Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 50

An Early and Reliable Account of Jesus��� Resurrection

In I Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul records a list of witnesses to Jesus��� post-mortem appearances:

���For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.���

In this passage, Paul provides a chronologically ordered, yet non-exhaustive, list of Jesus��� appearances. Other New Testament passages (Matt. 28:9-10; John 20:11-18) record eyewitness accounts of various women who saw Jesus. However, Paul most likely excludes them ���because women were not qualified to be legal witnesses, and therefore their presence in the list would be worthless, or even counter-productive.��� Nonetheless, the importance of this one biblical text cannot be overstated. This particular listing presents crucial eyewitness evidence of a risen Jesus that is historically reliable and corroborated in other non-Pauline sources.

Several significant conclusions can be drawn regarding Paul���s testimony that point to its authority and historical reliability. First, there is almost no question among scholars that Paul wrote I Corinthians. Even in the most skeptical scholarly circles, this conclusion is almost unquestioned. 

Second, in I Corinthians 15:3ff, Paul records an early creed that pre-dates the writing of the epistle. According to Gary Habermas, an eminent scholar on the historicity of the resurrection, ���numerous evidences indicate that this report is much earlier than the date of the book in which it appears.��� One is justified in this conclusion on the basis of several reasons. First, ���the technical terms delivered and received traditionally indicate the imparting of oral tradition (cf. I Cor. 11:2).��� In this custom, also referred to as ���traditioning,��� the ���Jewish teachers would pass on their teachings to their students, who would in turn pass them on to their own students.��� Thus, Paul is recording material that he had previously received from others. 

Furthermore, there is good reason to think that Paul received this material from Peter approximately three years after Paul���s conversion. In Galatians 1:18-20, Paul records his visit to Peter and James, both of whom are listed as eyewitnesses in I Corinthians 15. In this account, Paul uses the Greek word historeo, signifying that his visit was of an investigative nature. What was the primary subject of Paul���s inquiry? ���The immediate context suggests that the chief topic of conversation concerned the nature of the gospel (Gal. 1:11-16), which included reference to Jesus��� resurrection (I Cor. 15:1-4).��� For this reason, most scholars ascribe an early date to this creed and agree that Paul received the material from two to eight years after the crucifixion of Jesus, between A.D. 32-38. 

This brief examination of I Corinthians 15:3ff is quite significant. Habermas summarizes the value of this data: ���In the pre-Pauline formula of I Corinthians 15:3ff. alone we have an extraordinarily early tradition, arising within a very short time after the events themselves, reported by an apostle, who could very well have received it from other apostles who followed Jesus during his earthly ministry.���

Therefore, the majority of scholars conclude that the material contained in I Corinthians 15:3ff supports the historicity and authority of Paul���s testimony. As German historian Hans von Campenhausen states, ���This account meets all the demands of historical reliability that could possibly be made of such a text.���

Richard Swinburne, The Resurrection of God Incarnate (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003), 147. 

William Lane Craig, Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection (Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1981), 88.

Clarence Tucker Craig, ���Introduction and Exegesis of I Corinthians,��� Interpreter���s Bible, ed. George Arthur Buttrick (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1953), 10:13.

See Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1996); with Antony G.N. Flew, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate, ed. Terry Miethe (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987).

Gary R. Habermas, ���The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus,��� In Defense of Miracles, ed. R. Douglas Geivett & Gary R. Habermas (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1997), 264.

J.P. Moreland and Gary R. Habermas, Immortality: The Other Side of Death (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), 67.

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1993), 484.

Habermas, In Defense of Miracles, 265.

Joachim Jeremias, ���Easter: The Earliest Tradition and the Earliest Interpretation,��� New Testament Theology, trans. J. Bowden (New York: Scribner���s, 1971), 306.

Habermas, In Defense of Miracles, 264.

Hans von Campenhausen, Tradition and Life in the Early Church, trans. by A. V. Littledale (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968), 44.

Pinchas Lapide, The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1983), 99.

What Is Sexual Atheism, and Why Is It Wrong?

Many Christians handle sexuality just like the rest of the world handles it - as if there are no standards. Alan explains why this is a problem for those who profess to be Christ-followers. 

 

D-Day Prayer

The evening of Tuesday, June 6, 1944 led the nation over the radio in a six-minute-long appeal to God:

Almighty God,

Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. 

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They Will need They blessings.  Their road will be long and hard.  For the enemy is strong.  He may hurl back our forces.  Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest - until the victory is won.  The darkness will be rent by noise and flame.  Men's souls will be shaken with the violence of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace.  They fight not for the lust of conquest.  They fight to end conquest.  They fight to liberate.  They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good-will among all They people.  They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return.  Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy Kingdom....

