Christian Evidences
Question 1
To respond to a friend who doubts that Jesus ever existed, I would use a few arguments, including one of the hundreds of eyewitness accounts that claim that they saw Jesus before and after resurrection. The New Testament is filled with accounts from the disciples of Jesus who followed Jesus and witnessed everything that He did. This is especially true when He resurrected, and individuals like Mary Magdalene, the apostles, and over five hundred other people all testify to have seen Jesus. These accounts are found in 1st Corinthians: Christian Evidences.
For example, in chapter fifteen, verses three to eight, we have Paul and James as eyewitnesses of the risen Christ (Craig, 2010). Besides, all these accounts come from different people who do not know each other, but one thing that is notable is that they are all consistent. One way that something can be proven to be real is if different people testify to it while they have not met before. In addition, there is no way to disapprove of the diversity of these accounts, making it all the more real that these individuals did indeed witness the resurrection of Jesus.
The second argument I would use to argue that Jesus was real is the origin of the Christian Faith. Right around the time Jesus is said to have resurrected, there was a surge in growth and the willingness of many believers to not only be persecuted but also be killed. One of the well-documented pieces of evidence of martyrdom is that of Peter found in John, whereby Jesus foretold the death of Peter by crucifixion due to his faith in God, a death that came to pass. This prophecy is also recorded by Bart Ehram in his book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene,” The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend (Craig, 2010).
In addition, Peter’s martyrdom is also recorded by early church fathers, including Dionysius of Corinth, Ignatius, Clement of Rome, and Irenaeus (Habermas & Licona, 2004). Other notable individuals who were martyrs are John the Baptist and Paul, who both died in the same way by being beheaded. This shows the extent of depth these apostles had in their convictions in Jesus and His resurrection.
The third argument I would use as evidence of Jesus’s existence is His empty tomb. From the start, there is evidence from eyewitness accounts that Jesus was sentenced to die by Pilate; this was followed by crucifixion and His death on the cross. All this is documented in the books of 1st Corinthians, Mark, and Acts (Habermas & Licona, 2004). After His death on the cross, Jesus was then laid in a tomb that was guarded by soldiers.
Later on, the tomb is found empty, as told by Mark and Matthew, both independent sources. While there are many claims that try to refute that Jesus rose from the dead and that His body was moved, there has been no evidence for this, and His remains are yet to be found. An empty tomb with no body to be found anywhere and several accounts of Jesus being alive after He had died a few days before is irrefutable.
Lastly, the empty tom was discovered by women, who at the time held a low ranking in society and had no ability to serve as legal witnesses. As such, supposing that the rising of Christ was made up, it would have had men as witnesses so that the story was more believable as opposed to women.
Question 3
When faced with the argument that the Bible is unreliable because it has been corrupted over the years, especially in regards to the New Testament, the first defense would be that considering the fact that these are events that took place thousands of years ago, there is no doubt that there will be copies of copies of copies of the originals. The absence of the original writings does not, however, mean that the documents were made up or drastically altered over time.
One way to argue this is by establishing the date of the writing of the Bible, like the New Testament. According to scholarly consensus, the books that comprise the New Testament were written around 50 and 100 A.D. There is a difference between the liberal scholars who prefer to date the texts towards the end of the period mentioned above and the conservative scholars who date it towards the beginning. The point here is that by confirming these dates, the academia has established that these texts were written in the duration of the lifespans of people who encountered Jesus Christ.
The second argument would be about how old the manuscripts are and how they could have been altered over time. There are over 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament, with over 5,000 of them being in Greek. All these manuscripts range from the earliest, which is the Gospel of John, and are dated back to the year 125. A few others, including portions of the books of Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Matthew, are dated between the second and fourth centuries.
After this period, the number of manuscripts increased as more and more copies were made. Taking all the time that passed and all the copies that have been made, it is reasonable to question whether the manuscripts were corrupted. According to Dr. Bart Ehrman, a non-Christian scholar of the New Testament, who also happens to be one of the recognized textual critics today, the New Testament manuscripts were changed, but these changes are nothing but harmless (Ehrman, 2011).
