Did they lie?

Acts 8:3 tells us that in the early days of Christianity a man named Saul was “ravaging the church,” putting men and women in prison. Acts 8:1 adds that Saul approved of the execution of a Christian named Stephen.

Have you ever wondered why Saul was so hostile toward Jesus’ disciples? Why did Saul think they were such a threat? Why did he think they deserved to be imprisoned—or even killed—for preaching about a dead man? What could have filled Saul with so much venom toward these people, most of whom were Jews like himself?

I believe it was all about the resurrection. Now I don’t mean to imply that Saul believed this story that Jesus had come back to life. To the contrary, he saw what so many of us seem to have forgotten or missed entirely: only two explanations for the resurrection story were possible—either it was true, or Jesus’ followers were liars. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you which explanation Saul endorsed.

As a lawyer, I have seen the harm lies can cause. Lies can get innocent people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Some lies, such as those in told in wartime, can even get people killed.

If Jesus’ disciples were liars, then they were also false prophets, deliberating spreading misinformation to the detriment of good, honest Jews. The Old Testament says that false prophets deserve death. Saul saw that.

Yet Saul later became Christianity’s greatest evangelist.

Only one thing changed. After Jesus appeared to him in a vision on the road to Damascus, Saul realized that this resurrection story was true. Jesus really did come back to life after being dead. That changed everything.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the strongest proof that Christianity is true. No other religion has anything like it. Neither Muhammad nor Buddha came back to life after dying.

Saul, who later changed his name to Paul, tells us that after Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to many people, including more than 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). The resurrection was witnessed by many of his followers, and is central to the message of the New Testament books.

If this resurrection story was a lie, why did none of Jesus’ followers try to profit from it? Why did none of them seek or obtain anything that the world considers valuable, such as wealth or power? Instead, they were persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, and some were even killed. Why would they suffer all of that—or any of that—for a lie? Yet there is no evidence in history that of any of them renounced this story or ever claimed that it wasn’t true, even when faced with death.

The longest chapter in any of my books is devoted to demonstrating that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact of history. As I say in that chapter, “Christianity stands or falls on the answer to this question: did Jesus Christ die and then come back to life days later?” [1]

I believe he did. And I believe history confirms it.

[1] You can read the introduction to that chapter by clicking here. Or you can find that introduction by going to my website, dondavidson.net, and looking at the chapter excerpt for Chapter 2 in my book, Beyond Blind Faith, entitled, “Is Jesus’ Resurrection Fact or Fairy Tale?”