With They blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.  Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances.  Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace - a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.  And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.  Amen.

(Quoted from American Gospel  and Franklin and Winston both by Jon Meacham.)

Apologetics Bonanza at The Poached Egg

It has come to my attention that Greg West���s The Poached Egg is turning five this month. I���ve written before about his regularly-updated list of apologetics Kindle deals (you should be checking this list!), but the rest of his site is worth bookmarking, as well. Greg collects apologetics articles, blog posts, videos, and quotes from a wide variety of contributors, so it���s a good way to get an overview of what���s going on out there in apologetics land. If you���re not familiar with the site (which now partners with Ratio Christi), it���s a good month to take a look! 

Natural Selection Can���t Select a Future Function

In this short video from the Discovery Institute, Paul Nelson follows the development of a C. elegans worm from one cell to an adult, showing how ���even these little worms, a millimeter long, humble little creatures out there in the compost heap���carry the signal of design unmistakably.���

The successful creation of a live C. elegans requires many intermediate cell divisions, yet the temporary cells created by these intermediate cell divisions play no functional role in the adult worm whatsoever. Instead, they merely serve as stepping stones in a long journey that will eventually reach a functional organism at its conclusion. But natural selection can���t select a future function; it can only select features that are advantageous already.

If something's going to function in natural selection, it's got to function now, at this particular moment in time���not five minutes from now, half an hour, a week, a thousand years. So a process that lacks foresight in principle cannot build a[n] unfolding trajectory, an unfolding lineage [of intermediate cells], where you need to know the target. That's the fundamental difficulty for any undirected process of evolution.

What natural selection and other undirected natural mechanisms cannot achieve, intelligent agents can. Intelligent agents are able to foresee distant functional goals. Intelligent agents can coordinate and choreograph the assembly of many separately necessary parts to achieve a functional end.

When I look at animal development, I see a trajectory. It���s, in a sense, the quintessential end-directed or teleological process in nature. You���re pulling back that bowstring, and you���ve got a target over there fifty yards away, and you want to put that arrow right in the middle of that target. You need to know what you're aiming at and why, and for that you need a mind.

 

Challenge Response: You Think Something Came from Nothing

Here's my response to this week's challenge: 

The Birth of Transableism: Why Our Culture Bites Absurd Bullets

We said, ���There���s no relevant difference between a baby five minutes after birth and one five minutes before.��� But instead of condemning abortion, some followed the logic in the other direction and embraced infanticide.

We said, ���Just as it���s legitimate to discriminate on the basis of sex by having separate bathrooms for men and women, it���s legitimate to discriminate on the basis of sex when it comes to marriage.��� But instead of recognizing the relevance of biological sex���and the resulting legitimacy of making a legal distinction���in both cases, some said it���s relevant in neither.

We said, ���Regardless of their image of their ���true self,��� we don���t cut healthy limbs off of people suffering from Body Integrity Identity Disorder, and neither should we cut healthy body parts off of those who have gender identity disorders.��� But instead of seeing the problem with endorsing sex-change operations, some are now advocating for physically altering the ���transabled���:

OTTAWA ��� When he cut off his right arm with a ���very sharp power tool,��� a man who now calls himself One Hand Jason let everyone believe it was an accident���.

His goal was to become disabled.

People like Jason have been classified as ������transabled������ ��� feeling like imposters in their bodies, their arms and legs in full working order.

���We define transability as the desire or the need for a person identified as able-bodied by other people to transform his or her body to obtain a physical impairment,��� says Alexandre Baril, a Quebec born academic who will present on ���transability��� at this week���s Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Ottawa.

���The person could want to become deaf, blind, amputee, paraplegic. It���s a really, really strong desire.��� ���

���It���s a problem for individuals because it���s distressing. But lots of things are.��� He suggests this is just another form of body diversity ��� like transgenderism ��� and amputation may help someone achieve similar goals as someone who, say, undergoes cosmetic surgery to look more like who they believe their ideal selves to be���.

As the public begins to embrace people who identify as transgender, the trans people within the disability movement are also seeking their due���. 

I've described the problem this way:

Both lines of reasoning follow logical paths to internally consistent positions. Unfortunately, a growing number of people can no longer recognize which of these paths leads to an absurd conclusion.

As rational human beings, we desire to think consistently about the world, but consistent views aren���t necessarily accurate ones. We can help people think consistently, but we���re rapidly losing our ability to help people think accurately. The problem comes down to a worldview difference.