According to the critic, while the copies were being made, mistakes like the omission of a line, and the most common one was misspelling the words. However, there are two notable instances where it is evident that the text was completely altered, both found in Mark and John. However, since these two passages are nowhere to be found in the original manuscripts, they have been omitted in the modern Bible.
Another argument to support the reliability of the Bible is based on textual criticism, whereby scholars have argued that the writing in the Bible is too factual to be fictional. This means that the texts of the Bible, for example, the description used to talk about the items used back then, clothing, the language, and everything else, are all too real, which is impossible for fictional work. As such, scholars argue that the Bible was written in the first century, and no major changes have been made to it. Simply put, the text of the Bible is reliable, so much so that skeptic scholars like Dr. Bart Ehrman admit that it is unaltered and reliable.
References
Craig, W. L. (2010). On guard: Defending your faith with reason and Precision. David C. Cook.
Ehrman, B. D. (2011). The Reliability of the New Testament. Fortress Press.
Habermas, G. R., & Licona, M. R. (2004). The case for the resurrection of Jesus. Kregel Publications.
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Question 
OVERVIEW
In both Christian Evidences Assignments, you will answer two of the three provided questions based on reading from the learn material and any additional research you want to conduct. The goal with these assignments is to analyze the concepts presented and succinctly synthesize it into a coherent response based on the types of experiences Christians face when being asked about their faith.
INSTRUCTIONS
Each Christian Evidences Assignment should answer two of the three provided questions. Each question should be answered in 2-3 pages, double spaced. These answers should then be combined into a 4-6-page essay, double spaced, and submitted as a singular assignment. It is expected that the course textbook reading will qualify as the primary source for writing essays; however, you are permitted to use other sources.
Any sources quoted or used in the essay should be cited using current APA, MLA, or Turabian. Each essay is meant to answer a related group of questions, so it is important that you are thorough in answering the questions completely.
Christian Evidences: Jesus and the Bible Assignment (YOU MUST ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING THREE QUESTIONS for MODULE 4)
- You are speaking with a new friend in the neighborhood. The conversation takes a turn towards religion, and you begin to share your faith and background with your friend. This friend smirks, then states that he doubts that Jesus ever lived. How would you respond to him?
- In an essay, answer the following question: Why is it important for the Christian to believe in the historicity of Jesus Christ? Or in other words, why is historicity important? The key word in this question is “why.” Be sure to answer accordingly.
- You meet a person on the ski lift at a local ski area, and in making small talk, you mention that you are taking college classes in the Bible. This new acquaintance is not trying to be antagonistic, but nevertheless, brings up something that he had heard regarding the “corruption” of the Bible. Upon further inquiry, you discover that this man has taken for granted the argument that the New Testament was corrupted over the centuries through the transmission process, and is thus unreliable. How might you answer him?
Christian Evidences
Christian Evidences: Jesus and the Resurrection Assignment (YOU MUST ANSWER TWO OF THE FOLLOWING THREE QUESTIONS for MODULE 8)
- Describe the “minimal” facts approach to the resurrection question. Be sure in your answer, to provide a general description and outline of this approach when applied to the resurrection of Christ. Do you agree or disagree with this approach?
- Can one “prove” that Jesus was raised from the dead? Why or why not? Can evidence from the case for the resurrection be used to further any other apologetic inquiries or arguments? If so, which ones?
- Why is it so important to deal with the question of “legend” as it pertains to the resurrection? What is the relationship between the early dating of New Testament documents and the dispelling of accusations that the resurrection story developed as a legend? Why is it so important that resurrection testimony be dated back to the years immediately following the crucifixion of Christ? Why is the recognition of “creeds” so important in establishing an argument refuting the “legendary development” objection to the resurrection?
Readings: