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Showing posts with the label Easter

Resurrection Sunday 2024

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With tears in my eyes, I know that my beloved wife is having her first Easter observance in Heaven; this is my first one without her after so many years together. Despite the pain, those of us in Christ do not grieve like those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). Our hope is not based on wishful thinking, but on the certainty of new life because Jesus was bodily raised from the dead (Matt. 28:5-8). Once again, I speak of the grand reunion with those who have gone before. The Resurrection Day , Jesus with Mary Magdalene, possibly by Heinrich Hoffman (public domain) Those who do not have Jesus as the Lord of their lives do not have that hope, that certainty, of salvation and of Heaven. Some cherish their sins on Earth too much and would rather have an eternity in Hell. That's right, I said it!  Others are resisting the call, but all of us are sinners (Rom. 3:23) and have earned death, but the gift of God is life with him (Rom. 6:23). You, too, can have hope and be adopted as a child of

Doubt Creation, so Doubt the Resurrection?

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Apologists have often encountered people who claim to have lost, or are losing, their faith. One problem is that they are willing to accept the authority of skeptics, so they do not do their homework. This child has seen many instances when someone will claim that they could not get answers to their questions, but they are complaining online , where answers are available — if they sincerely want them. People who are not grounded in the faith should not spend time interacting with or reading material by scoffers. Resurrection, Empty tomb  RGBStock / Alex Bruda Skeptics today are scoffers, unwilling to accept answers, or even consider than answers exist. They corrupt those who are weak in the faith and drag them down. Atheists are good at posturing and ridicule. Those who are weak in the faith may be afraid that if they get misotheists on the prod, they will say mean things to or about them. What they experience is nothing in comparison with what Jesus went through. That's worth thin

Archaeology and the Resurrection of Jesus

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On the holiday traditionally known as Easter, millions of professing Christians gather to celebrate how God the Son was bodily raised from the dead. Jesus is our Creator (John1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-17) and took the form of man to die on the cross (Philippians 2:8), then his Resurrection was on the third day. We have eyewitness testimony in the Gospels (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). We also have evidence from archaeology. While it is not direct  evidence, there are many aspects that support the biblical narratives. Something noteworthy about the Bible that sets it apart from myths, legends, fairy tales, and so on is the amount of very specific details that are not found in made-up stories. Church of the Holy Sepulcher image credit: Flickr /  Seetheholyland.net  ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) There are several compelling facts supported by archaeology, including the fact that he was worshiped as God long before such a legend would have time to develop. Cumulative details from history and archaeology indicate

The True Source of Life

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Believers in scum-to-sculptor evolution reject out of hand the fact of the physical Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, preferring instead a worldview based on materialism and naturalism. Their worldview equates all religions, claiming that as living organisms evolved, so did religions. Credit: RGBStock / Bartek Ambrozik In one way, they are right: the founders of other religions and causes are still in their tombs. Biblical Christianity stands on the truth that the Creator of the universe, God the Son, took the human form of Jesus and walked among us. He voluntarily died for our sins. We must repent and place our faith in God alone for our salvation. All other religions are man-centered and based on salvation by works, which cannot be achieved. Christianity stands alone. Despite the claims of materialists, God is real. "Up from the slime we arose!" is not a hymn. They do not have an Easter to celebrate any kind of Resurrection. In today's secular religion of nat

The Resurrection and Creation

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In one of those calendar quirks and because Easter is not on a fixed day, this is also Cosmonautics Day . Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space way back in 1961. However, this pales in comparison to the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Background image: Pixabay / Jeff Jacobs Many things happened on that first Easter morning and the days leading up to Jesus' Resurrection. The Creator of the universe (John 1:1-3, Col. 1:16), who is God the Son, took on human form, died on a cross for our sins, and was bodily raised from the dead. The Lamb of God (John 1:36, 1 Cor. 5:7, Rev. 5:13) is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5) has conquered death. Many prophesies were fulfilled, several of which were made centuries before Jesus was born. Easter and creation are important to Christian doctrine in several areas. The featured article has three parts:     Part 1: What the resurrection tells us about God, the world we live in, and Jesus     Part 2: What

The Resurrection, Creation, and the View from the Hill

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Back in the olden days, I had a professor who frequently talked about "getting up on the hill", and similar phrases. He did not explain it, he just used it. Finally, I figured out that he was talking about getting a broad perspective. It can also be expressed as getting the big picture or a broader perspective. Things like that. Photo by adrian on Unsplash Knowledgeable creationists will not tell you that believing in a literal six-day recent creation is essential to salvation (although atheopaths lie that this is one of our teachings). It is a "side issue", but that does not mean creation is unimportant. Not by a long shot! Getting the right perspective helps us realize that adding long ages, evolution, and other things to God's Word is damaging to the gospel message. Ultimately, the death, burial and bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead becomes irrelevant! While many Christians still consider the Creation doctrine a fringe issue, a proper und

