The
Resurrection:
Does Circumstantial Evidence
Confirm It?
Timothy McVeigh, the man
behind the Oklahoma City bombing, has a date with death.
He’ll receive a lethal injection for killing 168
innocent people, even though no one saw him commit this
heinous crime. All the evidence against McVeigh was
circumstantial. Indirect testimony: That’s what
circumstantial evidence is. It’s an accumulation
of facts from which one can draw intelligent conclusions.
As a newspaper reporter
covering the courts, former journalist Lee Strobel saw
how circumstantial evidence is used to expose what really
happened during a crime. So, in the midst of a spiritual
quest, Strobel began to wonder: Could circumstantial
evidence verify that the resurrection of Christ really
happened?
Well, he took his question
to philosopher J. P. Moreland. In a challenging voice,
Strobel asked Moreland: “Can you give me five
pieces of solid circumstantial evidence that convince
you Jesus rose from the dead?” Certainly, Moreland
responded. First, there’s the evidence of the
skeptics. Some of those who were most hostile to Jesus
prior to his death became his most ardent supporters
afterwards.
Second, the ancient Jews
had a number of immensely important religious rituals.
These included the offering of animal sacrifices, obeying
the Mosaic law, and keeping the Sabbath. But within
five weeks of Jesus’ death, more than 10,000 Jews
had suddenly altered or abandoned these rituals. Moreland
asked: Why would they relinquish rites that had long
given them their national identity? The implication
is that something enormously significant had occurred.
Third, we see the emergence
of new rituals: the sacraments of Communion and Baptism.
The early Jews baptized in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, “which,” Moreland
said, “meant they had elevated Jesus to the full
status of God.”
Fourth, we see the rapid
rise of a new church, beginning shortly after the death
of Jesus. Within twenty years this new church (begun
by the companions of a dead carpenter) had reached Caesar’s
palace in Rome, and eventually spread throughout the
Roman empire.
And fifth, Moreland said,
there’s the most convincing circumstantial evidence
of all: the fact that every one of Jesus’ disciples
was willing to suffer and die for his beliefs. These
men spent the rest of their lives witnessing about Christ.
They frequently went without food; they were mocked,
beaten, and thrown into prison. In the end, all but
one died a painful martyr’s death. Would they
have done this for a lie? Of course not. They did it
because they were convinced beyond a doubt that they
had seen the risen Christ.
Even if we doubted 2,000-year-old
evidence, we have all the circumstantial evidence we
could possibly want—right in front of us. It is,
Moreland said, “the ongoing encounter with the
resurrected Christ that happens all over the world,
in every culture, to people from all kinds of back-grounds
and personalities. They all will testify that more than
any single thing in their lives, Jesus Christ has changed
them.”
Circumstantial evidence
earned Timothy McVeigh a death sentence. But sacred
circumstantial evidence about the resurrection of Jesus
Christ can lead all of us, including McVeigh, to a much
better verdict: everlasting life in the presence of
God.
From “BreakPoint with Charles
Colson,” April 19, 2001, reprinted with permission
of Prison Fellowship, PO Box 17500, Washington, DC 20041-7500,
www.pfm.org.
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