books of the Bible known as the Gospels. Each provides detailed descriptions of Jesus’ life, ministry, and teaching. The similarities with each other and with outside historical sources are so numerous and striking that no competent historian could deny their general reliability. “I claim to be an historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history . . .”
¹²

“W
HO
D
O
M
EN
S
AY
I A
M?
”

Critics have tried to marginalize Jesus by asserting that even if He indeed lived, what we can know about Him is more myth and legend than reality. Some go to the extreme of trying to compare the life of Jesus to ancient pagan deities such as Horus of Egypt and
Mithras of Persia
, or the more contemporary idols such as Marilyn Monroe, John Kennedy, or Elvis. Legend and myth can indeed grow up quickly around a visible public figure. In fact, Jesus addressed this with His disciples when He asked them,

“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
        So they said, “Some say,
John the Baptist
, some Elijah,
and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
        He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
(Matthew 16:13–15)

This is the question not only for them, but for us today. We must cut through the opinions of others and answer this question about Christ: man, myth, or Messiah?

The story of Jesus is nothing like the writings in ancient mythology. Comparing the writings of the New Testament to the stories written about the gods of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans is the equivalent of comparing a German history book to a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Movies such as
Zeitgeist
and
Religulous
claim the Egyptian god Horus and many other mythological characters like him had similar traits to Jesus—born of a virgin on December 25, had twelve disciples, performed
miracles
, was crucified, and was resurrected. No significant
Egyptologists
vouch for these claims. These myths of Horus can be traced back to the writings of men such as Gerald Massey in the early 1900s. Other would-be parallels, such as the Persian god Mithras, have literally no surviving ancient texts recording anything specific about this pagan god. Mithraic scholar Richard Gordon said unequivocally that there is “no death, burial, and resurrection of Mithras. None.”
¹³
Even skeptics such as Richard Carrier acknowledge that alleged parallels typically are either fabricated or from documents that postdate the writing of the New Testament by centuries.
¹⁴

The most popular and relevant claims of borrowing relate to Jesus’ resurrection. For instance, the mystery cults
worshiped dying-and-rising Gods, which are often compared to Christian teaching on the resurrection. However, relevant parallels appear well after Christianity became established, and the Mysteries themselves borrowed Christian concepts to compete with the ever expanding church.
¹⁵

So the enormous impact of the Christian faith gave rise to a rash of works that retold ancient myths in the likeness of the gospel story. The same happens today when a great story generates a host of copycats.

The larger issue is the question of who influenced whom. With Christianity exploding onto the scene of the Roman Empire, it is evident that other religions adopted certain teachings and practices from Christianity in order to stem the tide of departing adherents or, perhaps, to attract Christians to their side.
¹⁶

Some alleged parallels do predate Jesus, such as the Egyptian god
Osiris
, who was said to have been resuscitated. However, upon close examination, these similarities are superficial at best. Osiris was not truly resurrected in a transformed new body, but he was simply awakened in the underworld.
¹⁷
Craig Keener summarized the evidence in his seminal work
The Historical Jesus of the Gospels
:

Supposed parallels to the resurrection stories prove weak; Aune even declares that “no parallel to them is found in
Graeco-Roman biography” . . . plainly none of the alleged parallels involves a historical person (or anyone) resurrected in the strict sense. This is probably in part because resurrection in its strict (bodily and permanent) sense was an almost exclusively Jewish belief, and among Jewish people was reserved for the future.
¹⁸

Likewise,
Old Testament
scholar Tryggve N. D. Mettinger described the case in similar terms: “There is now what amounts to a scholarly consensus against the appropriateness of the concept [of dying and rising gods]. Those who still think differently are looked upon as residual members of an almost extinct species.”
¹⁹
So the real myth is that the story of Christ was borrowed from other ancient myths.
Christ’s story is unique and rooted in history, not mythology.

Another significant factor must be mentioned that came out of my interview with William Lane Craig. He spoke of the anti-Semitic motives of many of these false stories that attempted to dismiss the Jewishness of Jesus. If critics could link the gospel to Egyptian or Persian myths, then the fact that Jesus was Jewish could be obscured and history revised.

