The Discerning Hour Episode 3 - Defending the Cross

The Discerning Hour Episode 3

Defending the Cross Show notes:

• Jesus Christ the "Myth"
• Defending the Cross
• The Pete Rose Church Service

http://www.sacredpearlministry.com/apps/blog/show/42105081-the-discerning-hour-podcast-episode-3-defending-the-cros

The Discerning Hour Episode 2 - The False Prophets

 Episode 2 of the Discerning Hour

Show notes and topics covered:

• Why do people fall to false prophets?
• Discerning prophets through the Bible
• The last prophets of God
• Describing the Sacred Pearl Ministry Correspondence Bible Study Course
• Information about Reformers Unanimous

http://www.sacredpearlministry.com/apps/blog/show/42070376-the-discerning-hour-episode-2-the-false-prophets

Defending the Cross

   April has come around the bend and with it we near the time of the year where Christians the world over stop to celebrate the most remarkable event in history, this event being none other than the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Naturally of course, as Christians remember the very reason for our faith, skeptics, atheists and all those opposed to Christianity as well beat their chests and take to their soap boxes in protest. Many attacks come especially around this time as well as many other Christian focused holidays. Unfortunately, many Christians are left empty handed in their own personal battles to defend the truth of the cross and the resurrection of Christ.

                Why is the focus of most skeptical attacks pointed at the cross and the resurrection? The answer is simply put by the Apostle Paul in Scripture and to paraphrase; if the cross, the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection of Christ did not occur, then our faith and purpose as Christians is for nothing. In a nutshell there is no other reason. To defeat Christianity one must take down the most dominant reason or cause of our faith and that is belief in Jesus Christ as a risen from the dead Lord. If Christianity did not have this point there would be no foundation for our faith.

                Many try to take down this moment in history. The weakest of arguments of course is the many that claim that Jesus Christ was simply a mythological person. Not much needs to be done in countering this claim as Jesus Christ is a recorded person in history. He is a person who occupied time and space and has been recorded in many historical places. Even the Jewish Rabbis cannot argue the existence of Christ as it was Christ that created the Schism in their own system. The Jewish Historian Josephus as well recorded the existence of Jesus Christ not even 100 years later and countless Roman manuscripts reflect Christ’s life. Islam was a religion that formed hundreds of years after Christ and knowing that Jesus was a historical person required them to somehow dispel the Christian beliefs and claims about Jesus. It is no wonder that even though wrongfully the Quran teaches about Jesus Christ.

                All in all the world needs to demolish the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in order to destroy the Christian faith. The unbelieving Jewish world simply claims Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer and heretic, which was the charge that led Him to the cross and the Islam stance, as taught by the Quran is that it really wasn’t Jesus on the cross so Jesus really didn’t die so He could not have been resurrected and that the entire event was a deception put into work by God. This is a claim the Islamic world holds true to even though if this where the case it paints their “god” as a deceiver, liar and responsible for leading untold millions if not billions already into certain death for believing in a false faith.

                Beyond the most unlearned skeptics who claim that Christ never existed, there are other claims or attacks on the event that many Christians find hard to defend or argue against. As much as these claims cry that the resurrection was simply a myth, these claims themselves are nothing more than myths. They are easy to dispel and brush aside but if a Christian is not able to answer the claims it will either lesson the Christians own personal faith and do little to shed the light of the truth to the sceptic or possibly even both. In this article I wish to share four common mythical arguments against the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is my intent with this article to give a Christian solid answers for these arguments against the most important event in the history of the Christian world.

False Argument #1: The enemies of Jesus stole His body.

                Many claim that the Jews, Pharisees or others who were against Jesus stole His body from the tomb. This is not only false but highly illogical. What would an enemy of Christ gain from steeling and or hiding His body in a different or hidden place? The only thing that this action would do is further fuel the cause for the Christian claim that Christ was risen. The enemies of Christ where angered against Him for claiming He would rise again from the dead. To steal His body and to never show it again would only fuel the resurrection claims being highly counterproductive to their own plans to destroy Christ’s work.

                How could Christ’s enemies come out clean handed in such an act? Not only would they be found of guilty foul behavior if they were caught, they would spur a riot or possible revolt from the followers of Christ when the news of a stolen Christ would come out. The Jews at the time were worried the new band of Christians were already going to revolt or cause tension to the already weak relationship between Jerusalem and the Roman Empire. This act would have destroyed many things for the Jews if it were the case. A stolen body does not count for the countless hundreds that seen the risen Lord after the day of resurrection.

