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EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION
Dr. J. Dowell Loftis
Pastor
4220 S. Couth FM 158
Bryan, Tx. 77802-3674
776-5731 • email: hillcres@myriad.net
illcrest
Bible study & Worship Services
Sundays 9:30 & 10:45 am
God’s people sharing His Love’
Westminister Presbyterian Church
3333 Oak Ridge Dr.
(across from Bryan High School, next to Bryan Aquatic Center)
HE IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN, INDEED!
Easter Sunrise Service at church 6:30 am
Children's Easter Musical 9:40 am
Morning Worship 10:55 am
776-1185 • email: wpc@myriad.net
(a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America)
(Sunday Worship 8:30 & 10:45 am, 7:14 pm
D C'rutri Wednesday (Services 7:14 pm
TTcTlil OI Randall Scott - Pastor
^ assembly of gckT 778-4835 • email: ranscot.@startel.net
‘Easter is the traditional time when we celebrate
Jesus’ triumph over death, and prai&e God
for the new life he has given us.”
2608 E. Villa Maria • Bryan, Texas 77805
Association of Baptist Students
Invite you to join them for
"RELOAD"
Thursdays
at 7:30 PM
ASS Center
410 College Main
&
Sunday Mornings
10:30 AM
In the facilities of
A+ Tutoring
For more information call 846-3223
A passion for Jesus
A vision for people
BAPTIST CHURCH
Chris Osborne - Pastor
600 S. Coulter Dr., Bryan
779-1591
Prayer Line 779-PRAY
Sunday School - 8:15, 9:30, 1 1:00 am
Freedom College Bible Study - 1 1:00 am
Worship Services - 9:30, 11:00 am, 6:30 pm
‘97 EASTER PAGEANT
Thursday 27th through Sunday 20th at 7:00 pm
Call the Church Office for more information.
University (Christian JPellowship
"A. Church Without Walls"
With priorities on "celebrative worship”
and ’’small groups."
Cosponsor of
V
Sunday Mornings at 10:30 AM
In the facilities of A+ Tutoring
For more information call 268-6445
First Baptist
Church
Bryan
Come Celebrate
Easter Sunday With Us!
9:30 a.m. - University Worship and Bible Study
10:50 a.m. - Easter Celebration
Located 5 miles north of Texas A8JVI on Texas Ave.
John David Herring, ‘93
University Minister
779-2434
email: jdherring@juno.com
Is it miracle or hoax?
Reports of empty tomb circulate
After 2,000 years the resurrection of Jesus Christ
continues to remain a hotly contested issue. Josh
McDowell writes in his best seller Evidence That De
mands a Verdict, “After more than 700 hours of study
ing this subject, and thoroughly investigating its
foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most wicked,
vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of
men, or it is the most fantastic fact of history.”
World’s Major Religions Examined
Only four of the world s major religions are based
upon personalities rather than philosophical propo
sitions. Abraham, the father of Judiasm, died around
1900 B.C. and was said to have been buried with no
claim to resurrection. Wilbur M. Smith, Therefore
Stand, says, “The original accounts of Buddha nev
er ascribe to him any such thing as a resurrection: in
fact, in the earliest accounts of his death...we read
that when Buddha died it was with that utter pass
ing away in which nothing whatever remains be
hind.” Mohammed, founder of Islam, died June 8,
632 A.D. and his tomb is visited annually by mil
lions of devotees. Jews, Buddhists, and Mo
hammedans agree their founders are dead and have
never been resurrected. Only Christianity claims an
empty tomb for its founder.
To refute Christian claims one must first explain
away the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What exactly
occurred that fateful weekend some 2,000 years ago?
First, it is vital to note that Jesus was dead as a re
sult of the crucifixion. Michael Green, Man Alive,
writes of Christs death, “We are told on eyewitness
authority that ‘blood and water’ came out of the
pierced side of Jesus (John 19:34, 35)...Had Jesus
been alive when the spear pierced his side, strong
spouts of blood would have emerged with every heart
beat. Instead, the observer noticed semi-solid dark
red clod seeping out, distinct and separate from the
accompanying watery serum. This is evidence of
massive clotting of the blood in the main arteries,
and is exceptionally strong medical proof of death.”
