Jesus Christ Is Resurrected

Christ's Resurrection Is Real

The life and death of Jesus of Nazareth is an established fact. The non-Christian historical accounts of Flavius Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, Maimonides corroborate one another in relating when and how Jesus died. 

The suffering and death of Jesus are critical to the Christian faith because they are the source of the atonement that reconciles us with God. Yet, as important as Christ's death is, it would mean nothing without His resurrection. Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, I can trust everything else He promised, including His ability to wash away my sins.

The proof of the Atonement is the Resurrection, and the proof of the Resurrection is witnesses. So, I begin my explanation of why I believe in Christ's resurrection with His witnesses.

1. The eyewitness testimony of Christ's resurrection is credible and sincere. The primary witnesses, the Apostles, suffered prolonged torture and death rather than renounce their testimony. Martyrdom proves sincerity, but it does not prove the facts. Nevertheless, the death of the Apostles is remarkable because they did not claim merely to believe Jesus was resurrected, but that they actually saw Him. Either they did or did not see Him alive and well after His death. The martyrs died not for what they believed, but for what they saw.

2. Saul, a diligent persecutor of the earliest believers in Jesus, had an experience with the resurrected Christ that dramatically changed his life, turning him into a staunch and unwavering defender of Jesus and His resurrection. Saul-turned-Paul testified to his dying day that he saw the resurrected Lord. 

3. The empty tomb could not be denied. The Jewish Sanhedrin claimed that Jesus's disciples stole the body. If that were true, then the Apostles would have known the resurrection was a hoax and would hardly have been willing to die to maintain the lie. Surely someone would have weakened in the face of torture and excruciating death and confessed to the hoax, if not to save himself, then to save his friends and family. It has also been suggested that Jesus faked His death and then escaped the tomb. The possibility that any human could survive being beaten, tortured, lacerated, and stabbed, suffering internal damage, massive blood loss, asphyxiation, and a spear through His side, and then sit quietly in a sealed tomb for more than thirty-six hours without medical attention is absurd.

4. Jesus has been seen in other places besides Jerusalem and at other times besides immediately after His death. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ records the experience of thousands of people in the Western Hemisphere who saw the resurrected, immortal Christ. After He left his disciples in Palestine and ascended to heaven, He descended from heaven in dramatic fashion, appearing before more than 2,500 people on the American Continent. He called twelve Disciples from among the multitude and bestowed priesthood authority on them to proclaim His gospel and baptize. The resurrected Christ showed the people the wounds in His hands, feet, and side as a testimony that He was truly who He said He was. He preached the gospel, healed the sick and afflicted, and blessed the children. His majestic appearance ushered in a two-hundred-year reign of peace and righteousness among the people, which is chronicled in the Book of Mormon.

5. Modern witnesses have also seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith, a young farm boy in New York State in 1820, commencing a restoration of ancient Christianity. Joseph Smith saw the resurrected Lord again in 1836, this time accompanied by Oliver Cowdery to stand as a second witness. Like the Apostles of old, Joseph died a martyr's death because he would not deny his testimony of Christ and His resurrection.

A single witness may not be enough to prove the case, but dozens, hundreds, and thousands of witnesses, all experiencing the miracle of the Resurrection at different times, places, and circumstances, make for a strong case. 

Still, if I haven't seen the resurrected Christ with my own eyes, how could I be sure the story is not a total fabrication? Is it possible that so many people have colluded to perpetuate a myth and that so many would die rather than admit the lie? Is it probable? No. But is it possible? Maybe. 

So, to seal the deal, God has promised to anyone willing to admit the possibility that Christ's resurrection is real their own personal witness. He offers to everyone who will ask a testimony provided by the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, the Comforter and Testifier. 

The Bible says that "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. 12:3). The Holy Ghost "shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). I bear my witness that these statements are true. By the witnessing, testifying, and convincing power of the Holy Ghost, I believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is real. He appeared to His Apostles and others in Jerusalem, was seen by more than 500 people in Galilee, visited and spoke to St. Paul on the road to Damascus, appeared to and taught thousands on the American Continent, came to Joseph Smith and others in modern times, and lives today as a resurrected and immortal Being. I know by the Holy Ghost that these things are true.

Jesus Is the Son of God

People generally acknowledge that Jesus was a great teacher, but how can you say he was God's son?