False Argument #2: Jesus’ body was stolen by His own Disciples.

                Another false argument is that the very Disciples of Christ stole His body. Again this can easily be put to rest much like the first. The Disciples needed a risen, living Lord to solidify their claims. At the moment of Christ’s death, many disbelieved and went away doubting the truth of Christ’s claims. If Christ was not truly risen and alive they could not move on in their faith. This is evident as well as many people who were against Christ or did not believe had a sudden and complete conversion to belief in the risen Lord. How could this have happened without a risen Lord?

                Two other factors debunk this myth as well. First of all, if the Disciples stole the body, which was guarded by the Romans and Jews, the likely hood of them being caught is very high. The tomb of Christ was heavily guarded. We have to remember the Jews could not have Christ risen or appear to be risen so the last thing they desired to happen was for Christ’s body to leave the tomb either dead or alive. This is why the tomb was guarded to be sure that nobody tampered with the tomb until after the 3^rd day claim of Christ.

                Secondly, if the Disciples stole the body then they are left with nothing more than a corpse on their hands. They would be left with the mess of dealing with a body and somehow would have to create a scenario in which they could pass off that the Lord was risen. This as well does not count for the untold amount of people that witnessed and seen a living risen Lord Jesus Christ.

False Argument #3: The women went to the wrong grave.

                This is yet another attempt to discredit the resurrection claims. Simply put, the women who discovered the empty tomb went to the wrong one. Let’s look at this logically. You just seen a person who you loved dearly die, then you took his body, prepared it for burial, placed it in a grave then went away for 2 days. The likely hood you would return to the cemetery and forget where the burial was is very unlikely.  

                Other reasons this argument cannot stand is that 1. Christ was buried in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea who owned the plot. We can be pretty certain that through this arrangement it was obvious where Jesus was buried. 2. The tomb was guarded and the women were nervous. The fact that they were supporters of Christ was enough to make them on edge going to the tomb and they would have anticipated guards at the tomb which it states in Scripture where there. The event itself was such a public spectacle that the likelihood of anybody “forgetting” where Jesus was buried is highly improbable.

False Argument #4: Jesus never died on the cross.

                This is historically one of the most improbable false arguments out there. The very notion that Christ did not die and somehow survived the cross is simply unfounded. Of course, as Islam needs to make the event of the cross nonexistent goes to the lengths of claiming that God put somebody else on the cross and made it appear that Christ died when in reality He didn’t. The sad fact is, however, that historically, even the biggest scholarly skeptics of the resurrection and Christianity claim that the one thing we can be certain about is that Jesus Christ did indeed die on the cross. Virtually nobody in historical scholarship argues this point. The main opponents that do not believe Christ died on the cross are predominately Islam components and skeptics that illogically claim Jesus never existed. Jewish, Roman and Greek history places Jesus on the cross and dying by crucifixion as historical fact and very few scholars of anti-Christian presumption will claim otherwise. Historically, it happened.

                The other argument against this false claim is the act of how Christ died. He died through the methodology of crucifixion under the hands of Romans. The Romans where masters at killing and crucifixion and rarely made a mistake. They took great measures to be sure anybody sentenced to be crucified did indeed die. It was meant to be a deliberate death. The act of flogging in the manner it was done was called “pre-death”. In other words, it was meant to put the victim in a state that would bring death upon them very soon and put them at a near death state even before being placed on the cross. The act of flogging alone ripped flesh in chunks and strips from the body exposing arteries and at times scourging so deep as to expose intestines. This was done all over the body from head to toe. The act of nailing one to the cross was done in a manner that destroyed the feet and hands disabling them for use ever again. If Christ did not make it to the cross or came down alive He would have been an unrecognizable, profusely bleeding man that could not walk or use His hands. Even if this was the case, it was not the risen Lord that many seen three days later. The possibility he could even recover with the best medical attention of today would be highly improbable.

