Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Is the resurrection of Jesus just a matter of blind belief, or can we really know what happened that first Easter Sunday?

According to Biola Professor and theologian Thaddeus Williams, the answer is yes, we can. And it involves four

facts from seven non-Christian scholars and six Hollywood movies. Here's Thaddeus Williams.

First, the facts. Fact one, Jesus died by crucifixion. Outspoken critic of Christianity

Bart Erman argues, quote, since no one would have made up the idea of a crucified Messiah, Jesus must have really been

crucified. Gerd Ludemann calls it indisputable, while Pinchot-Lapin considers it historically

certain. Fact two, the disciples had experiences from which they concluded that Jesus

rose bodily from the dead. Again, Bart Ehrman, quote, we can say with complete certainty that

some of Jesus' disciples at some later time insisted that he soon appeared to them, convincing them

that he had been raised from the dead. Marcus Borg concurs, quote,

For the early Christians, the living Christ was not an object of belief, but an element of

experience some saw him.

Fact three.

Paul, an anti-Christian, became a willing to die Christian because he thought he encountered

a risen Jesus.

Fame critic of Christianity, Shelby Spong Spong argues there is no question that Paul was a learned

Jew, yet his conversion was total, dramatic, and complete.

Ludamond concludes that, quote, a particular event made a persecutor a proclaimer,

the enemy of Christ, a disciple of Christ.

Fact four. The tomb of Jesus was empty. Atheist James Tabor places it beyond doubt that Jesus'

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