“Christianity is a Ridiculous Religion – Unless” by Mark McGee
Christianity is a ridiculous religion —
Unless —
It is true.
There’s the rub.
If Christianity is not true, then all ‘Christians’ are wasting their time living a ‘Christian’ life and telling other people they should become ‘Christians.’
But …
If Christianity is true, then Christians are not wasting their time living the Christian life and telling other people they should become Christians.
Pretty simple. Right?
A prominent Christian leader put it this way many years ago —
“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 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 most pitiable.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ living in the 1st century AD, put everything he had on one thing — the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death. If it didn’t happen, Christians are to be pitied. If it did happen, then what He did before and after He died and rose again will have consequences for those who do and don’t believe He is risen.
Truth Claims
The death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth are truth claims of a worldview known as ‘Christianity’ – named after Jesus the Christ (Messiah).
Paul made the truth claim about Jesus’ resurrection, so, Paul – prove it.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received … ” 1 Corinthians 15:1-3a
Paul wrote to Christians living in the Greek city of Corinth and told them that he ‘declared’ the ‘gospel’ (good news) which ‘saved’ them. He also said that he had ‘delivered’ to them first of all what he had also ‘received.’
The idea of declaring and delivering something that you ‘receive’ means you learned it from someone who ‘gave’ it to you. Who ‘gave’ Paul the good news he ‘declared’ to the Corinthians?
Jesus was the first to ‘give’ Paul the message he preached. It happened many years earlier when Paul (aka Saul) was persecuting followers of Jesus, arresting them, throwing them into prison, and voting for them to be put to death.
“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. ‘While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” Acts 26:9-18
Keep in mind that this happened ‘after’ Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross. Paul believed the story Jewish leaders had made up about the disciples of Jesus stealing Jesus’ body from the tomb where He was buried. Paul believed Jesus was dead and His followers needed to be punished because what they were claiming about Jewish leaders being responsible for Jesus’ death AND claiming that Jesus was raised from the dead and gone to Heaven to with God the Father on His Throne.
Here’s how another apostle of Jesus (Peter) explained it to a Jewish crowd —
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.” Acts 3:13-16
What changed Paul from persecuting followers of Jesus to becoming a follower of Jesus himself was meeting and talking with the resurrected Jesus. Paul may have also spent time with Jesus in Arabia —
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.” Galatians 1:15-17
Paul also ‘received’ the message he preached from followers of Jesus. Paul spent time with Ananias and other disciples in Damascus and with Peter and James in Jerusalem —
“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.” Galatians 1:18-21
Paul also ‘received’ the message he preached directly from God in visions and revelations —
“It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.” 2 Corinthians 12:1-6
Claim #1
It’s believed that the truth claims Paul made to the Corinthians in chapter 15 probably came from an early Christian Church ‘creed’ that may be dated to within months of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul ‘received’ it and ‘delivered’ it to the Corinthians –
“… that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried …” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4a
The truth claim is that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. The proof for that truth claim is that Jesus was ‘buried.’
Burial of a dead body is proof of a ‘death.’ Each of the four Gospel accounts about Jesus death on the Cross includes a mention about His ‘burial’ in a tomb, the location of which was known to some of Jesus’ followers.
Claim #2
Paul’s second truth claim is that Jesus rose from the dead.
Where’s your proof, Paul?
“… and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” 1 Corinthians 15:4-8
The many ‘appearances’ of a physically alive Jesus to hundreds of people following His crucifixion is Paul’s proof to the truth claim that Jesus rose from the dead. See someone die and be buried, then see that same person alive after their death and burial. That’s ‘proof’ of the claim that Jesus ‘rose’ from the dead.
Ridiculous?
So, is Christianity a ridiculous religion? Not according to the truth claims and proofs of Christianity.
The truth is clear and the proof is powerful. May we live our lives accordingly.
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-58
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Written by Mark McGee ~
Mark McGee is a former atheist and career journalist. He worked on the news staff of several radio and television stations (including Huntsville’s WAAY-TV) and two metropolitan newspapers over a period of 40 years.
Mark has written three published books and more than 280 Ebooks. He also writes regularly for several Christian blogs and serves with Ratio Christi Campus Apologetics Alliance and Engage360 Ministries.
Mark has been active in martial arts and self-defense training for almost 60 years and has been teaching from a Christian perspective for almost 50. He is an instructor with Christian Soldiers Karate at Whitesburg Baptist Church and also teaches privately.
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