Tag Archives: History

Holy Week: Resurrection Sunday – The Empty Tomb

“But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.'” – Matt. 28:5-6

Today’s events in history are the linchpin of the Christian Faith. Everything hinges on this day.

The women (women (Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Salome, and Mary the mother of James) go to the tomb of Jesus only to find it empty.

Jesus appears to the first of over 500 people that He would visit before His ascension.

Without the Resurrection, we have nothing: it’s not the tomb that is empty, it would be our faith that is EMPTY!

“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.  For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the mostpitiable.” –  1 Cor. 15:14-19

Sunday’s events are recorded in Matthew 28:1-13, Mark 16:1-14, Luke 24:1-49, and John 20:1-23.

Patrick Henry’s Lament

“My greatest regret is that I could never find time to read the Bible, and now it is too late.” – Patrick Henry (on his deathbed)

Start now, before it’s too late!

Ref: http://www.faithofourfathers.net/henry.html

The “More Wars Fought For God” Myth

just the facts ma'am, dragnet

More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason.

People give this objection as if its historically factual. Its not even close. Queue up Joe Friday.

“Even if this were true, you could not conclude that God does not exist or that Jesus was not the Savior by citing acts of violence done in His name. This conduct might tell you something about people. It tells you nothing about God or the Gospel.” – Gregory Koukl Tactics (2009, pgs., 176-177).

The Troubles in Northern Ireland, The Inquisition, The Crusades, and 9/11 are all admittedly heinous tragedies. However, the historical facts show that the greatest evil has always resulted from denial of God, not pursuit of Him.

“More people have been killed by secular ideologies – Nazism (which stands for ‘National Socialist German Workers’ Party,’ by the way) and communism – than by all religions in history.” – Dennis Prager, “Ultimate Issues,” July-Sept, 1989.

In “Encyclopedia of Wars,” authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare. They list 1,763 wars of which only 123 involve a religious cause = accounting for <7% of all wars (that number goes down to <3% if you remove Islam).

“Most wars are over territorial conquest, to control borders, secure trade routes, or respond to internal challenges to political authority. Contrarily, ancient conquerors (Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, or Roman) openly welcomed the religious beliefs of those they conquered, and often added the new gods to their own pantheon.” – Rabbi Alan Lurie

The greatest evil has not come from people zealous for God, but rather when people are convinced there is no God.

  • 66+ million wiped out under Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev;
  • 61+ million Chinese killed under Communist regimes since 1949;
  • 2.7 million Khmers killed between 1975-1979 under the communist Khmer Rouge. (Guinness, 1991, pg. 92).

If your objection to Christianity is that more people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason, then that simply is not accurate.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” – Prov. 1:7; 111:10; 2:5; 9:10; 15:33

“When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.” – Ecc. 12:13

If there is no acknowledgment, reverence, or submission to God, carnage inevitably follows.

Ref:

All this was culled from Gregory Koukl’s wonderful book, Tactics (2009, pgs 176-177).

Koukl, Gregory. Tactics: a Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2009.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/is-religion-the-cause-of-_b_1400766.html

If you look in the Guinness Book of World Records under the category of Judicial, it has a subheading of Crimes: Mass Killings.