To begin with, I should define what I mean when I say that Jesus is God's Son. We are all children of our Heavenly Father. Every human being born on this earth came from God. Jesus is unique, however, among all people born into this world, in that He had a mortal mother and an immortal, glorified Father. His DNA is a mixture of mortal and deified genes. Therefore, Jesus is literally the Son of God. How, exactly, the union occurred to produce the Son of God is not my concern. I nevertheless believe it happened, however God chose to make it happen, and Jesus is the result, fully human and yet fully God.

I believe Jesus is the Son of God for the following reasons:

1. Jesus's birth, life, death, and resurrection fulfilled more than 300 biblical prophecies. The Jewish scriptures are filled with bold and specific predictions of the Messiah's virgin birth, sinless life, miraculous actions, suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Jesus fulfilled every prophecy.

2. Jesus performed miracles as a sign of His heritage and authority that even His bitterest enemies could not deny. The Jewish rulers--the Pharisees and Sadducees--accused Jesus of being a sinner, a blasphemer, and a servant of the devil. Still, they could not deny that men previously blind received their sight, deaf men regained their hearing, lepers were healed, the lame were made to walk, and the dead were brought back to life. Jesus demonstrated supernatural powers that could come only from God.

3. Jesus openly claimed to be the promised Messiah and the Son of God. When the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well spoke of the prophesied Messiah, Jesus said, "I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:26). When the Pharisees in the temple questioned Jesus about His claims of divine sonship, He spoke of Abraham longing to see His mission on earth and proclaimed, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), echoing God's pronouncement to Moses, "I Am that I Am" (Exodus 3:14).

4. God the Father Himself testified that Jesus was His Son. When John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan at the beginning of His ministry, the people at the river heard a voice from heaven say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

5. Jesus died and then rose from the grave and ascended to heaven. Though He had brought others back to life, those people remained mortal, lived out their lives on earth, and then died again. Jesus rose from the dead as an immortal being and returned to His Father in Heaven, never to die again. 

The reasons I have cited above for believing Jesus is the Son of God are not proofs of  His divine claim. They rely on the Bible, which many non-Christians do not hold as a trustworthy source. Beyond the Bible, however, I have other sources. 

6. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ is a second book of holy scripture that verifies Jesus's claim of His divine nature. The Book of Mormon records an account of the resurrected Jesus appearing to people in the Western Hemisphere. As Jesus Christ descended from heaven, the people heard the voice of God proclaim, "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him" (3 Nephi 11:7).

7. The resurrected Christ has appeared to people in the modern era and proclaimed His divinity. The Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820. The Father introduced Jesus with these words, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith - History 1:17). Again, in April 1836, Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, saying, "I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father" (Doctrine and Covenants 110:4).

Thus, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God because ancient prophets predicted He would come; when He came, He fulfilled those prophecies perfectly; He demonstrated His divine power over and over again; He rose from the dead; and in His resurrected form, He appeared to other reliable witnesses both anciently and in modern times. Still, I cannot present scientific proof of Christ's existence as the Son of God. I cannot produce fingerprints or DNA samples. I can display no photographs or other tangible artifacts. All I have on which to base my belief is the testimonies of others. 

But that's not entirely true. I have one additional, personal witness. The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, whose role it is to testify of the Father and the Son, has revealed to my mind and heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and my Redeemer and Savior. If all the other sources of my faith were to disappear, I have the undeniable witness from God Himself to my soul that Jesus is His Son. 

The Bible Is a Reliable Source of Truth

Is the Bible a Reliable Source of Truth?

We know the Bible was written by fallible humans, and it has passed through many hands, copyists, and translators to give us the book we have today. How can it be reliable?

From a purely scholarly perspective, good evidence exists that the Bible is an accurate record of historic events. 

To begin with, the Bible has an unprecedented number of early manuscript copies compared to other ancient literature, ensuring that the modern text is an accurate representation of the original, with a stable history of transmission. 

As with other ancient books, the physical pieces of “paper” on which the original authors first wrote the New Testament have been lost to history. But we have thousands of other ancient writings (on papyrus, vellum, and parchment) with original-language text copied from each book of the Bible—about 5,400 distinct pieces when it comes to the New Testament, many going back to the first three centuries. They allow us to reconstruct with a huge degree of confidence what the originals said.

