Living Dead Man

Here is another short video clip from Lee Strobel’s old show Faith Under Fire. This is a discussion between Mike Licona and Shabir Ally.

Is Jesus God? (9:08)

Muslim Apologist Shabir Ally debates Christian Apologist Mike Licona on whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. It’s a long video, but worth the time to watch and listen to. This is a different type of debate. It’s a more informal setting and structure and there is a “crossfire” section between the two apologists, followed by a time of Q&A from the audience. Enjoy!

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? Shabir Ally vs. Mike Licona (2:35:56)

I just finished reading The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Mike Licona last night. What a terrific, accessible book on this topic. If you are interested in this subject but have not read very much on it, then this is a great starting point. This book walks you right through a very simple, yet powerful argument for the Resurrection of Jesus. But it doesn’t stop at just making a positive case for the Resurrection because it also looks at many of the alternate naturalistic theories that exist as well as objections to the event. It handles them all simply, yet expertly. The appendix is a very detailed layout of the entire argument just presented in the book to make it easy to refresh your memory without needing to re-read the entire book. Finally, it comes with a Resurrection Game CD (Windows only) that presents the material in the book in an interactive game show fashion to help you reinforce your reading and your learning. I highly recommend picking up a copy and working your way through it.

Bonus: You can also play a flash version of the game online here.

Enjoy!

I’ve been engaged in an email conversation for the past week regarding the historical reliability of the New Testament, was Jesus a real historical person, and is the Resurrection (and Jesus’ other miracles) a real event or a later invention by Roman Catholicism and the Council of Nicaea. Just taking a slice of the overall conversation and focusing attention on the Resurrection, there are five facts that need to be addressed by any alternate or opposing theory if it is to effectively challenge the orthodox Christian view of the Resurrection of Jesus. These five facts are:

1. Jesus died by crucifixion
2. Jesus’ disciples believed that he rose and appeared to them
3. The conversion of the church persecutor Paul
4. The conversion of the skeptic James (brother of Jesus)
5. The empty tomb [1]

Why these five facts and not others? Because facts 1 thru 4 are accepted by nearly every historical scholar across the board. That means there is close to 100% agreement among all historical scholars of every stripe, believers and skeptics, that the first four items are real historical events. The fifth item, while not as widely held, still receives about 75% acceptance by historical scholars. Because of such broad acceptance of these facts, competing theories must account for them when attempting to reject the orthodox position that Jesus physically rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples, his brother, and Paul.

1. These five facts are taken from The Case for the Resurrection of Christ by Gary Habermas and Mike Licona. This particular approach is something that Gary came up with while he was a Ph.D. student in the mid-70s and had to write his dissertation on the Resurrection without being allowed to use a “the Bible says it, so that settles it” approach. He was forced to go to historical sources, many outside the Bible, to prove his case. This approach is called The Minimal Facts method.

This is the first debate between Mike Licona and Richard Carrier from 2004. They debate on the topic of the Resurrection. I choose this particular debate today because this evening they have their second debate at Washburn University in Topeka, KS. Tonight’s debate is titled “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” Hopefully it will be recorded so that I can post it at a later date. Please be praying for Mike this evening while he tackles this subject. While he may not be able to persuade Richard this evening (although you never know, Antony Flew was eventually swayed), there will be a room of young collegiate minds that will be in attendance and they could very well be moved to belief in Christ.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus – 2004 (2:12:38)