                The very act of killing on the cross itself even derived its own word we still use today. The word excruciating we use today was invented from the cross. Ex-cruciate means out of the cross. This method of killing was so thorough it had its own word. To further be sure that men did indeed die on the cross, the Romans would deliver what was called a death blow. This is what was done to the two thieves who died beside Christ by crushing and breaking the legs. This caused the person to be unable to push themselves up on the foot nails in order to breath and the man would suffocate. They would also sometimes crush the skull or as they did with Christ, pierce the heart which is recorded in Scripture. Even though the Romans seen Christ was already dead they still, as custom, delivered the death blow by piercing His side.

                As gruesome and harsh as this is to explain, it is important to show that there was no way that this historically proven man who was historically places on a cross for crucifixion and is testified about in many non-Christian sources did not in any way come down  off the cross alive as this false argument claims. If this were the case the Romans would have failed, the Jews would not have gotten what they demanded and the punishment would not have been served. Even if Christ somehow physically survived this ordeal, He would not have been the walking, talking and risen Lord as hundreds witnessed days later.

                As we can see these false arguments and attacks on the cross do nothing to debunk the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, many are unable to give this defense and that is why I have felt lead to write this article. There is simply no reason why we should stand by and allow others to tear apart the very core of our Christian faith. As Scripture tells us, “always be ready to stand and give a reason.” I hope I have empowered you to be able to stand and defend our risen Lord. If these are arguments you heard or been given before and you have not been able to give solid reason to debunk them then I hope and pray that this was a helpful article.

                The resurrection of Jesus Christ is indeed the greatest event in history. It is only for Christ, because of Christ and through Christ death and resurrection that we can be forgiven for our sins, come into the presence of God, be united in the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit and secure our eternal everlasting life. If Christ could not have achieved this act then we have no foundation for our faith. However, the risen Lord means we can have victory over death as well. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God and become united with Him and abide in Him we will gain our victory, be resurrected from our own physical death and live in Glory with our risen Lord.

Be blessed and remember, He arose to give us victory.

C. Speakman

Is There an Immaterial Supernatural Soul or Spirit Which Defines Personhood?

There are many vital issues within society and culture in this century that stem from a disbelief in an immaterial supernatural soul or spirit in human beings. Many heated political, economic and social debates and battles are taking place in communities, schools, churches and courtrooms across the world. These battles are chiefly due to a falling out of the belief that humans possess an immortal soul or spirit. The reality or acceptance of humans possessing a supernatural soul or spirit is typically the primary factor in determining the side that an individual or group of individuals will take in these vital issues.

            Many believe and some define the soul and spirit as two separate entities. Both, however, are under subjection to this argument and as we will discover, one side argues against the soul and spirit being immaterial and supernatural and the other argues that the soul and spirit are positively immaterial and supernatural. For either argument, both entities, regardless if they are one in the same or different need to both be equally immaterial and supernatural or material and natural. For ease of explanation in this argument we will inclusively refer to them both as the soul or human soul.

            The reason the status of the soul is so important to these issues is that most of these issues in society today rely on the identification of person-hood. You will typically find that the members on each side of these issues generally follow the same belief in regards to the human soul. Side A will typically believe in one aspect of the soul, for instance being immaterial and supernatural and its opposition, side B, will typically be opposed to this belief, claiming the soul is simply natural and material. Being that side A believes the soul is immaterial and supernatural infers to the possibility that or the belief that humans live past death and infers the belief in or possibility in a god which places us accountable for our actions and life on earth. Side B in opposition simply believes that when the human dies they, body and soul, simply cease to exist and no accountability for life needs to be considered.

            The major issues within society where the existence and definition of the soul plays a crucial part are but are not limited to:

·         The justification of abortion and abortion rights.

·         The desensitizing of suicide.

·         The ideas and acceptability of euthanasia.

·         The thoughts, beliefs and teachings of the afterlife and the post death state of man.

In each of these topics the identification of personhood plays a critical role and the element of the soul is what typically causes the division between the two sides. Take for instance the topic of abortion. Using the A and B sides as we described earlier we can see how the definition of the soul plays a vital role in this argument. Side A, believing in the immortal soul, generally believes the humans personhood is defined by this immaterial supernatural soul. This belief is fostered by an inference of a God who exists which the person, the unborn child, is linked to by this supernatural soul. Since the soul is what identifies the personhood of man, to abort the child would be murder for you are separating a soul from the body that soul was connected to. Side B in retrospect, does not believe in a supernatural soul connecting one with God, nor a soul creating an identity as a human in that unborn child thus views the child as simply matter with no identity of its own. To separate the unborn child from its life and existence would not be separating a life from an existing, immaterial, supernatural soul.