The books of the New Testament were written by, or based on, eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Reliable historians like Josephus corroborate key events in the Bible, such as Jesus's crucifixion by Pontius Pilate.

Countless archaeological discoveries, such as the Pool of Bethesda and the existence of the Hittites, have supported the historical details in the biblical narrative, with no archaeological finding ever having disproved it.

The same holds true for the Old Testament. Through the centuries, professional scribes (soferim) followed hundreds of rules to ensure exact transcription, covering everything from the ink type to the parchment quality. Also, because Torah scrolls are kept in individual communities, there is no single master copy that could be destroyed to lose the text.

In addition to these scholarly evidences, we have the testimony of Jesus Himself, who affirmed the writings of the prophets extant during His lifetime, which Christians call the Old Testament. He told His followers that He came not to destroy the law (Torah) and the prophets (Nevi'im), but to fulfill them.

The Bible contains hundreds of specific prophecies made centuries in advance, with over 2,000 fulfilled to date, particularly regarding the life and mission of Jesus.

Finally, I believe the Bible is the word of God because I have read it twice, cover to cover, and I have studied it repeatedly for six decades. I do not consider myself a Bible scholar, but I am familiar enough with its contents to testify that the Bible's central messages ring true to me: 

• God exists and is involved in the world He created.
• God speaks to prophets and performs miracles. 
• God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Redeemer of the world.
• Because of Christ's atonement, I can be saved.

Is the Bible as we have it today, in its many translated forms, a perfect book? Perhaps not, but the truths it espouses form the foundation of the Christian faith to which I subscribe. I choose to believe the Bible because it testifies of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

The Foundation of Morality Is Absolute Truth

Do we need God to know right from wrong? Why can't people just decide morality for themselves?

God delivered the Ten Commandments on stone tablets to Moses so they would last forever. The Ten Commandments forever dispersed the notion that mankind can make up whatever rules suit them at the moment. 

God's commandments are based on self-evident truths. Self-evident means that something needs no external proof. It is an absolute truth, understood and believed by everyone, intrinsically right and good, beyond debate or controversy.

Murder is one such absolute truth. Virtually no rational human being on earth would argue that murder is a good thing.

Stealing and lying are other absolute truths. No society that encourages murder, stealing, and lying would survive very long.

Now, I'm aware that post-modern philosophers have conjured up hypothetical scenarios where students are asked to decide if stealing medicine from a drug store to save a person's life is moral. Is it morally wrong for a husband to lie when his wife asks him if her jeans make her look fat? Such questions are clever and even entertaining, but on a serious level, they pose a dilemma for many people. Since Friedrich Nietzsche first proposed to dispense with the notion of absolute truth and raised relativism in its place, Western society, in particular, has struggled with an understanding of morality. When the measure of what is moral depends on how I feel or what is to my greatest advantage, the world devolves into chaos. Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and every other notable monster in modern history all thought they were right. I believe that they knew right from wrong, but chose wrong because they thought they could get away with it.

Moses's stone tablets dismiss modern relativism. Self-evident truths exist in the universe. And I believe God is God, in part, because He knows these truths and lives by them. These truths are eternal, as God is eternal. They are not arbitrary rules God dreamed up to limit our freedom. God gave commandments as a guideline for a happy, successful life from the very beginning. He restored them and codified them for Moses to be able to lead a people who had escaped from a centuries-long culture of slavery, where the only truth the Israelites knew was what their masters told them. God needed to establish a moral certainty in a people who would soon have to learn to govern themselves. 

The Apostle Paul wrote that God wrote His law on human hearts (see Romans 2:15). In other words, God built morality into us. Guilt is the natural, normal response to doing wrong, provided our inborn sense of right and wrong has not been tampered with.

A universal sense of right and wrong, pervasive in virtually every society and culture, points to a Moral Lawgiver, someone who understands absolute truth and the consequences of violating that truth and can tell us about it. That would be God. 

I believe in God because I believe in absolute truth. I'm accountable to God for how well I align myself with the universal truths He has revealed. His goal and my goal are for me to become more like Him. My obeying absolute truth is essential to achieving that goal. 

And because I fail from time to time in achieving perfect obedience, I need a Redeemer to rescue me from my mistakes. And so, I believe in Jesus.

I choose to believe in God and Jesus because to live in a world of total relativism, with no moral guidance beyond my own selfish advantage, is a recipe for disaster and sorrow.