There have been many theories attempting to explain away the facts of Jesus’ empty tomb, including the following:

• The Swoon theory—Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross and He resuscitated in the cool tomb. His disciples then deceptively proclaimed His resurrection;
• The Conspiracy theory—the disciples stole the body and deceptively proclaimed his resurrection;
• The Jewish authorities removed the body unbeknownst to the disciples, who mistakenly thought He had resurrected;
• The Wrong Tomb theory—the women and the disciples went to the wrong tomb and mistakenly thought He was resurrected;
• The Legend Theory—the disciples left Jerusalem for a long time and much later returned to propagate an imaginary myth of resurrection;
• The Hallucination Theory—the disciples had hallucinations in which they imagined seeing the resurrected Jesus. They then proclaimed His resurrection.

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Invariably when Jesus is discussed, someone will boldly proclaim that He wasn’t actually God, but the Son of God. The contrast is unwarranted—it’s not either/or but both/and. Jesus’ identity as the Son of God includes having the same attributes as the Father, that is, He is from eternity, has all authority, etc. (see John 5:18). They are in essence, equal, as demonstrated in John 10:30 and claimed by Jesus in John 14:7-11. Jesus is also recorded as saying He has complete authority over heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18) and that He alone is the means for people to know the Father (John 14:6). [Read more…]

One of the most persuasive lines of evidence that Jesus was the Messiah is that His life fulfilled numerous Old Testament prophecies. There are at least 456 Old Testament prophetic references that pertain to a future person which all were fulfilled in Jesus’ life. Many of these He could not have any control over, such as His place of birth. The following is a brief outline of some of these Old Testament prophecies and their New Testament fulfillment. [Read more…]

It is important to recognize that having a longing for life after death is a good thing. C.S. Lewis once wrote:

…a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next (Mere Christianity, [New York: Macmillan, 1952], p. 118).

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This question raises two related issues. First, is it true that the Christian faith maintains that the only way of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, but it is not arbitrary: there are important reasons. The first reason is that the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, taught this Himself. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). On another occasion He taught that “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27, NIV). Furthermore, those who received their instruction in the faith from Jesus Himself also taught this. The apostles Peter and John said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NIV). [Read more…]