Without the Resurrection ...

This Sunday is Easter, a harbinger of Spring and a holiday full of many unique traditions: Decorated hard-boiled eggs and Easter egg hunts, candy (especially the chocolate kind), baby chicks and bunnies that have been dyed various pastel colors, and flashy new clothing.

While these all have their place, for those of us who are Christian, the most important component of the holiday is something called the Resurrection: The moment when a man who had been viciously beaten and executed three days before, walked out of a tomb alive, well and whole.

The Resurrection is the linchpin of the Christian faith. Without the Resurrection, Christianity flies apart like a house of cards in a gust of wind.

Without the Resurrection, the Christian faith becomes nothing more than a quaint philosophy held together by the flimsy threads of self-absorption, fuzzy theology and salvation by social work. Its leader becomes little more than a cult figure, no different than dozens of others who have come and gone through the course of history, adding their distinctness to the tapestry of human wisdom.

Without the Resurrection, though, nothing matters. Because there is no God, no Savior, no eternity. And all of human existence is nothing more than a cruel cosmic joke.

I don’t believe that. What I do believe are historical, verifiable facts.

FACT: Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure. This fact is borne out in the acceptance of the historicity of Jesus by nearly every legitimate historian from the 1st Century until the present. To deny that Jesus was real is pretty much the same as denying that climate change exists.

FACT: Jesus of Nazareth was executed by the Roman Government in the 1st Century. This, too, is historically verifiable. Jesus was beaten nearly beyond recognition, and then crucified. He died on a cross, and a Roman soldier pierced His heart with a spear to make sure He was dead.

FACT: Beginning three days after Jesus’ execution, witnesses — who would eventually number in the hundreds — started claiming they had seen Him alive.

FACT: Nearly every one of those witnesses — even when imprisoned, tortured, or executed — refused to recant their claim of having seen Jesus alive after His execution. This prompts a question that has been asked ever since: “Who is willing to die for a lie?”

These are a few of the facts on which the Christian faith is based. Christians do not have to concede they cling to myths and fables. We cling to facts.

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” – 2nd Peter 1:16 (ESV)

— Doug Chastain is a retired teacher and is currently a large-vehicle transportation specialist for the Siloam Springs School District. (Okay, he drives a bus.) He is also a grass maintenance technician at Camp Siloam. (Yeah, he mows the lawn.) You can contact him at dougchastain@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.