Category Archives: easter

Some helpful thoughts on the Resurrection of Jesus

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This weekend is Easter weekend.

Australians in general love it because it is a four day long weekend, a chance for rest and recreation.

Christians love it even more because it is the very foundation of real rest, the relief from having to wonder about our relationship to the divine, and the ultimate freedom from having to prove ourselves via competition from others (if you want to know how that works, I spoke on this last Sunday, you can listen here).

There have been some very helpful posts leading up to Easter this year, so I thought I point them out.

1. Resurrection and Science

One of the major objections to belief in the resurrection of Jesus has been the thought that is is incompatible with modern science.Dr John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, has written a piece on how a scientist can believe in a ‘miracle’ like the resurrection of Jesus. You can find it here.

2. Resurrection and Sources

Another objection to the resurrection of Jesus is that the accounts in the primary sources, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, found in the Bible, are incompatible with each other. The claim is that, since these accounts mention different things and different people,  they can’t be speaking about the one event, and so therefore they are unreliable.

Dr Peter Bolt, Head of New Testament at Moore Theological College in Sydney (and PhD in the world of the first century from Cambridge) has written a piece showing how the different accounts weave together to speak of one narrative. You can read it here.

[Peter will be speaking at St Pauls on Thursday, 15th May 2014, on the evidence for the historical Jesus, his life and actions – all welcome!]

3. Resurrection and Evidence

Finally, here is a helpful piece from Dr William Lane Craig that puts together the case for the resurrection of Jesus.

May you have a safe and meaningful Easter.

[BTW, our services at St Paul’s Castle Hill where I work are Good Friday: 8am & 10am; Easter Sunday 8 & 10am, 5 & 7pm]

He is Risen – He is Risen Indeed!

 

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The Shocking Truth of the Passion

 

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“The prediction of Jesus’ passion conceals a great irony, for the suffering and death of the Son of Man will not come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and wicked people. The suffering of the Son of Man comes rather at the hands of ‘the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law.’ It is not humanity at its worst that will crucify the Son of God but humanity at its absolute best (emphasis mine). The death of Jesus will not be the result of a momentary lapse or aberration of human nature, but rather the result of careful deliberations from respected religious leaders who will justify their actions by the highest standard of law and morality, even believing them to render service to God (John 16:2). Jesus will not be lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal act. He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried and executed by the world’s envy of jurisprudence – the Jewish Sanhedrin and the principia iuris Romanorum.”

James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 254.

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The Story of Easter on Twitter

Better late than never…

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Experts’ Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection

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Experts’ Evidence for Jesus’ Crucifixion

[fixed to fit better]

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Puppet Shows Easter 2011






Razza and me, talking about Jesus to kids at Pacific Hills Christian School.

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christmas is really for the children

Christmas is really for the children.
Especially for children
who like animals, stables,
stars and babies wrapped
in swaddling clothes.
Then there are wise men,
kings in fine robes,
humble shepherds and a
hint of rich perfume.

Easter is not really
for the children
unless accompanied by
a cream filled egg.
It has whips, blood, nails,
a spear and allegations
of body snatching.
It involves politics, God
and the sins of the world.
It is not good for people
of a nervous disposition.
They would do better to
think on rabbits, chickens
and the first snowdrop
of spring.

Or they’d do better to
wait for a re-run of
Christmas without asking
too many questions about
what Jesus did when he grew up
or whether there’s any connection.

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Easter reflection

He hell in hell laid low;
Made sin, he sin o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.

S.W.Gandy

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