Don’t Just ‘Prove’ The Resurrection. Talk About Why It Matters.

Why did Jesus rise from the dead?

In my experience most Christians can’t answer this question very well. I suspect that the reason is that they have hardly ever heard it taught. One of the most common answers I’ve heard over the years is that Jesus rose ‘to prove that he is God’. But the Bible never identifies this as the reason, and there was surely ample proof already available for Jesus’ divinity given the number of miracles that he performed in his public ministry.

The Trinity, miracles, predestination, the resurrection… We spend most of our time trying to prove that these things are true rather than explaining what they mean and why they are important.

The problem is that some of the more difficult Christian doctrines tend to be reduced to apologetic hurdles to get over rather than being treated as central, interconnected parts of the Christian message. The Trinity, miracles, predestination, the resurrection… these are the kinds of topics that present difficulties to our secular worldview and logic. We therefore spend most of our time trying to prove that these things are true rather than explaining what they mean and why they are important. They become mere facts to prove, not Christian truths to cherish. There is no depth or content to them.

This is what has happened to the resurrection. Like Hollywood’s addiction to thoughtlessly regurgitating high-grossing movies as sequels, the resurrection becomes little more than a sequel to the cross. It’s there but it isn’t really necessary since all the important things happened in the first movie. Read More

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