The Empty Tomb- the Biblical Case for why people should believe

Jurisprudence: The art in how any reader can get at truth without direct experience.

Just because a person does not experience something firsthand, does not necessarily mean truth becomes unattainable. Jurisprudence provides many ways in which people can determine truth without direct experience. The legal courts of our time do this all the time. The only information available for a judicial court to make decisions on will include testimonial, deductive, and circumstantial evidence. A court of law rarely makes a decision based on actual demonstrations, personal intuition, or first hand experience. They get at truth by bringing an open mind free of prejudice to the evidence presented. They weigh evidence with the understanding that every effect has a cause. Through examining each outcome they know causes can often be determined through deductive reasoning. They weigh each piece of evidence presented for it’s veracity knowing the truth will always leave a trail of clues to validate it’s assertions. They follow the evidence and testimonies wherever they may lead. The burden of proof always rests with the person wishing to refute established testimony.

When it comes to Witness Testimony, the Bible has history on it’s side.

What makes the Bible worth believing in? The simple answer would be the weight of it’s own testimony. Christianity professes to bring forth evidence sufficient for the honest inquirer.

The Christian faith rests greatly on the credibility of the eyewitness accounts of those who testified to interactions with the living God. What makes these testimonies credible? The first reason would be that these people were present at the scene. The Bible just so happens to have history on it’s side. The Bible does have it’s contemporary skeptics who love to make assertions on what really happened. Making assertions alone does not make you a witness. If you did not observe the event firsthand for yourself, then you cannot really qualify as a witness. There is a big difference between disbelieving in something and actually knowing it. Skeptics talk as if they know things when they really don’t. Because of this, contemporary skeptics have no objective leg to stand on. Objectivity requires the inquirer stay focused on the object of evidence and not get caught up with personal biases.

The Biblical Author’s integrity, sensibility, and their lack of motive to lie make their testimony very credible and compelling.

Because historical witnesses do have the capacity to fabricate stories, careful attention must always be given to the credibility of each witness. This always begins with examining their motives. Jurisprudence would teach that men are usually honest unless some prevailing motive exists for them not to be. The witnesses in the Bible should have great credibility with the objective reader. Not only do these witnesses demonstrate their integrity through their good deeds and the virtues they promoted in their writings, they also did not stand to gain anything earthly from their testimony. This lack of motive should be compelling for anyone who would examine the evidence. The disciples all confessed how they abandoned Jesus when He was alive. If they lacked the courage to stand by Jesus before He died, why maintain their allegiance to a man after He died? Some of these disciples like Paul did not even follow Jesus until after His death. Why would a witness fabricate a resurrection story if the only thing they stood to gain from that testimony was persecution and death? All of the disciples would suffer persecution for their testimony. Why die for something you personally knew was not true? When push comes to shove, even the strongest deceivers would buckle and abandon a tale that provides them no real earthly benefit. A person only maintains their testimony about God in the face of death when they believe their cause to be true. Insanity may describe acts that defy logic, but madness would also leave a trail of clues for others to realize that someone was not playing with a full deck. When madness drives a person, everyone around them usually knows it and testifies to it. The insights these witnesses had into human nature should prove they were not crazy. If these witnesses had no motive to lie and they were not crazy, then their testimony should hold weight with the objective reader.

Even the testimony of the contemporary critic of Jesus day affirms the event of the Resurrection.

Every real event occurs within a framework of circumstances that are participated in or observed by a network of individuals. Real testimonies will be consistent with all real accounts and circumstances surrounding them. Honest witnesses can venture in great detail and particulars knowing they will all affirm their story. False witnesses will not have consistent stories. Deceptions can never square with all the facts. Liars have to remain vague; the more details that are given, the harder it is for a lie to remain concealed. So liars must put on a bold front and provide few details. All of this can be observed in the testimony of the contemporary critic of Jesus time. Their testimony does more to validate the occurrence of the resurrection than any other. They do not deny the miracles that Jesus performed when He lived; their writings recorded him as a Sorcerer. They did not deny Jesus claimed to be God; their entire case for killing Jesus was based on the accusation of Blasphemy. They do not deny Jesus died on a cross or was buried. They do not even deny Jesus claim to rise from the dead; they recruited the Roman guards to watch his burial site for three days. They do not even deny the tomb was empty on the third day. It’s important to recognize that the contemporary historical critic does not deny any of these major claims asserted in the Gospel. All of recorded history agrees on these points. What exactly does the contemporary critic of Jesus day really differ on? They only claimed the disciples stole the body while the guards were asleep. How can a person know who stole the body when they were in fact asleep? Recognizing such a weak, inconsistent claim as false should be self-evident to anyone reading it.

Why celebrate the Empty Tomb every Easter

God has made all the historical evidence support only one conclusion for a reason. The Bible recounts all of the detailed facts and evidence of the death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for one purpose- that we might believe in the one God sent. We celebrate this story every year that we all might understand the power behind God’s resurrection from the dead. If death could not keep Jesus in the grave, then God demonstrates his power over it. If Jesus can be raised from the Dead, then He can raise us also. If God died for our sins and overcame, then nothing can keep us from the Love of God. He demonstrates the power to restore all those who hope in Him.