We can see with just this simple example how the definition and belief of the soul can cause the dividing line between many issues. All issues and debate regarding life, humanity, human rights and much more are influenced by the belief or disbelief of an immaterial, supernatural soul which may identify every human being, live past the death of the body and have connection with a creator God. I will be arguing for the existence of an immaterial, supernatural soul which identifies every human, regardless of their disposition or belief in a creator God in this article.

The defining factor in this argument is the belief in God. I will be presenting my argument from a Christian point of view but I must first describe the argument from the opposing side of this belief. This would be the Atheist or Naturalist point of view regarding the soul. The Atheist or Naturalist will generally argue the following five points.

1.      Humans are only physical bodies of matter.

2.      The soul is simply part of the human body and dies with the body.

3.      The soul is not supernatural, immaterial or immortal (surviving death).

4.      Humans cease to exist after death along with the soul.

5.      If there is no supernatural, immortal soul linking a human to a God or afterlife then the soul cannot identify personhood in a human.

What I have shown you in these five points is the general argument of the Atheist and Naturalist. Total non-existence of a God or chance of a supernatural soul linking one to this God is the key factor to this misconception. If one is not connected to a God nor has an immortal soul, or a soul or part of them that lives on past death, then there is no eternal identity of personhood. You simply exist as matter and upon death cease to exist. This belief of no afterlife or no spiritual life past death and no accountability to a supernatural God creates a mindset that places one at ease when making choices such as aborting a life, committing euthanasia of the elderly or contemplating suicide. For one to believe and accept the notion of a supernatural and immortal soul would then place an individual in a place where they could be accountable.

I will now present the argument from a Christian world view in the positive of an immaterial, supernatural soul. I will be presenting this with six key points that will deliver a conclusion supporting the existence of an immaterial soul. Within these six points I will be countering each of the five naturalist points I listed above to come to our conclusion.

1.      Humans have an immaterial, supernatural soul.

The naturalist will argue that the soul is not immaterial or supernatural and that the soul is part of the natural human. For anything to be natural or material, it has to have mass, weight, density and take up space. All matter or material things in the universe fulfill these characteristics. All natural, material things are made of matter. If you break down any natural thing to its finest molecule it will still take up space, have a weight and have mass. The atom itself has mass and takes up space.

If the human soul, that which contains thought, desire, emotion and ideas where natural it must consist of these characteristics to be considered natural and materialistic. How much do thoughts weigh? Do our thoughts and emotions have a weight or a mass? We are capable of containing vast amounts of thought, emotion and ideas, yet we can contain it all and we never run out of space to keep it. You can only fill so much water into a glass because both the glass and the water have mass, weight and take up space. This is not a limitation of our thoughts, emotions and feelings contained in our soul.

We cannot apply these characteristics to our soul therefore we cannot consider the human soul material or natural. Anything that does not have mass, weight or take up time and space is not natural or material making it supernatural and immaterial.

2.      The soul is contained in the body but separate from the body.

The human body is mass and naturalistic. The soul, being free of naturalistic and material characteristics cannot be attached to or part of the body. If you take a man and remove his legs, he takes up less mass, he is less of a human body, yet, you have not removed part of his soul. His soul is still intact. When a human’s body is inoperable or paralyzed, his mind and soul can still function in what we call normal capacity. One can do all manners of things to change, alter or destroy the human body, yet once cannot change a human’s soul, beliefs, emotions or desires. One can force your body to react or perform to any sort of stimulus yet, one can do nothing to change the intricate characteristics of your soul.

If the soul was part of the body you would not have the many medically reported and documented cases of near death or out of body experiences. This medical phenomena has thousands of well documented cases and none could be explained or even considered feasible if the soul was simply part of the physical body.

3.      The soul does not die along with the body.

This point is true under the presumption of the first two points I presented. If the soul is not natural or material and is separate from the body and is not affected in the same matter as the body, then one cannot claim the soul dies along with the body. To be able to claim the soul dies along with the body one must prove the soul is material with naturalistic characteristics and is a part of the physical body for it to be able to be manipulated along with the body. Since we see in the first two points that the soul is not material or natural but immaterial and supernatural we cannot assume the soul would die a physical death. Something has to be physical to die a physical death therefor an immaterial soul cannot die along with the material body.

