Gospel.com Blog

If somebody challenged you to defend your belief in the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, what would you say?

Is there any evidence that the Resurrection actually historically happened? Why should anybody believe that the Easter story isn’t a fairy tale cooked up by early Christians?

There’s no event more miraculous or important in the entire Bible than Jesus’ resurrection, and so it’s natural that skeptics would focus their challenges on the Resurrection story. And in fact, Christians should be honest and forthright in asking themselves: why do I believe in Jesus and the Easter story?

The FaithFacts ministry specializes in laying out evidence and answers in response to tough questions about Christianity, and their collection of evidence for the Resurrection is excellent reading at this time of year. Without overplaying their hand, they lay out a compelling case that reasonable people can and should take the Easter story seriously. So whether you’re looking for help in answering a critic’s charges, or want to find answers that will address your own honest questions about Jesus and the Resurrection, see if FaithFacts’ case makes sense to you.

Do we know the exact location of Jesus’ tomb? What is the Shroud of Turin, and is it authentic or an elaborate hoax? Why were there guards at Jesus’ tomb, and who were they? If you’ve ever wondered about some of the details of the Easter story, our friends at the Archaeological Study Bible can help: they’ve created a site that looks at some of the most interesting situations, questions and objects surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection.

There are ten different entries, each discussing an Easter-related topic with insight provided by archaeological discoveries. Here’s an excerpt from the entry on the Upper Room—is it possible to identify the exact place in Jerusalem where it the Last Supper took place?

Christian tradition, supported by Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 310-386), identifies the site of Holy Zion Church in Jerusalem as the place where the upper room was located. This may well be correct, but the story is complicated and details are disputed by scholars. [...]

The traditional location of the upper room at Holy Zion Church is called the Cenacle or, in Latin, the Coenaculum. It is located outside the Old City near the Zion Gate and may be seen on the sixth-century Madaba Map, an ancient mosaic map of the Holy Land. The Cenacle is also (erroneously) referred to as David’s Tomb.

There’s plenty more to satisfy the archaeology geek in all of us. Explore it yourself here.

Grief is a terrible, personal experience—everybody goes through it at some point in their life, but it must be processed by each person individually, personally, and privately. Your experience of grief is different than mine, and vice versa.

Grief has been on my mind this week. Not because I’m grieving myself right now, but because two prominent online writers have been chronicling with heart-wrenching openness their experiences with death, loss, and grief. Both accounts are worth reading, and highlight the ways that one’s spiritual worldview affects the way you process the unspeakable pain of losing a loved one.

The first is a series of articles by Meghan O’Rourke (a critic at Slate) journaling her experience of grief after the death of her mother. O’Rourke’s essays are fascinating and moving. While she doesn’t spell out all her religious befiefs, she seems to be writing from a generally agnostic perspective.

The second such account can be found in the ongoing blogging of Amy Welborn, a popular Catholic blogger whose husband died unexpectedly earlier this year. I’m amazed at Welborn’s ability to write so eloquently and publicly about such a painful experience, but I’m glad she’s doing so: her accounts of her family relationships, church interactions, and personal faith in the aftermath of her husband’s death are profoundly insightful. Her account is spread across many blog posts, but many of them can be found here. See in particular her post about what it means for her to “give something up” for Lent after her loss, and another about learning when and how to share “the cross you bear” with others.

Both accounts are worth reading, and as Ross Douthat recently pointed out, they make for interesting counterparts: one approaching death from a secular perspective, the other from the perspective of Christian faith. As Lent continues, and as we think and pray about the grief, loss, death, and hope that marked Easter, it seems appropriate to ponder these things.

(For more resources to help you through grief and loss, see the grief page at Gospel.com.)

Have you given something up for Lent? We’ve talked a bit about the common practice of choosing something in your life—a habit, a particular type of food, etc.—and voluntarily foregoing it during the weeks leading up to Easter.

