Did Jesus Rise Again from the Dead?

Thoughts on Miracles and the Christian Faith

“If Christ is not raised from the dead, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins”

                      1 Corinthians 15:17

While very few people comment on this blog, I know there is a definite readership out there for it. Right now, if you click onto my profile page to the right of this post, you will see that over 18,000 people in the last few months have either read this blog or at least read my profile page since October 1st. I am not sure why there is this disparity. I am not sure why people are reading this blog and not commenting on it. At times, I wonder if I should take up this much time of my day with a blog that I get so little feedback on. Yet, I press forward, seeing how many people each day read this blog. While I have only nine followers presently on this blog, over 18,000 people have logged on to it. It's weird to me, but I will go on.

I write about a lot of controversial topics here on Theologian X. I make no apologies for my views and beefs with certain Southern Baptist and Evangelical leaders. Yet, I think a misconception could be forming in some of the readers of this blog. I am not an opponent of Christianity. In fact, I am a Christian and believe in Christ with all of my heart. I just disagree adamantly with a lot of the stupid things I have personally observed in American Evangelicalism and the Southern Baptist Convention after almost thirty years of ministry in these same sort of churches. 

Currently it is crunch time for me at grad school. While classes are over, I have a few weeks to do three major papers and then take my finals. As Alice once said, “I am not in Kansas anymore!” That is, the level of scholarship and what is expected of me to produce here in grad school is by far the most difficult ever asked of me in my long and winding road of academics.

 However, while the course load is much more difficult than what I have experienced as an undergrad, I love the challenge and I love learning. I may not get the same high grades I did as an undergrad, but I am going to work hard at being the best student I can to make the best impact when I am done with my studies here.

Having said this, I am currently working on a paper regarding the Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume and his views against miracles that he made known in his famous book An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Hume argues that while it is ultimately possible that miracles could potentially occur, they in fact do not and that all reports to the miraculous are generally unreliable and spurious. Since these reports to the miraculous are generally not true, it is better to believe they in fact did not occur than believe that a natural law was suspended for the miracle to take place.

I agree with David Hume to a point. I believe that most reports of the miraculous are flat out false. I have been an active Christian for about thirty years now and have observed very few instances of what potentially be called a “miracle.” In fact, almost all of the myriads of “miracles” and professed supernatural occurrences that have been reported to me have been false. Not only have they been false, they have been really, really false.

Most of the reports of miracles I have heard have been downright stupid. I have heard hundreds if not thousands of reports of miracles in my long and illustrious Christian experience and almost all of them have been the spurious by-product of an enthusiastic Christian who wanted to believe a miracle took place, but did not in fact occur.

I have personally been a part of activities in my Christian ministry wherein I myself believed at that point that a miracle occurred but was later proven wrong and was a product of my enthusiasm. I wanted to believe God was breaking through the natural laws of physics, suspending nature to perform a miracle. However, countless times this has occurred in my life and almost each and every time, I have been proven wrong. However, there have been enough of these events that could not be falsified to have me believe personally, that miracles do in fact occur in my life and in the lives of others. 

When I was on the mission field in Greece last year, I personally spoke to Iranian Christians who came to Christ upon seeing Christ in a dream. I do not doubt that this occurred. In my own life I have seen God do supernatural things like the time he provided me $20.00 on the streets of Southern California when I had no money and after I specifically asked God if I could have a $20.00 bill. Just a few minutes after asking God for this monetary assistance, that $20.00 bill was laying before my feet in Placentia, California! So, I do not doubt for a second that miracles do occur in the lives of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, I do doubt many of the alleged miracles I have heard about in certain charismatic and Pentecostal circles. Especially claims of “faith healing” done by Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, Robert Tilton and other popular televangelists. I highly doubt that these “miracles” did in fact occur. These reports seem spurious to me.

Yet, that does not mean I agree with David Hume and his thesis on miracles in total. In fact, I adamantly disagree. I do believe the reports of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and other Biblical figures who claimed to have performed or observed a genuine miracle. In fact, I believe the entirety of the Christian faith rests on the miraculous claim that Jesus Christ did in fact rise again from the dead after his death via crucifixion (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

 I believe that if Christ did not die and rise again from the dead then the entirety of the Christian faith is false. However, I believe Jesus did in fact rise from the dead and lives now to give eternal life to all those who would sincerely repent of their sins and believe.

“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9).

“These have been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, you might have life in his name” (John 20:31).