by Theodore Wright.
 

Previously, I was searching for God but rejected a number of religions due to what I found as their fallacious claims. Yes, I also knew a number of Born-Again Christians. Still, there were matters I found that needed to be addressed about the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
 

I did not reject Bible Christianity because Christians had a lack of love. Oh, I found them a very loving people and kind to me.

I did not reject Bible Christianity because Christians had a lack of power. I would wonder how some of the Born-Again Christians knew private things about me which they could not normally know. When I would ask them, they said things like, “Oh, that’s God!” I would look at them and quietly think to myself, “They say it is God, but what is it really?”

I did not reject Bible Christianity because of its message against sin. I knew I was a sinner and that I needed God but still, who was the true God? I wanted to believe in the true God, not some fable of one. So, I expected nothing less than PROOF.
 

The issue was two-fold about my rejection of Jesus. First, I thought that believing in Jesus was a “knowing faith”. I did not understand that it was a “trusting faith” in Him that saves. So my faith in Jesus was only intellectual and one that did not change my life. The second issue was that I did not believe that Jesus Christ was bodily risen from the dead. I found Born-Again Christians as wonderful people. There were some, who I found later were legalists that were a little off, but even they were nice.
 

Still, I considered that facts are facts. If Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead then Christianity seems like a nice idea but I had no idea how it could be lived and that it was still premised on a lie. Simply put, I understood then that Jesus was dead. Looking forward to Heaven after death seemed comfortable and all but still it would have to be proven to convince me.
 

Why didn’t I believe that Jesus rose from the dead as told in the Scriptures? Do you really want to know? O.K. The reason was what the Holy Bible told me. Does that surprise you? Please let me explain. I was reading through the New Testament when I was a searching agnostic. After I read through the book of Matthew, I came across Bible verses in the gospel of Matthew chapter 28, verses 10 through 17…
 

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, 13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

I paused there and said, “What could be more simple than that! The disciples stole His body!” I considered that there was a plot to keep the dream about Jesus alive and this story was invented to maintain it. I kept reading…
 

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
 

Well, it did not seem to me that all the disciples were convinced that Jesus bodily rose from the dead with this written here! I would’ve bet there were a number of other people besides them that would have found this a dubious tale. I figured this might have been mentioned to account for many critics to a manufactured account.

WHAT CHANGED MY MIND? I had found out that the disciples could not have stolen the body of Jesus. The number of Roman guards could have been as much as even 50 or more. All the guards would have had to been sleeping while the disciples rolled a 2 to 2 & 1/2 ton boulder uphill without waking any one of the sleeping guards. If one was waken then all would have been. Then the disciples would have to go in and steel the body. Besides, how would the Roman guards have known that the body of Jesus was stolen by the disciples if they were all sleeping. The story that the body of Jesus was stolen is quite infeasible.
 

After further research regarding other theories of mine why Jesus was still dead, I realized that it was a provable fact of history. Jesus Christ is bodily risen from the dead! You still don’t believe? You try to disprove this based on the historical facts! I tried. Oh yes, I tried and failed. JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!

What about the disciples that doubted the bodily risen Jesus? I had presumed that their doubt was denying unbelief yet it wasn’t.

Luke chapter 24, verses 34 through 41 reads…

34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. 35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. 36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
 

As you can see from the parallel gospel account, the disciples that did not believe did not because they yet believed not for joy. Doubt is not always rank out unbelief, it can also be from hesitancy or surprise. The word from the Matthew passage for “doubt” is not the usual word for this in Greek. The same Greek word (ἐδίστασας) was used in Matthew chapter 14, verse 31 with Jesus’ words after He allowed Peter to walk on water with Him.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Peter did doubt. Yet, Peter did not have unbelief for it was he who walked on water as long as he did and not the other disciples.
It is likewise true that the disciples did not express denying unbelief in their joy when they doubted, seeing Jesus risen from the dead.

Therefore, I found that my denial of Jesus Christ and His bodily resurrection was based on false conclusions. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, alive forevermore, moving in power through those believing in Him. This is the proven fact of history.

All those who place trusting faith in God solely through His Son Jesus Christ receive the forgiveness of all their sins and the free gift of everlasting life. Jesus shed His blood to pay the penalty for us. Call on Jesus NOW!