Thought of the Day 09.18.09

“I would consider becoming a Christian if only it weren’t for the absurd idea of a man being raised from the dead.”

Ignoring for the moment that Christianity without this fact is not Christianity at all, there is some very good news for such a doubter: the original apostles were every bit as skeptical about the resurrection as he is.

First, the women told them about the empty tomb and weren’t believed. Then, two disciples who spent the day with Jesus on the road to Emmaus weren’t believed by them either. Finally, when Jesus appeared directly to the apostles Himself, they thought they were hallucinating. (Mark 16:9-14, Luke 24:1-39, John 20:19-29) If even the disciples needed convincing against such strenuous denials, then doubting the resurrection must clearly be quite normal.

But there’s also some bad news as well, because Jesus severely rebuked those same doubters for their reluctance to accept what they should have eagerly believed. From all of this we learn that skepticism about Christ’s resurrection is both absolutely normal and yet also absolutely unacceptable.