The Resurrection of Jesus/Logic...

ASCENSION-Recently, I have taken an interest in studying the four gospels of the Bible in much greater detail than in previous attempts. After all, the cornerstone of Christianity is based upon these books and in particular, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To find inconsistency within this pivotal section of the Bible's central message would be to devastatingly (from a believer's standpoint) discover the perception of complete fabrication. While I have read and studied the gospels many times in my life, in this instance, I sought to read them with a set of "new eyes" that are free from intellectual dishonesty and confirmatory bias. I implemented a new approach that questioned the validity of the books' context in a sensible, judiciously logical way.

The results: I have uncovered several contradictions that rise to the surface of my concerns, but for the sake of time and space, I would like to delve into what I consider the most important and obvious flaw that reveals much about the credibility value of the book of Matthew's account as acceptable and reasonable "evidence." The central thesis to this topic will be from Matthew 28 which gives an account of the resurrection of Christ, the most important event in the Bible.

Matthew 28:2-4 states, "There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men." This verse conveys to us that the soldiers guarding the tomb had witnessed, first-hand, that the resurrection of Christ had indeed come to fruition. Keep note of this.

Matthew 28:11-15 proceeds to inform us that the guards traveled into the city to explain the miraculous events that they had witnessed and to give an account to the priests. Subsequently, the priests went on to convene with the elders and "...devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money." Verse 13 tells us that the priests declared to the guards, "you are to say, his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep." Verse 15 states, "So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day."

So the obvious first question to ask is: How much money would it require for you to conceal the fact that you had just witnessed, with your very own eyes, that Jesus Christ had indeed been resurrected from the dead? And that he truly was, as he had been proclaiming, God incarnate.

The Bible is instructing us that we should unquestionably be impressed and be willing to lay down our very lives for this Truth of truths, yet these guards were so unstirred by the most profound, impactful event that has ever happened in history (remember that they, themselves witnessed this event) that they accepted a BRIBE to cover up this revelation. They didn't fall to their knees, repent, and become transformed, willing martyrs for the "Truth" they had witnessed. No, they DENIED the Miracle of all miracles by securing a bribe and lying about it which would undeniably, by Biblical doctrine, condemn them to Hell for all of eternity.

Therefore intrinsically, either these guards were not at all compelled by this entire sequence of miraculous events, or Matthew was simply not forthright and truthful about his account which would unequivocally expose the Bible as a work that was fundamentally fallacious.

One popular defense of the guards behavior is, "well, the guards were going to be put to death if they confessed the truth." But this argument holds absolutely no merit because the guards and priests would be choosing infinite suffering, money, and surviving a few more years on Earth in lieu of eternal life when they purportedly possessed indisputable, eyewitness evidence that Jesus Christ was in fact what he said he was! Not a lunatic, not a liar, but the Son of God!

In conclusion, this account is embarrassingly fallacious, inconsistent, and completely irrational to anyone that is willing to put aside their preconceived beliefs that, most likely, their parents programmed into them to protect as indisputable truth.

"Human psychology has a near universal tendency to let belief be coloured by desire." -Richard Dawkins