by Jim Jordan

Created on: June 18, 2008

So many of the Internet dialogs on theology get tangled up in details that are generally irrelevant. The discussion of whether Jesus is divine rests only on one point, did He rise from the dead?

It's similar to that Wendy's commercial advertising a 99 cent crispy chicken sandwich which shows a guy describing how he almost ran over a unicorn on his way to get the aforementioned special sandwich. The girl he's talking to says, "Repeat that. You mean that Wendy's has a 99 cent crispy chicken sandwich?" She missed the part about the unicorn because she was more fascinated by a 99 cent sandwich. There's a philosophical point to be made there.

The resurrection is the unicorn in the theological debates. Paul wrote that if the resurrection did not happen there is no Christianity. So it becomes easier for the skeptic to disprove Christianity if it in fact can be disproved. Paul did not miss a beat with this open challenge to disprove the resurrection. 1950 years later no one has made any headway in that no silver bullet or rotting corpse has been found. One of the best attempts was by Simon Greenleaf, a founder of Harvard, who set out to disprove the resurrection, but became soundly convinced that Jesus rose from the dead.

Much of what we hear that dismisses the resurrection is 99 cent chicken sandwich material. Archaeologist James Tabor doesn't believe because "people don't rise from the dead". Unless of course, God wants you to. And of course the Creator of the universe whose power is present in all things could bring someone back from the dead.

Others ramble on about how God can't die or a person can't be fully God and fully man. But the metalinguistic truth to prove or disprove is still the resurrection. How could someone prove God can inhabit a man and die? How could someone disprove that? What would your frame of reference be? You certainly can't expect to disprove the extraordinary because it isn't ordinary!

Still others ramble on about historical details that are questionable in the book of Acts or the synoptic gospels. I have found none of these discrepancies to be anything but minor. Luke's supposed confusion about Quirinius' "first census" is debatable. There's a lot of interesting details to ponder and research. New archaeological discoveries will hopefully shed more light on these details. But they are 99 cent chicken sandwiches.

The fact is that the world's largest religion exploded into existence in the months and years following the death and professed resurrection

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