Was Jesus Christ’s Resurrection “fake news?” One Apostle thought so. After Christ’s resurrection the Apostle Thomas was not present the first time Jesus appeared to all the others. When Thomas did arrive and the others told them that they had seen the Lord, he doubted.
He wanted tangible proof. He wanted to touch the wounds of Jesus. Those doubts lead him to forever have the moniker, “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas was there at the second appearance of Jesus and Christ satisfied Thomas’ doubts. Thomas confessed, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said, “Stop doubting and believe.” (Jn.20:27)
Today, we live in the age of “fake news” and we have become a nation of skeptics doubting every claim. Such a diet of skepticism erodes the hope of finding any truth. Many people have doubts about the resurrection. Some feel such a story is for young children and old ladies and the uneducated. Almost all who feel that way, have never themselves really studied the Bible, but based their opinion more on hearsay, maybe they heard something in a movie. Yet, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support the scriptural account if one seeks it out.
Dr. Simon Greenleaf was a royal professor of law at Harvard University and later, Dane professor of law there. Greenleaf produced his famous three-volume work, “A Treatise on the Law of Evidence,” which is still considered one of the greatest single authorities on the subject in the entire literature of legal procedure. Greenleaf turned his attention to the evidence for the resurrection of Christ applying the same principles. His findings were recorded in his book, “An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice.” His conclusion was that there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history.
Prof. Thomas Arnold, chair of modern history at Oxford University, an author of ”A History of Rome,” concluded, “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again.”