4.      The soul is not natural and is not governed by the natural laws of death.

I explained the soul is immaterial and not natural and is separate from the body. I explained in point three that if the soul is not natural or physical it cannot die with the physical body. If this immaterial, supernatural soul cannot die a physical death along with the physical body, then it is also free from the natural laws of death. If the soul is not natural, no natural laws can affect or manipulate it. Water can only freeze because it is natural and subject to the laws of nature. The soul cannot freeze because it is not natural so it is not subject to the same laws. In the same manner in which we cannot weigh or measure our thoughts and emotions due to the fact they are not physical containing matter, we cannot apply the same laws of physics or laws of natural death toward our soul.

5.      The immaterial, supernatural soul is immortal and lives past physical death.

 If the immaterial, supernatural soul cannot be manipulated by the laws of nature then it cannot be affected by the natural laws of death and decay. If the soul cannot die by the natural laws of death then we cannot claim the immaterial, supernatural soul can die. This fosters in the notion that there is an immaterial, supernatural soul that lives on past the physical human death. If the soul lives on past physical death, that makes the soul an immortal soul, with life after death possible.

6.      A person is identified by their soul and not their body.

When we describe somebody how do we describe them? Many times we use terminology such as; “He has a nice soul.” “He has a dark soul.” “She is mean spirited.” “There is something good about her spirit.” Why do we use these inferences to a spirit or soul? This could be an intelligent imprint in our own souls allowing us to identify others by their soul. We refer to the soul of others often. When we do this we are in no way referring to a physical body. We remember people due to how they speak, our impression of them or our intuition. We have intuition about people which is a thought process of understanding another’s soul and identifying or labeling them according to the impressions we receive or feel from them.

Why do mothers have motherly instinct and fathers have fatherly instinct? These are traits identified and labeled to the person which many can share in common but not all can possess. We know our children and our family, our spouse, our best friend. We do not know them because we know their physical body, but because we understand and recognize their soul. How many times do we meet somebody new and quickly we become friends so close it is like we have known them for years? Where do we gain this intuition and identification with somebody to be intimate and close so quickly?

Another way we can prove the soul identifies a person is when one is in a comma. Just as when we cut two legs off a man it does not make him any less then the person he is, when somebody is in a coma it does not make them any less of a person. If somebody is comatose we don’t say the patient is no longer a person. If they are comatose for 15 years and wake up we do not claim they were not a person for the last 15 years. Their physical bodies may have been completely shut down and their brain function may have been barely present but we still consider them a person.

When somebody dies or passes on, when we reflect back what do we typically say? We say things like, “They were a good person.” “They were a good father.” “They were a good friend.” It was not a physical body that made them these things. It was their spirit or soul that made them these things. It was the soul that provided the identity of the human. It was the soul that identified the human as a person. It was the soul that identified the person and imprinted a label of acceptance or avoidance within your own soul. If you medically where able to completely remove the body of a person you knew well and leave nothing but a fully conscious brain, mouth and lungs to talk, minus the body, and the person talked to you, you could identify them because of their soul. We do not need a physical body for identification. The soul identifies the person-hood of a human.

I believe I have presented valid points to lead to my conclusion. After briefly looking at the claims of the opposition, I presented six points that argue against their claims in a matter that dismisses the naturalistic claims for a material, natural soul. With my points we can summarize this:

·         The soul or spirit of a person is immaterial and lacks matter.

·         If the soul or spirit of a person is immaterial and lacks matter it is supernatural.

·         People are defined and identified by their soul or spirit.

·         Therefore there is a supernatural soul or spirit which defines ones person-hood.

Understanding we have a supernatural soul which identifies humans as persons can lead to a better understanding in the issues of today. We would make better moral decisions within the scope of family, community and government if this identification crisis was not an issue. When we understand who we truly are and how we are truly constructed by a Creator God we can take on an entire new stance in decision making. The choices we make as a society, a nation, a world and more importantly, as people, would drastically change the world we live in.

When the world can understand its identity as well as others, we would find ourselves making a more positive impact. Unfortunately, the people within our societies are losing their identity of person-hood and along with that they are stripping personal identity away from many others. The root cause of this dilemma once again, as I stated in my opening paragraph, stems from a disbelief in an immaterial, supernatural soul or spirit in human beings.

C. Speakman