Christianity
rises or falls on this question. The apostle Paul writes, "If Christ
has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for
we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead...If
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your
sins...If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be
pitied more than all men." The investigation of this question changed my life 180 degrees, and I've never looked back. As a scientist and skeptic, I took over a year on a personal quest to investigate the claims of Jesus' resurrection with the goal of destroying them. I studied the Biblical accounts of Jesus and numerous commentaries by believers and skeptics alike, listed the facts agreed upon, and began to explore scenarios that could explain what was known. To my surprise and considerable dismay the evidence kept pointing away from naturalistic explanations and eventually formed a virtually certain case for the resurrection of Jesus. It blew me away. Finally, I admitted defeat and became a Christian. My experience is not unique. A very small sampling of many people who describe similar routes to faith include C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Gary Habermas, and Lee Stroebel. My novel, A Lever Long Enough, is my humble attempt to present some of this evidence in context and in a neutral manner, in a form that might provoke questions and curiosity. |
