"IF CHRIST HAS NOT BEEN RAISED, OUR PREACHING IS USELESS AND SO IS YOUR FAITH (1 Corinthians 15:14). 

DATA TO BE CONSIDERED:

1. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.  It is worldwide in scope. Its history can be traced back to Palestine around A.D.32. The book of Acts is a litany of stories relating how whole communities were stirred by the message of Jesus and His resurection. The belivers were first called Christians in the city of Antioch. In Thessalonica Paul's preaching persuaded some of the Jews, a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women to believe. The message literally "turned the world of their time upside down". They constantly referred to the resurection as the basis for their teaching, preaching, living and - significantly - dying.

2. THE CHRISTIAN DAY.  Sunday is the day of worship for Christians. Its history can also be traced back to the year A.D.32. Such a shift in the calendar was monumental. Something cataclysmic must have happened to change the day of worship from the Jewish sabbath, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday, the first day. Acts 20:7 states simply, "On the first day of the week we came together", an established pattern.  Christians said the shift came because of  their desire to celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead. This shift is all the more remarkable when we remember that the first Christians were Jews. If the resurrection does not account for this change, what does?

3. THE CHRISTIAN BOOK, THE NEW TESTAMENT.  In its pages are contained independent testimonies to the fact of the resurrection. Three of these, at least, are eyewitnesses: John, Peter and Matthew.  Luke's Gospel gives evidence of a historian with a classical background known to travel with Paul and heard him preach the resurrection (2 Timothy 4:11). Paul, writing to the churches at an early date, referred to the resurrection in such a way that to him and his readers the event was obviously well -known and accepted without question. Are these men who helped transform the moral structure of society comsummate liars or deluded madmen? These alternatives stem from our human knowlege  and are harder to believe than the fact of Jesus, the incarnation of God rising from the dead. There is no shred of evidence to support another view. (Paul E. Little).

4. RESURECTION FORETOLD.  Christ actually predicted He would rise on the third day - His claims are substantiated throughout the four Gospels. (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22) "He was speaking of the temple of His body" (John 2:19-21).

5. INTELIGENT FAITH.   Never is an individual called upon to commit intelectual suicide in trusting Christ as  Savior and Lord.  Instead, a believer is instructed to be ready always to give an answer ( an inteligent one) as to why he believes (1 Peter 3:15).

6. HISTORICAL CRITERIA. The followers of Christ said He showed Himself alive to them by "many convincing proofs" (Acts 1:3) Luke used the term tekmerion. That connotes  "demonstrable proof".