I know im very weak in faith, even if i want to be strong, questions enter my mind, Is God real?, Is the Bible real?, Is Jesus close to me?,
Jburic,
You have asked a lot of questions, and I don't know if I can answer them all. In fact, I'm not going to try to answer any of the questions you asked, but propose a slightly different question. In my question and answer, I think I can answer the three questions I chose from your post.
My question is whether Jesus actually rose from the dead or not. Did he?
I have read an essay from one preacher on this, and heard this from another, so I can't take credit for this. But with historical events, logic and human reasoning, I get conclude my answer.
Was Jesus real?
The Bible says he was. The Jewish historian Josephus says he was. Even the Muslims acknowledge Jesus lived. There may be other historical documents, and I would be interested in reading what the chronicals of the Roman Empire said, but I don't think it's in doubt that someone named Jesus Christ, Joshsua bar Joseph, or what ever name you want to call him existed. There was a man who claimed to be the Christ, and he was crucified. Historical accounts alone say that was true. If you can accept that, please read on.
The Bible says he had 12 main disciples. 11 went on, and there was Judas. We shall then focus on the 11. The Bible says they stayed together for a while, but they all went their separate ways. The point is that they all saw Christ after he died.
Furthermore, many other people are witness to this. The Bible says around 450 total saw him after his death. Now, if you believe the Bible is even close to an historical account, I have plenty to stand on. If, however, you just want to believe that the 11 saw him, fine.
Can you agree with me that the 11 saw him? There are other historical documents that descibe these men (Peter, Matthew, James, John, Andrew, Bartholemew, Simon, Thomas, etc...) I wish I could provide the names of the documents and the prose too. However, if you google these names, I am sure you will find a history of them. I am afraid I will have to rely on that. I am not good enough a historian to prove what I am about to say other than wikipedia, which is a poor reference.
But if you can research the 11, and you believe they existed as well as the man they call Jesus, please follow on.
The Bible and history also say that each of these men went into different regions. I can also prove by the Bible these men were pretty weak in character and in faith to begin with. We get the term "Doubting Thomas" from a slight incident where the apostle thomas doubted. Peter was always in trouble and Jesus rebuked him more than any other apostle. That's to his credit, and it's perhaps why he spearheaded so much. But none of them really believed Jesus when he said he would rise from the dead. These were weak men of believe, and weak men of esteem among men. Tax collectors, fishermen, publicans,etc.
If you are following me so far, after they saw Jesus (and I'm not asking you to believe he was seen of them) these weak men of character and faith had a severe change of heart. All of them except John the Revelator were murdered and died tortuous deaths. You won't find that in the Bible, but you will in the annuals of history. These men were separated from each other, yet they saw something that was so powerful, they wouldn't lie about it to save their own lives. They saw something that was so powerful, that they couldn't say, "Ok... We made it all up to make some money and start a new religion...." They died for what they saw, or thought they saw.
Going back, like I said... 450 or so people saw him. Let's talk about Paul... The Bible never says he met or saw Christ (though I believe it is possible he did). But something knocked his rear end cold enough for him to die for it.
Now, if 12 people let alone 450 people see someone in a city... Can you not think it was real? But if they are willing to die for it, why would you not believe their testimony?
There is also James who I call the half brother of Jesus. You can call him Jesus' brother for the time being, and that's fine. He's also a martyr and a witness, and a very powerful one.
This man didn't even believe in the divinity of Jesus until he died. The Bible says so. However, we have the testiment of him in the Bible. I'm pretty hard on James, and I don't agree with everything he says. However, the Bible says he believed. Josephus and history says he was cornered on top of the Church and thrown off when he refused to deny CHrist.
So I ask you did Christ raise from the dead? Paul said if we don't know that he did our belief is in vain. The Bible says he did, and history, logic and reasoning say he did. These men, who were formally of weak character, and never fully understood that Jesus was God, would not have been able to withstand the tortuous deaths they did if they didn't see something that convicted them so strongly. By the way, John was not martryed.... He didn't die for his beliefs. However, his eyes were poked out and he was boilded in oil, and convicted to a rat infested island for the criminally insane.
So, reseach these things... Explore whether they are true. How did each of Jesus' disciples die? Note that they never denied Christ. In today's American justice system, this is hard evidence. Eleven, twelve or 450 men as witnesses is pretty sufficient, especially when they were willing to be tortured and mutilated, and they never broke. They never denied they saw Jesus after he died.
These are historical accounts. So did Christ raise from the dead? On that day in April or March, a group of men and women saw something! They saw something so strong that they couldn't even lie about it to save their lives. Just imagine Peter or Thomas as they are being tortured and being asked, "do you admit you didn't see him?"
"I can't! I did see him! He's real! Please don't kill me, but he is real!"
So if you believe that Christ did raise from the dead, why wouldn't you believe God is real and the Bible is real?
Hey... I wasn't alive when the Japaneese bombed Pearl Harbor. But I heard accounts of it. Some of the men who were there are still alive today. But just because I wasn't alive for it, doesn't mean I don't believe it. How do you know that Lincoln was a real man? History? Well, outside of the Bible, do you believe Jesus was at least a man? Do you believe Peter and James and John were too?
If a fella can predict he would die, and then raise from the dead.... I gotta pay attention to that. That's one helluva trick to be stabbed, have all your blood drained, and be locked in a tomb for 72 hours with moral wounds and then walk through walls...
