April 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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THE RESURRECTION is the keystone of the arch on which our faith is supported. If Christ has not risen, we must impeach all those witnesses for lying. If Christ has not risen, we have no proof that the crucifixion of Jesus differed from that of the two thieves who suffered with him. If Christ has not risen, it is impossible to believe his atoning death was accepted.

IF THE FIRST Christians had not believed that Christ rose from the dead there would have been no church and no New Testament… . If Christianity had been founded merely on the moral teaching of Jesus, it would no doubt have flourished for a short time as a well-meaning deviation from orthodox Judaism. It would quickly have lost its identity amid the innumerable varieties of religion and philosophy which occupied the minds of the ancient world.

IN THE RESURRECTION of Jesus from the dead, we see God's decisive victory not only over death but over all God's other enemies as well. In that one climactic event, we see the certainty that someday, in the kingdom of God, there will be no more violence, war, jealousy, or death… . These forces are still alive and at work in the world, but because of the victory that God won at Easter, their doom is certain.

THERE ARE TIMES when I feel that he has withdrawn from me, and I have often given him cause, but Easter is always the answer to My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!

THE GREAT JOY that the disciples felt when they saw the risen Lord, that "burning of heart" that they experienced on the way to Emmaus, were not because the mysteries of an "other world" were revealed to them, but because they saw the Lord… . They announced what they knew, that in Christ the new life has already begun, that he is Life Eternal, the Fulfillment, ...