"Who Would Die for a Lie?" continued.

   We will continue chapter 5 of "More Than A Carpenter" by Josh McDowell.
   The bold preaching of the disciples right after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit while they were waiting in Jerusalem as Christ told them to do, proves that they were sincere. They were not perpetrating a lie. Peter, who had denied Christ before, now preached boldly in His Name. When some of the disciples were arrested and beaten they went back to preaching because the truth must be made known to all men.
   Josh wrote, "Their friends noticed their buoyancy and their enemies noticed their courage....Jesus' followers couldn't have faced torture and death unless they were convinced of His resurrection....If they were deceivers, it's hard to explain why one of them didn't break down under pressure."
   He quoted Michael Green saying, "How have they turned, almost over night into the indomitable band of enthusiasts who braved opposition, cynicism, ridicule, hardship, prison, and death in 3 continents as they preached everywhere Jesus and the resurrection?" Josh, then, quoted an unknown writer who wrote, "On the day of the crucifixion they were filled with sadness; on the first day of the week with gladness. At the crucifixion they were hopeless; on the first day of the week their hearts glowed with certainty and hope. When the message of the resurrection first came they were incredulous and hard to be convinced, but once they became assured they never doubted again. What could account for the astonishing change in these men in so short a time? The mere removal of the body from the grave could never have transformed their spirits and characters. Three days are not enough for a legend to spring up which would so affect them. Time is needed for a process of legendary growth. It is a psychological fact that demands a full explanation. Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence--and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn't make sense."
   Paul Little is quoted, "Are these men, who helped transform the moral structure of society, consummate liars or deluded madmen? These alternatives are harder to believe than the fact of the resurrection, and there is no shred of evidence to support them."
   Harold Mattingly was quoted, "The apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, sealed their witness with their blood." Tertullian was quoted, "no man would be willing to die unless he knew he had the truth." Simon Greenleaf, who lectured in how to break down a witness and determine whether or not a witness is lying, concluded as quoted, "The annals of military warfare afford scarcely an example of the like heroic constancy, patience and unflinching courage. They had every possible motive to review carefully the grounds of their faith, and the evidences of the great facts and truths which they asserted."
   Josh concluded chapter 5 with, "The apostles went through the test of death to substantiate the veracity of what they were proclaiming. I believe I can trust their testimony more than that of most people I meet today, people who aren't willing to walk across the street for what they believe, let alone die for it.
   My question is, "How could a good man go to his death for a lie"" I'm sure evil men wouldn't want to if they could choose not to. Millions have depended on the testimonies of these men and women and have not been disappointed.

Sincerely,
Rick

"Who Would Die For A Lie?"

   Chapter 5 of "More Than A Carpenter" is titled "Who Would Die for a Lie?". Josh began this chapter telling that an often "overlooked" challenge to "Christianity is the transformation of Jesus' apostles." If you read the last chapters of the gospels, you will see that Jesus' disciples hid for fear in a locked room hiding from the authorities. The question of this chapter is: "What changed these fearful men into fearless preachers of the Gospel of Christ?"
   Josh mentioned his definition of history as being: "A knowledge of the past based upon testimony." That is really the way we know anything about the past.(except maybe archaeology) With this definition we must know the testimony is true. In chapter 4 we proved the reliability of the Bible and that is where we find most, but not all of the witness.
   Josh wrote, "I can trust the apostles' testimonies because, of these 12 men, 11 died martyrs' deaths on the basis of 2 things: the resurrection of Christ, and their belief in Him as the Son of God." He, then, gave a list of how they died:
       1. Peter - crucified upside down.
       2. Andrew - crucified.
       3. Matthew - killed with a sword.
       4. John - natural death after torture.
       5. James, son of Alphaeus - crucified.
       6. Philip - crucified.
       7. Simon - crucified.
       8. Thaddaeus - killed by arrows.
       9. James, 1/2 brother of Jesus - stoned to death.
     10. Thomas -  thrust through with a spear.
     11. Bartholomew - crucified.
     12. James, son of Zebedee - killed with a sword.
   Some would say, "A lot of people have died for a lie." But they didn't know it was a lie or didn't intend to die for it-i.e. criminals. Josh's response was, "Therefore these 11 men not only died for a lie - here is the catch - but they knew it was a lie. It would be hard to find 11 people in history who died for a lie, knowing it was a lie." Remember, the disciples were eyewitnesses of what happened.
   In II Pet 1:16 Peter essentially said, we didn't make up this story, but were "eyewitnesses of His majesty". In I John, John, as an eyewitness, mentioned that they had seen, touched, heard, and handled Christ and seen His "eternal life" and that they fellowshipped with Christ and the Father(God).
   In beginning the Gospel of Luke, the author told that he investigated the story and got eyewitness accounts so that he could tell the story as it happened. In Acts Luke wrote, "To these He also presented Himself alive, after his suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days...."
   John wrote in Jn 20:30, "Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book." The apostles repeatedly testified about the resurrection of Christ.
   Josh correctly pointed out that the disciples were skeptical at first. Remember Thomas who refused to believe unless he could put his finger into Christ's nail pierced hands and his hand into His side? After proof from Christ, he said, "My Lord and my God!"
   Peter fearfully denied Christ 3 times and doubted His resurrection, but believed after Christ appeared to them after His resurrection. He preached fearlessly from then on.
   Jesus' brothers didn't believe while Christ was teaching (Jn 7:3-5), yet, after His resurrection His brothers were waiting in the upper room with the disciples(Acts 1:13-14). It is believed that James, Jesus' 1/2 brother, was the leader of the church in Jerusalem and was martyred by the high priest. He, also, wrote the book of James.
   Josh asked, "If the resurrection was a lie, the apostles knew it. Were they perpetuating a colossal hoax? That possibility is inconsistent with what we know about the moral quality of their lives."
   He quoted Edward Gibbon from "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". "This was the one belief that separated the followers of Jesus from the Jews and turned them into the Community of the Resurrection. You could imprison them, flog them, kill them, but you could not make them deny their conviction that 'on the third day he rose again'."
    Then Josh mentioned the bold actions of the disciples after the resurrection, but we'll wait and review that next time.
   Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Rick