Creation, the Resurrection, and Evidence

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Every once in a while, Christians are accosted by unbelievers who demand "proof" (or evidence) of the miracles that Bible believers affirm. On this site, as well as on many of those which are linked, a reader will find copious evidence demonstrating the paucity of particles-to-pastor evolution, and presenting scientific evidence affirming biblical creation. What about the events that happened about 4,000 years after creation that involve Jesus? Background image: Pixabay /   Gerd Altmann Before I commence to telling about evidence for Jesus, I need to lead y'all on a side trail for a few moments. Whether discussing creation, evolution, the life of Jesus, or other things that we are unable to observe in the here and now, we are using historical science — a useful term that is not exclusive to creationists [ 1 ]. Historical science attempts to use data in the present in an effort to determine past events, while operational science is what is

Resurrection Sunday 2016

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Today, most professing Christians celebrate the bodily resurrection of Jesus, God the Son, the Creator (John 1:3, 1 Cor. 8:6, Heb. 1:2, Col. 1:16) from the dead (John 20:19-20, 1 Cor. 15:3-8). He died and rose , even for my own sinful self. My post for today is " The Resurrection and Our Broken Planet ".  On a side note, I kind of like this painting by Peter Paul Rubens. Jesus is very real and triumphant. Okay, so the wounds are not seen (John 20:19-20), and I don't get the symbolic banner he's carrying. But it's better than the goofy floating away ethereal Jesus of some paintings.

Resurrection Perspective

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Millions of professing Christians around the world are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on this day (1 Cor. 15:3-8). It is also commonly called Easter (sometimes  mistakenly attributed to pagan sources ). If there was no resurrection, we would all be wasting our time (1 Cor. 15:17-20). But he did rise from the dead, and those of us who put our faith in him are children of God (John 1:12). Why would creationists be excited about this? Because Jesus is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He is the Creator (Col. 1:16, John 1:1-3) of all things. Although we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and worthy of death (Romans 6:23), we have been redeemed by the blood and resurrection of Jesus (Heb. 9:15, Gal. 4:5, John 11:25). Salvation is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9), and those who humble themselves can receive this gift on God's terms, not ours.  Imagine...the Creator of the universe is living in me, and I am secure in my salvation, even though I don&#

Book Review — In Defense of Easter

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen When I was accepted to be on the review team for The War on Christmas , I was given a couple of other e-books as thank-you gifts. I was not asked to give a review at all, let alone, a favorable one, but I thought you should know how I obtained my copy of Tim Chaffey's In Defense of Easter: Answering Critical Challenges to the Resurrection of Jesus . Then I put it off. To be direct with you, I wasn't all that thrilled with another book giving a defense of the faith on this topic since there are so many others available, and many articles on apologetics sites. Still, the topic is important, so I carved out some time for it. Turns out that I was getting set to ride down the wrong trail. In Defense of Easter has a somewhat different approach in some respects than other books, and there is information on bad arguments against the resurrection that were not around before, plus some material that I had never heard of. This is not a cumbersome tome at

What Does the Resurrection of Jesus Have To Do With Creation?

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Someone may ask why creation science ministries discuss theology and the historical fact of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Biblical creationists take Genesis very seriously, as it is the foundation for all major Christian doctrines . Jesus is God the Creator , the second person of the Trinity, who became a man . He suffered on the cross for our sins, reconciling those who receive him to God, rose from the dead and defeated death . Jesus is " the last Adam ", not, "the latest in a chain of evolutionary processes". Jesus and the apostles referred to Genesis as literal history, not as allegorical or fictional. Biblical creationists would like to plead our case to other Christians and show them why Genesis matters . Rembrandt, "Resurrection of Christ", 1639 Below is a short video discussing "The Resurrection and Genesis", and here is a link to the article under discussion , which has a great deal of useful information that

Is Easter a Pagan Holiday, and Should Christians Celebrate It?

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This is written primarily for Christians, although unbelievers may be interested in the historical and cultural material. Edited 10 April 2022, added a video at the end that addresses some of these issues and more. It is interesting that some mockers will ridicule Christians by saying, "You celebrate Easter! That's a pagan holiday!" The joke is on them because they are simply parroting bad information that conflicts with scholarly research. Unfortunately, some Christians also believe this pagan origins stuff; there are even modern Christian sources (such as Got Question.org) that pass along erroneous information. It is sad when some Christians will use the same bad sources as misotheists in their efforts to scold other Christians for celebrating Easter. Ignorance of actual history is bad enough, but looking down on brethren in Christ out of pride and out of disdain for the Bible that they claim to believe is far worse. Even if the claims that the origin of the wo

Music Video and Links: He Has Risen!

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Today is vitally important to most people calling themselves Christian.  Wishing you all a happy Easter! Here is a music video, and several links are below f or further reading . The hard work has been done by the scholars, so feel free to dig in. First, let's dispense with the myth that Easter is a pagan holiday: Is the Date of Easter of Pagan Origin? Is the Name “Easter” of Pagan Origin? Are the Symbols and Customs of Easter of Pagan Origin? Easter: Of Pagan Origins? Easter and Good Friday: Questions and Answers   (includes refutation of the "crucifixion was not on Friday" error ) T he importance of the Resurrection A series on the R esurrection: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: An Introduction The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Infallible Proofs The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Evidences and Minimal Facts   The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Mistaken or Stolen Identity? The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Seeing Things   The Resurrection of Jesu

More Important than Rabbits and Eggs

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Click for Larger. Image by NASA.