Among my own circle of acquaintances, two things seem to come up frequently as things to give up during Lent: unhealthy food (soda, fast food, etc.) and television.

I’ll leave the food topic alone for now (and I should note that not everything people choose to give up for Lent needs to be “bad” or unhealthy); but the practice of giving up TV is something I’ve also seen written about a lot online. (And feel free to substitute another entertainment medium—your iPod, video games, online video, etc.—for “television.”)

Most of us have from time to time had the feeling that we invest too much of our lives in passive entertainment, to the detriment of our spiritual and personal growth. If the idea of going cold-turkey on your TV sounds weirdly intriguing, here are a few resources to help you think it through:

• Revive Our Hearts has a standing 30-day TV-free challenge that encourages Christians to turn off the TV for a month and observe the resulting effects on their personal lives. You can sign up for daily emails and read a number of helpful articles at the challenge website; and they also host a great series of radio shows about bringing your family’s television under control.
• Al Menconi has written extensively about the challenge of keeping TV-watching and passive entertainment balanced healthily in your family life. For starters, read his list of 10 steps to control TV in your home, and see his many articles about how entertainment affects us.

If you read through these resources, you’ll notice something important about them: the point of these efforts is not to arbitrarily cut TV out of your life, or to feel holier-than-thou because you don’t watch American Idol, or to rob your life of fun. It’s not about banning TV in your house forever, or making you feel guilty for watching your favorite show. It’s about becoming more aware of the way you use your time throughout each day and week.

It’s an experiment you can try any time of the year, not just during Lent. How about it?

Over the last two weeks, we’ve pointed out several Lent-related devotionals and Bible reading plans. But are you looking for something even more in-depth? If so, the Quotations Bible Study might be what you’re looking for.

The Quotations Bible Study is a Lent Bible study that narrows in on specific Bible quotations each week. Each Wednesday a new Bible study is posted online, along with study questions to help you dig deeply into the Bible text. Answers to the questions are posted on Fridays. (The study is already into week 2, but the study’s once-a-week pace should make it easy to get caught up.)

One thing that makes this Lent Bible study particularly interesting is that it doesn’t focus just on the Gospel accounts. The weekly Bible studies will take you all across the Bible, from the familiar Easter story to obscure-but-relevant parts of Deuteronomy. It’s a nice reminder that the Easter story—God’s great act of salvation—is truly a story that spans the entirety of Scripture and human history. If that sounds intriguing, give Quotation Bible Study a try!

Over Christmas, we pointed out Back to the Bible’s excellent “Twelve Voices of Christmas,” a 12-part audio drama that tells the Christmas story from the point of view of its original participants.

If you thought that was interesting, you’ll like the Twelve Voices of Easter, which gives the same treatment to the Easter story: twelve characters from the original Easter story all sharing their perspective on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Twelve Voices drama is particularly interesting in that it gives a voice to some of the lesser-known characters of the story—famous faces like Judas and Pilate are there of course, but also the less-familiar Caiaphas, Cleopas, and the anonymous centurion.

With about six weeks left until Easter, you could listen through the entire Easter story at a rate of two “voices” each week. Tune in and hear a fresh take on the Bible’s most celebrated event!

Ravi Zacharias’ Slice of Infinity daily devotional is always a worthwhile read—it’s a short daily devotional that nevertheless manages to dig a little deeper into its topics than most such devotionals.

But even if you aren’t already a reader, I recommend paying Slice of Infinity a visit each day during Lent. They’ve published some excellent reflections on Lent and Easter and why this is such a powerful part of the church year. Here’s a bit from today’s entry, on how Lent challenges us:

The time leading up to the promise of Easter and the hope of resurrection is something like the early signs of spring. Indications of new life spring forth all around us, each with the shocking call that we must prepare ourselves for what is coming, reflect on the place of hope via the road of suffering, and face the forces and temptations that come at us along the way. It is not always easy to prepare our hearts for the Cross of Christ, but the changing of seasons is upon us, and God beckons us forward. Henri Nouwen describes the tension eloquently: “The season of Lent, during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance, helps us in a special way to cry out for God’s mercy.” For forty contemplative days, the season of Lent calls us to the wakeful awareness that we are human, we are dust, and we are falling short, but that there is a story reaching beyond our lifetimes, our deaths, and our shortcomings, speaking new life where death stings and tears flow.

