Habermas' List of Historic Facts  

Habermas’ List of Historic Facts

 

Here's my story about these facts:

I spent about a year examining the historical evidence surrounding what happened before, during, and after Jesus' death, with the goal of destroying the idea of the resurrection. 

After establishing that the New Testament I bought at Walmart accurately conveyed what its first-century writers had actually written, I studied it carefully, along with essays, books, and commentaries, and gradually put the known facts on the table to examine. Armed with these facts, I began to investigate how these facts might be explained. I became increasingly uncomfortable with how the evidence seemed to point away from naturalistic explanations and towards a literal resurrection. If the resurrection were true, then Jesus' words are to be listened to, his explanations of who God is etc., needed to be accepted, and so forth down a chain that would lead to accepting Jesus as the one way to become reconciled with God.


During this period, I found Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate by Gary Habermas and Antony Flew. I was hoping for the "magic bullet" that could explain the events without invoking God or a resurrection. I was disappointed by the weakness of Dr. Flew's position that we couldn't know what had happened two thousand years ago, and blown away by Dr. Habermas' succinct listing of historic facts surrounding Jesus' death that virtually all historians, whether Christian or no, accept as true. (Dr. Habermas incorporates these facts in all of his books, in case you can't finde this particular debate book). I knew these facts were correct from my studies, and remember as I read them one after the other feeling as if I had been hit by a sledgehammer.


Interestingly, after I called Dr. Habermas to discuss these facts (he is a wonderful man, and was very patient with my questions), he informed me that Dr. Flew had actually changed his opinion from atheist to theist, meaning he now believes God exists. I found this book, although I haven't read it: There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew and Roy Varghese.


BTW Dr. Habermas also kindly granted permission for me to use his list of historic facts in my novel, A Lever Long Enough. Check it out!

 
© 2011 Amy Deardon | www.amydeardon.com
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