Belief by Cecilia Peyton

Ciz P. did a really great job of proving to atheists that our Lord is all powerful and truly did rise from the dead. This is a great focal point to strengthen catholic's faith in the resurrection as well! Atheists commonly think that the Resurrection of Christ was a "mistake" or a "lie". They usually have four main arguments that they try to persuade Christians into thinking are true. The first main argument of the Atheists against the Resurrection is that the Apostles stole the Body of Christ out of the tomb and claimed He was risen. This is not true because, for one, the Apostles were too scared to even come out of their upper room and there isn't any way they could have passed the guards. Secondly, if the soldiers were asleep how could they make the claim on who stole the body? Going with that, Roman Soldiers did not sleep on duty. Lastly, if the Apostles had stolen the body why did they not confess it when tortured? The second big argument against the Resurrection is that Christ faked his death and then escaped on his own, claiming to resurrect. Now this argument is fairly easy to prove wrong, you see, Romans knew how to crucify. No one survived a Roman crucifixion, the spear that pierced Christ's side was a technique for proving the victim's death. Also, if Christ had escaped he would have looked a lot different than the Apostle's description of him. The third Atheist argument is that the Apostles were hallucinating. If the Apostles were truly hallucinating, would not Christ's enemies point out the body still in the tomb? When people hallucinate they imagine things that they expect and fear, the Apostles did not expect Christ to come back from the dead. No one did, really. Christ was seen by too many people at different times for it to have been a hallucination. The fourth and most recent argument is that the Apostles knew Jesus was not risen but they made up a fairy tale of sorts, to symbolize Christ being always alive in our hearts. This is obviously not true for two reasons. One, the Apostles did not even believe in the Resurrection at first, in St. John's Gospel he states that it is an eyewitness testimony and is truth. Secondly, what would the Apostles gain by teaching Christ's Resurrection? Nothing, as they were all martyred. There is no other explanation for the Resurrection other than it was God himself who was gloriously Risen on Easter. Hope you all enjoyed this! Clare K.