Because we, as Christians, think we were created by a Creator, we also think we���re bound to conform our thinking and actions to certain realities we have no right or ability to change (like the differences between the sexes and the moral truth that killing infants is wrong). But for a culture that believes human nature and society evolved���not by the reasons and purposes of Another, but by chance and human construct���there���s no human nature, moral reality, or created institutions to which we���re obligated to conform ourselves. Instead, we create our endlessly malleable identities and customs for ourselves.

Because of this basic difference in worldview, there���s no bedrock reality we can appeal to that would cause those who have this second view to rethink their preferences. Instead of following reality in order to refine their preferences, they follow their preferences wherever they lead in order to define reality. If our preferences bump up against an accepted ���reality,��� well then, we just change that reality to something we like better: Killing infants is okay because it means I can consistently approve of abortion. Gender-neutral bathrooms are great because they uphold my goal of not discriminating on the basis of sex in any situation. Doctors ought to cut off the perfectly healthy limbs of the ���transabled��� because our images of our ideal selves can never be wrong.

We can no longer appeal to absurdity in order to challenge our culture���s consistent conclusions, because in a world we create, nothing is inherently absurd. 

Links Mentioned on the 6/02/15 Show

The following is a rundown of this week's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

HOUR ONE

Commentary: Vacations Don't Turn Out the Way You Expect (0:00)

Questions:

1. What are the three Trivium steps of learning? (0:16)

Grammar, logic, rhetoric
Classical Christian Education
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers
Greg's interview with representatives from classical schools

 2. Help with talking to Jehovah's Witnesses (0:40)

Deity of Christ: Case Closed by Greg Koukl
Was Jesus Worshipped? by Greg Koukl

HOUR TWO

Commentary: Ryan Moore ��� CrossExamined Instructor Academy (1:00)

CrossExamined Instructor Academy ��� August 13-15
Ryan Moore, "Resident Apologist on Campus,��� makes inroads with Atheist Group

Questions:

3. What are the properties of immaterial things? (1:16)

Proof That Color Is Immaterial ��� Greg's podcast from 8/20/13

��� Announcements by Greg

Upcoming events with STR speakers

4. When do you cut off a relationship with a family member? (1:38)

5. What are some tactics to begin conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses? (1:48)

Faith Is Not Wishing: 13 Essays for Christian Thinkers by Greg Koukl
Deity of Christ: Case Closed by Greg Koukl

HOUR THREE

Questions:

6. How do you defend your view of creation with evolutionists? (2:01)

Previous discussion with Greg ��� Bible verses to witness to his wife (starts at 2:49)
Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl

7. Should he leave negative feedback about unsatisfactory work done by a Christian worker, or does he have an obligation as a Christian brother not to do that publicly? (2:14)

8. Christian bakers and Christian pharmacists have the freedom to not violate their consciences. (2:23)

Refusing to Serve Individuals vs. Refusing to Participate in Events by Amy Hall
Pharmacist Conscience Clauses: Laws and Information

9. Should a local church baptize someone in a same-sex marriage? (2:30)

10. Working on an apologetic mnemonic (2:44)

The 4 Big Bangs by Frank Pastore (and Prager University)
Naturalism: Bumping into Reality (CD) by Greg Koukl

11. Did God create starlight in transit? (2:50)

Star Light and the Age of the Universe by Greg Koukl

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���7:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

Challenge: You Think Something Came from Nothing

For this week���s challenge, here���s a comment left by an atheist on this blog:

I have always wondered about the statement that ���something cannot come from nothing.��� Isn't this a complete refutation of the ex nihilo creation? If something cannot be created from nothing, there cannot be a created universe since there is nothing to create from. Adding ���magic��� or ���supernatural��� to the equation does not solve anything since ���magic��� is by definition doing something impossible.

However, if for any reason we assume God can create something indeed out of nothing, then the premise ���something cannot come from nothing��� is false.

If it���s really the case that ���something can���t come from nothing,��� does that prove creation ex nihilo is impossible? If we believe in creation ex nihilo, does consistency demand we stop using the claim ���something can���t come from nothing��� to challenge atheists?

Take a shot at answering this challenge in the comments below. Alan will be here on Thursday to give his response.

[Explore past challenges here and here.]

Live Broadcast Today

Ask your question. Share a piece of your mind. Call with your question or comment at (855) 243-9975, outside the U.S. (562) 424-8229. Today 4-7 p.m. PT. Greg is back from vacation with stories to tell. 

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