1. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we as Christians would be fools, as we would be worshipping a dead guy:
A. If he did raise himself from the dead, then he would be God, as only God could do such a thing.
2. The disciples claim was that Jesus died, three days later he rose bodily from the dead (his own body but in a glorified state), and then spent 40 days with them before ascending into Heaven:
A. If they had claimed that after Jesus’ death they had been sitting around the campfire, and saw Jesus’ face in the flames smiling at them as if to say everything would be all right, then we might be able to chalk it all up to a mass delusion.
B. When they said that after the resurrection he spent 40 days with them, teaching them, alll hearing the same words, and then they all saw him bodily ascend into Heaven, then that is either the truth or a lie. There is no middle ground.
3. If it was a lie, what would have been the disciples motivation for proclaiming it:
A There is no evidence that they were doing all of this to get fame and/or fortune, as they neither tried nor obtained either in their lifetime.
B. They preached a messiah about whom their own people were not prepared to hear.
C. The Jewish people were looking for a political messiah to deliver them from Rome and restore the kingdom of David. The disciples were preaching one that came to deliver us from sin and death, restore the image of God in us, and reopen the way to becoming godlike. Therefore, for the most part, their own people rejected them.
D. The pagan nations around them rejected them because they wouldn’t worship the various pagan gods.
E. They were beaten, whipped, martyred etc. and yet none of them ever recanted.
F. How many people would dedicate their life to what they knew to be a lie, all the while being rejected by their own people, beaten, whipped, faced with death, never desiring nor obtaining fame or fortune in their lifetime, and yet never recanting?
4. Those who would deny the resurrection also have the problem of Paul:
A. Paul was a rising star in the Jewish religion. He studied under the famous teacher Gamaliel, and called himself a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
B. He was so dedicated that he was actually going from city to city persecuting those Jews who believed in Christ.
C. All of a sudden he began to claim that as he was on his way to Damascus, Syria to persecute those who believed in Christ, Jesus appeared to him, and he became a believer.
D. At that moment he lost everything. He not only lost his standing as a Pharisee in the Jewish community, but also as he started to preach Jesus, the Jewish people by and large rejected him.
E. He was beaten, whipped, chased from town to town, and ultimately martyred, and yet he never recanted.
F. The same question that must be answered is what would have been his motivation to lie about his experience with Jesus?
G. On top of all of this, when he wrote his letter to the Corinthians, and was defending the resurrection, he claimed that upwards of 500 people saw Jesus after his resurrection. (1Cor. 15:3-8) He then told the Corinthians that most of them were still alive, essentially challenging them to contact them to verify what he was saying.
H. He must have been pretty confident to issue such a challenge.
5. Again, what those who reject the resurrection must explain is what would have been the motivation for the Disciples and Paul to act as they did, especially considering the fact that they never desired nor obtained fame or fortune in their lifetime:
A. If one reads the New Testament it seems to be clear that the disciples and Paul fully believed that Jesus rose from the dead. The question is: what prompted this belief?