Green also points out that Pilate required proof of a
criminal’s death. “Four executioners came to exam
ine him (Christ), before a friend, Joseph of Ari-
mathea, was allowed to take away the body for bur
ial.”
Burial Customs Explained
Second, Joseph of Arimathea then prepared the body
for burial according to Jewish custom and placed it in a
new tomb hewn out of solid rock. Merrill Tenney, The
Reality of the Resurrection, explains the grave clothes as
follows: “In preparing a body for burial according to Jew
ish custom, it was usually washed and straightened, and
then bandaged tighdy from the armpits to the ankles in
strips of linen about a foot wide. Aromatic spices, often
of a gummy consistency, were placed between the wrap
pings of folds, they served partially as a preservative and
partially as a cement to glue the cloth wrapping? into a
solid covering.” This “encasement” weighed about 100
pounds.
Third, a stone “door” was rolled against the en
trance to the tomb. Matthew said the stone was
large. Mark called it extremely large. Frank Morri
son, Who Moved the Stone?, as well as other engineers
have calculated the size of stone that would have been
needed to cover the entrance of such a tomb would
have to have weighed 1 1/2 to 2 tons. In Mark 16:4
portion ol the Bezae manuscripts in theCambr>®
Library in England, a parenthetical statement«'l
found that adds, “and when he (Jesus) was laidlA.I
he (Joseph) put against the tomb a stone whichrT
ty men could not roll away.”
Fourth, a detachment of at least fourRotJ
guards was placed at the tomb and the tomb'dojl
sealed according to Roman law. I his would pH
quite a deterrent to anyone wishing to rob®
gravesite.
Tomb Found Empty'
Even with all these precautions, the tomb.J
empty three days later and the foundation forGf
tianiry established. Dr. David Fredrick Strauss 1
unbelieving skeptic who was severely criticalofri
thing supernatural in the gospels, has acknowIccT
that the resurrection is the “touchstone not oftlit I
of Jesus only, hut of Christianity itself. It “toucl
Christianity to the quick” and is “decisive for:1
whole view of Christianity.”
Paul Althus, cited by Wolfhart PanncnbergO
-God and Man), says, “In Jerusalem, the placeo! :| [
sus’ execution and grave, it was proclaimed non
after his death that he had been raised. Thesima::
demands that within the circle of the first comir;
niry one had a reliable testimony for the fact that:
grave had been found empty.” The resurrcctx
Kerygma (proclamation) could have not been mi.
rained in Jerusalem for a single day, forasingleboi
if the emptiness of the tomb had not been establish!
as a fact for all concerned.”
(Information in this article was taken from!::
dence That Demands a Verdict and “The Resume
tion—Hoax or History?” both by Josh McDowell
Ml
Who moved the stone?
The 2 1/2 ton door was sealed by special
government order and a guard of Rome’s
elite was posted. The disciplines were
cowering somewhere in Jerusalem. Yet
Jesus’ body was gone within three days!
How? Why?
A
'JE5U5
IS
.RISEN //
WE
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HIM /
TX/Vv
@ HEY,
SHUT
those ^
C1'EAhTi
SHUT
THEM
up.
Tusr
SHOW
THEM
THE
BODY.
YES.
SHOW
THEM
THE
I BODY, j
f DO
YOU
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WE
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THE
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] DOES
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Bible reliability questioned; historicity defended
\
Many discussions concerning the
veracity of the claims of the Christ
ian faith center upon the reliability
of the Bible. F.F. Bruce, The New
Testament Documents: Are They Reli
able?, makes some appropriate com
ments.
Reliability Truly Important
“Does it matter whether the New
Testament documents are reliable or
not? Is it so very important that we
should be able to accept them as tru
ly historical records? Some people
will very confidently return a nega
tive answer to both these questions.
The fundamental principles of
Christianity, they say, are laid down
in the Sermon of the Mount and
elsewhere in the New Testament
(NT): their validity is not affected
by the truth or falsehood of the nar
rative framework in which they are
set...”