The latest reading is always available here, and you can browse back through the archives here. If you want to start with their Lent reflections, here’s the Ash Wednesday Slice that kicks it off.

What springs to mind when you think of Christmas? Chances are you think of Christmas trees, nicely-wrapped gifts, holiday parties… and Christmas music. In fact, one of the first signs that the holiday season is upon us each year is the sound of Christmas carols playing over the radio or over the speakers at stores.

Lent and Easter may not have the massive culture presence that Christmas does, but like Christmas, this is a season marked by memorable music. You might not hear it playing at the local mall, but the music of Easter includes some of the church’s most powerful and insightful songs. Easter has always been my personal favorite “musical season” in the church year; I’d like to build on Chris’ last post about music and worship by pointing out some Easter music resources:

• Songsandhymns.org has mp3s and sheet music for eight of the most famous Easter songs (see the Lent/Easter section on that page). Particularly noteworthy are Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. The latter song is a popular one at Easter Sunday services; it’s quite something to hear it sung by an enthusiastic congregation.
• HymnTime.com has a monster list of Easter songs (but beware the auto-playing MIDI music).
• Two years ago, the Vatican released mp3s of several beautiful Lent arrangements by the Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel and the Institute of Sacred Music. Despite theological differences between Protestant and Catholic churches, the music can be appreciated by any Christian.
• A reflection about the famous hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today at Christianity Today. There’s a bit more historical information at the hymn’s Wikipedia entry.
• An interesting essay about ancient Easter songs, many of which inspired the modern Easter hymns we know and love today.

Just before Jesus died on the cross he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This chilling question is the first line of the first verse of Psalm 22, a song of tremendous torment and devoted hope.

Paul Lusher over at The Center for Church Music has four short reflections on how Psalm 22 relates to Lent, or what he calls The Season of the Cross. They’re excellent articles that speak of the power of music and importance of worship during this season.

From the introduction to the first article:

No believer can read this Psalm without being confronted with the reality of Christ’s crucifixion. It inspires adoration – and a desire to understand what we can learn from this astonishing text. While we’ll never know if our Lord actually sang these words while hanging form that accursed tree, its words are infused with a holy wonder that can only inspire reverence and awe.

How are you commemorating Lent? There’s no Scriptural requirement to mark the season of Lent, of course. But many Christians find it helpful to mark the period of time before Easter with some sort of deliberate spiritual activity, whether it’s giving up a specific habit, denying yourself something, or engaging in a regular practice like devotions or Scripture reading.

Several writers from the IVPress community are engaging in Lent journeys and are sharing them online—and they invite anyone to participate along with them. The Strangely Dim blog has a good roundup of these; here’s a quick look at what these writers are doing for Lent:

• At Likewise Books, author Tamara Park is sending out a short email each week of Lent with a reflection, song, Scripture, and image to help you focus on Christ. Likewise encourages anyone who wants to receive the weekly emails to write to likewise@ivpress.com and put “Lenten Sacred Encounter” on the subject line.
• Author Kimberlee Conway Ireton is posting a devotional reflection on her blog each week of Lent. Her reflections are based on readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
• David Zimmerman, author of Deliver Us from Me-ville, is posting a quote from that book on his blog each day of Lent. Accompanying those quotes is a Me-ville reading guide you can follow to read through the book along with him during Lent. It’s all at his Loud Time blog, where he’s begun posting excerpts.

These are three solid ways of journeying through Lent—and there are certainly many more good Lent resources out there. We’ll share them here as we come across them in the weeks to come!