Christ's Resurrection: A Truth Worth Accepting!نموونە

Do We Have Narrow Focus?

Researchers use the term “narrow focus” to explain how we often limit our options when we try to make a decision. But when we limit our choices to only the options we’re willing to consider, we remove all other options from consideration.

We see this, for example, when a wife asks, “Should I demand that my husband get counseling — or just go ahead and divorce him?”

Would you agree that if she really wanted to work on the relationship, she would have invited more options by asking, “In what ways could my husband and I improve our relationship?”

When we limit our options, it's often because we're attempting to control the outcome. A lot of people do this with Christianity. They show a bias against God, when they ask questions like, “Is God weak — or does He simply not care about injustice?” Either way, in their view, God is to blame.

The truth: if we start with wrong questions, we'll get wrong answers.

Take, for example, these three theories that skeptics have come up with to explain away the resurrection:

>>> Apparent Death Theory: Jesus only fainted on the cross.

This theory suggests that Jesus was never dead, and exited the tomb on His own. So:

1. Despite being brutally beaten, flogged, and crucified (which would have required Jesus to receive extensive medical care for Him to be able to walk or even sit up!),
2. He somehow found the strength and dexterity to remove His burial wrappings in the pitch black of the tomb,
3. And then managed to locate the massive stone sealing the entrance, roll it back in His own strength, and then walk, undetected, past the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb. The punishment for a Roman soldier losing his prisoner? DEATH! And yet Jesus managed to sneak past them???

The wounds to Jesus' wrists, created by the 7-inch-long nails, would have paralyzed His hands! His feet were punctured by those nails, too. This theory is too outlandish to believe.

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>>> Theft Theory: Jesus' disciples stole His body so they could hide it to claim that Jesus resurrected.

The Bible tells us that after Jesus was killed, His disciples hid like mice -- and that was after they had completely abandoned Jesus at His arrest! This theory suggests that the disciples suddenly found their courage and decided to take on the Roman soldiers. Hmm.....

Jesus found His disciples still fearfully huddled together in a locked room, when He appeared to them in His resurrected form. They only became bold lions AFTER they were convinced of His resurrection and filled with the Holy Spirit. This theory is really hard to believe.

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>>> Hallucination Theory: Mass hysteria and grief convinced His followers to only think they saw Jesus.

This theory suggests that the crowds who saw Jesus only thought they did. That they collectively experienced a mirage. But science tells us that hallucinations can only be experienced by a single individual. No two people can share the same hallucination. Jesus appeared to numerous groups of people, at various times after His crucifixion, eating with them, drinking with them, and conversing with them to prove that it was really Him.

“Five hundred separate Elvis sightings may be dismissed,” notes philosopher Peter Kreeft, “but if five hundred simple fishermen in Maine saw, touched, and talked with Him at once, in the same town, that would be a different matter.”

Reflection:

We all get to decide what we will believe. The danger is that we'll limit our options -- we'll take a "narrow focus" -- to reinforce our bias. Where are you refusing to open your mind to the possibility of God's power and Jesus' sacrifice?