On the streets of
Jerusalem
today, no one doubts that Jesus was Jewish. The history of His life and death are all over the city. It has been one of my great joys to have many Jewish friends in Israel who share so much in common with me as a Christian. The primary thing that separates us is not the life and death of Jesus, but the resurrection. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives the historical witness and proof that anchors our faith.

J
ESUS:
M
ORE THAN A
M
AN

. . . his Son, who . . . through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:3–4
NIV
)

Dave Sterrett, a Christian evangelist and apologist, summarized these thoughts of Gary Habermas:

Virtually all scholars agree that the following statements about Jesus and His followers are historically true:

• Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.

• He was buried, most likely in a private tomb.

• Soon afterwards the disciples were discouraged, bereaved, and despondent, having lost hope.

• Jesus’ tomb was found empty very soon after His interment.

• The disciples had encounters with what they believed was the risen Jesus.

• Due to these experiences, the disciples’ lives were thoroughly transformed. They were even willing to die for their belief.

• The proclamation of Christ’s resurrection took place very early, from the beginning of church history.

• The disciples’ public testimony and preaching of the resurrection took place in the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus had been crucified and buried shortly before.
²⁰

The only plausible explanation for these facts is that Jesus actually died and rose from the dead. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a supernatural miracle that demonstrated God exists and that Jesus is the Savior of the world promised throughout the Scriptures. How else could Christianity have started in the very place it would have been easiest to disprove, Jerusalem, three days after Jesus had been crucified? Because the resurrection is historical, it is subject to the tests of any historical event to determine in a reasonable way whether it actually happened. And, as shown, the facts clearly demonstrate its reality.

G
OD
R
EVEALS
H
IMSELF IN THE
E
XTRAORDINARY

The key objection to the resurrection is not from a historical standpoint but from a philosophical one. This is based on the argument from David Hume that we should accept as true the events that are the most likely explanation, that follow the most probabilistic pattern.

However, not all real-life events follow predictable patterns. The usual suspects are not always the real culprits. Piecing together the string of witnesses and clues allows us to follow the threads of evidence that can lead us to the answers we seek. In cases of criminal justice we are required to follow the evidence wherever it leads. How much more should we do this in looking for evidence of God?

An event like the resurrection was indeed colossal and unusual. The fact that dead people usually stay dead makes the resurrection of Christ a miraculous single event that defied the
odds and shattered the expected course of nature. What else should we expect of God in revealing Himself to humanity? Jesus’
miracles
were signs as well that He was no ordinary man. They weren’t magic tricks used by someone trying to exploit the masses for profit; they were signs that pointed to God and the fulfillment of His promised salvation.

Lee Strobel, a journalist formerly with the
Chicago Tribune
, set out to establish the case for the resurrection of Jesus from a historical standpoint, using the principles for verification that an attorney would use to try a case. He explains the evidence for the resurrection through the use of the five
E
s.
²¹
These represent the events that history points to as factual.

1. E
XECUTION

Jesus died. The Romans were experts at Roman crucifixion, and Roman soldiers were charged under penalty of death to ensure the victim died on the cross. Under no circumstance would a crucified individual have survived the ordeal. The
certainty
of Jesus’ death has been confirmed in an article by the
Journal of the American Medical
Association
:

Clearly the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to His side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between His right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung, but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured His death. Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical
knowledge
.
²²

2. E
MPTY
T
OMB

After Jesus’ death He was buried in a tomb owned by
Joseph of Arimathea
, a leader of the Jewish people. The burial of Jesus was called by the late John A. T. Robinson of
Cambridge University
, “one of the best attested facts we have about the historical Jesus.”
²³

Not only was He buried, but His tomb was empty after three days. The fact that there was a rumor that exists to this day that His disciples stole the body gives further evidence that the tomb was empty. “I think we need have no doubt that given Jesus’ execution by Roman crucifixion he was truly dead and that his temporary place of burial was discovered to be empty shortly thereafter.”
²⁴
Since the disciples proclaimed the resurrection in the very city of the crucifixion and burial, the Romans easily could have produced the body
if
it had not vanished. The first witnesses to the empty tomb were women, something the disciples never would have fabricated since the testimony of women was not considered reliable.