An Easter Challenge for Christians
The challenge
Here is an “Easter Challenge” for all Christians. The challenge is simply this: tell me what happened on Easter. I am not asking for proof. My straightforward request is merely that Christians tell me exactly what happened, according to the bible, on the weekend that Christianities most important doctrine was created.
Believers should eagerly take up this challenge since without the resurrection there is no Christianity. Paul wrote, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." I Corinthians 15:14-15.
The conditions of the challenge are simple and reasonable. In each of the four Gospels, begin at Easter morning and read to the end of the book, Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21. Also, read Acts 1:3-12 and Paul's tiny version of the story in I Corinthians 15:3-8. These 165 verses can be read in a few moments. Then, without omitting a single detail from these separate accounts, write a simple, chronological narrative of the events between the resurrection and the ascension: what happened first, second, and so on; who said what, when; and where these things happened.
Since the gospels do not always give precise times of day, it is permissible to make educated guesses. The narrative does not have to pretend to present a perfect picture; it only needs to give at least one plausible account of all of the facts. Additional explanation of the narrative may be set apart in parentheses. The important condition to the challenge, however, is that not one single biblical detail be omitted. Fair enough?
Many bible stories are given only once or twice, and are therefore hard to confirm. The author of Matthew, for example, was the only one to mention that at the crucifixion dead people emerged from the graves of Jerusalem, walking around showing them selves to everyone, an amazing event that could hardly escape the notice of the other Gospel writers, or any other historians of the period. Though the silence of others might weaken the likelihood of a story, it does not disprove it. Disconfirmation comes with contradictions.
Thomas Paine tackled this matter two hundred years ago in “The Age of Reason”, stumbling across dozens of New Testament discrepancies, "I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted," he wrote, "first, that the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story to be true, because the parts may agree and the whole may be false; secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves the whole cannot be true."
Since five different writers tell the Easter story, it gives one of the best chances to confirm or disconfirm the account. Christians should welcome the opportunity.
Please take some time now to complete this challenge. When finished, follow the link to the next page.
Good luck.
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