Is Out Preaching In Vain?

In the subject Southern Evangelical Seminary Blog post, Dr. David Haines uses the disciples' belief that Jesus rose from the dead to develop the following argument:

1. If the disciples did believe that Jesus rose from the dead, then something caused them to hold this belief.

2. The disciples did believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

3. Therefore, something caused them to hold this belief.

4. Either this belief (a) was caused by an intentional falsehood (a lie), (b) was caused by psychological wish fulfillment, (c) was caused by a psychological reaction based upon being incapable of dealing with the death of Jesus (such as a hallucination), or (d) was caused by a literal resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

5. The belief was not caused by options (a), (b), or (c).

6. Therefore, the cause of the disciple’s belief that Jesus rose from the dead is option (d) – that Jesus was actually resurrected.

He also defends premise 5, the key premise, in this piece. To read the entire post go here.

Stand firm in Christ,
Chase

Comments

Paul G said…
Hi Chase, yes, I believe option (d).
I do not only believe that, I know that, because He appeared to me nearly two thousand years after His resurrection. After meeting the Lord Jesus Christ I never was the same anymore but a new creation in Christ Jesus my Lord.
Paul