On Apologetics (Part 2)

Last time in Apologetics (Part 1) I opened the ball of wax on this topic I mentioned my own struggles on the topic of keeping faith against some very strong arguments, but I did not delineate those arguments. Today we will try to get at some of them.

The Importance of Historicity

This issue has been made famous by the Jesus Seminar and books such as Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict and More Evidence that demands a verdict. It is not my purpose to revisit those debates here. Although, I think it is worth saying that many of the points McDowell and others like him make are worth considering.

With that said, let me acknowledge, that the historicity of the Christian faith is crucially important. Without the physical resurrection of Christ, Christ is a liar, God is impotent and the Christians believe in a pure mythology of the imagination.

I don’t think this is overstating the case.

Let me restrict my comments on the topic to the pieces of the conversation I find most compelling, interesting and important.

The Deaths of the Apostles

I won’t go into establishing the existence of Jesus as a historical person, but I do think that the implications of the life and teachings of Jesus, as they effected others, are often overlooked as a serious support for the claim of the historicity of the Christian faith.

We get all dizzy in the gills when people start talking about stones at graves being there in the first place and then being rolled away by some glowing first century superhero in a wings-and-toga outfit while the mummy walks out and scares the day lights out of everyone—but there is more. We must not let these shiny objects give us myopia of the spiritual eye. We need to keep looking.

OK, so Jesus comes back to life and then moves on to the right hand of God, but what happens then?

Well, all hell breaks loose as all hell realizes it is about to be broken! If you think about it, that is the way of it, and that is the way that it went. Jesus’s disciples open up a can of whoopass on the World Order. Then, the World Order retaliates in kind. Love meets hate. Light meets dark in round two of the Global Smackdown Fest. Unfortunately, the disciples quickly come to the realization that they will be sorely pressed. Even worse, they realize that their followership of Jesus will lead them to a similar death, each and every one of them (with one exception).

These are grizzly deaths. Ugly. Cruel. Painful beyond belief (with the exception of John). Don’t miss that point. All of them croak in a manner so gruesome and vile that you would not be allowed to watch any of it on television. It would not be broadcast even in the middle of the night.

Ask yourself, why would these people risk, much less insist on these types of deaths?

Next time, we will look at a couple of these deaths and see why these particular deaths support claims for historical accuracy regarding the Christian tradition.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Which of the disciples is the most interesting to you? Do you know how they died? Do you know who killed them? Do you know why they did? Do the deaths of the disciples inspire you in any way (isn’t that a bit creepy?)?

If you liked this post, perhaps you want to read Apologetics (Part 3)?

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