I have a book that I had nearly forgotten about until I was rearranging one of my floor-to-ceiling shelves today. It was most appropriate that I found it today, between Good Friday and Easter. The title is “I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus”. The book is by George Eldon Ladd and it’s probably been 25 years (or 35?) since I read it, but I still remember the main premise of the book, and just as the resurrection was the rock of faith for believers in the first century, Ladd’s book helped it to undergird my own faith.
The essence of the book is that the resurrection of Jesus is not a miracle to be tested by the scientific method, although there are definite scientific questions raised by it. However, the real reason to believe is that those first century believers did. And many, many of them endured tortuous martyrdom rather than recant their faith.
Ladd says, rather than the proof of biological science, we should be asking if the testimony of those early believers would stand in a court of law. That’s the kind of proof that counts in this situation. And of course, the evidence speaks for itself. All but one of those 12 apostles who were there as eye witnesses died brutal, violent deaths at the hands of unbelieving rulers rather than deny what they had seen and experienced. People just don’t brave horrible deaths for something they know to be untrue.
Of course this is just the bedrock of faith. The benefits of believing go far beyond to Forgiveness, Hope, Salvation and Victory.
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