Bruce continues, “This argument
sounds plausible, and it may be ap
plicable to some religions. It might
be held, for example, that the ethics
of Confucianism have an indepen
dent value quite apart from the sto
ry of the life of Confucius him
self... But the argument can be
applied to the NT only if we ignore
the real essence of Christianity. For
the Christian gospel is not primari
ly a code of ethics or a metaphysical
system; it is first and foremost good
news...And this good news is inti
mately bound up with the histor-
icalorder...This historical ‘once-for-
all-ness’ of Christianity, which
distinguishes it from those religious
and philosophical systems which are
not specially related to any particu
lar time, makes the reliability of the
writings which purport to record this
revelation a question of first-rate im
portance.”
NT Evidence Overwhelming
What exactly is the “evidence” for
the historical reliability of the New
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
2506 Cavitt, Bryan
779-7608
Good Friday Worship - 7:00 pm
Easter Sunrise Service 6:00 am - Sue Haswell Park
(located on William Joel Bryan Pkwy.)
"Lawn Chairs Welcome"
Easter Worship 8:30 & 11:00 am at Church
Sunday School 9:45 am
Testament? Bruce writes, “The evi
dence for our NT writings is ever so
much greater than the evidence for
many writings of classical authors,
the authenticity of which no-one
dreams of questioning. ”
Many critics say the NT was writ
ten long after the deaths of the origi
nal apostles, which allows for the de
velopment of myths and legends
concerning the life of Jesus Christ.
William F. Albright, who in his day
was the worlds foremost biblical
archeologist, said, “We can already
say emphatically that there is no
longer any solid basis for dating any
book of the NT after about A.D. 80,
two full generations before the date
between 130 and 150 given by the
more radical NT critics of today.”
“Perhaps we can appreciate how
wealthy the New Testament is in
manuscript attestation if we compare
the textual material for other ancient
historical works.” says Bruce. Cae
sar’s Gallic War (written 58-50 B.C.)
has only nine or ten good extant
manuscripts (mss) the oldest of
which was copied 900 years after the
original. Plato’s Tetralogies (written
427-347 B.C.) has seven extuif#
the oldest being scribed LW,®
after the original.
How do the ancient mssolikNT
compare? There are more than
24,000 existing copies of the NTdat
ed 125-250 A. D. There are also ovei
36,000 quotations oftheNTinpa-
tristic writings to the fourth centur)'.
Integrity of NT Established
Sir Francis Kenyon, a scholar of
ancient mss concludes, “The interval
then between the dates of the origi
nal composition and the earliest ex
tant evidence becomes so small asio
be in fact negligible, and the las'
foundation for any doubt that o' 1
Scriptures have come down to
substantially as they were writtenb
now been removed. Both the W
thenticity and the general integrity®
the books of the New Testament ffl?
be regarded as finally established.
(Material for this article was tafc
from The New Testament Documeti
Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce a®
Evidence That Demands a Verdif
Josh McDowell.)
Celebrate Easter at the Creek
Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater
March 30, 10:00 am
9:30 am Preservice &
11:00 am Postservice Concerts
Featuring
Aggie Concert Band,
Freedom Worship Band, and Zion Jubilee
Worship Service Music
Presented by:
A&M United Methodist Church Choir
Admission Free Parking at Post Oak Mall
Seating on lawn (bring blankets or lawn chairs)
Transportation from parking lot for handicapped.
Sponsored by A&M United Methodist Church
For additional information, call 846-8731.
New Life in Christ Church
401 Lawrence
God has a good
plan for you"
Sunday Worship 10:30am & 6:30pm
Children’s Church 10:30 am
Wednesday 7:00pm
Nursery Provided for all services
Alfred Paine - P astor
779-1682
here exists no
document from the
ancient world witnessed
by so excellent a set of textual and
historical testimonies... Skepticism
regarding the historical credentials
of Christianity is based upon an
irrational bias.
Clark Pinnock
McMaster University
College Heights Assembly of God
4100 Old College Rd., Bryan • 846-2777
9:30 am Sunday Service
10:30 am Morning Worship
6:00 pm Resurrection Celebration Praise
and Worship Service
Tommy Thompson, Pastor
“People Reaching People’
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