JD: David, would you not say at least some Biblical reasons are also historic and logical reasons as well?
DJ: Without a doubt. The scriptures are historical documents. In fact there are thousands more copies of them then any other comparably old literary work. And also I would say that while faith involves more than logic it doesn’t contradict logic and it’s never less than logic. The resurrection was recorded by all four gospel writers and among them was Luke who was not only a doctor but he was a historian who carefully researched everything he wrote about. Then in Acts chapter 9 we see Saul of Tarsus encountering there is a Savior. He went from being a mortal enemy of Christians to the for most missionary church planner and theologian of the first century. He suffered for what he did for this change including an attempted execution by stoning. How do we explain that if Jesus wasn’t really alive?
Then in I Corinthians 15 Paul offers the historical and logical argument that the resurrected Christ was seen by as many as 500 people at one time. So there were eyewitnesses who would have been from all over the known world at that time. There are many other things that we can talk about but another important one is that contrary to cultural norms of the day the gospel writers used the testimony of women as an apologetic for the resurrection. This doesn’t make any sense at all if it didn’t really happen.
JD: David James with Bible in hand explaining why we must believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We report this information because it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
My conversation with David James helped each of us from a logical, historical, and Biblical understanding to come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ the son of God did die on a cross, was buried, and then three days and three nights later did rise from the dead. This resurrection is the corner stone of our salvation, that’s I Corinthians 15:1-5. Revelation 1:18 records the words of Jesus, His own testimony of His resurrection. His statement is followed then by Jesus telling John the Revelator to write down the things that he had seen, things which were happening at that time, and things which would happen in the future. Jesus Christ told John the future. Jesus because of His resurrection is also the foundation of Bible prophecy, Revelation 1:19. By the way Jesus Christ is the spirit of Bible prophecy, that’s Revelation 19:10.