Week 26: Why Should I Be Convinced a Man Rose from the Dead?

We're wrapping up our year of discussions on tough questions about the faith. This week we're exploring the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, which is a keystone of the Christian faith. 



Key Themes:

• 1 Corinthians 15

• Inter-connectedness between theology and history

• Evidence of Jesus' resurrection

• John 12 ("doubting" Thomas)

Digging Deeper:

• Video: "The Cold Case for the Resurrection"

• Book: Without a Doubt, chs. 10 and 11

Week 14: Was Jesus a Real Historical Person?

We're wrapping up our series of conversations about questions our culture is asking about Jesus. This week we're focusing on the question, "Was Jesus a Real Historical Person?"

Key Themes: 

• Contemporary assertions about Jesus

• Sources behind the New Testament were eyewitnesses of Jesus

• Sources outside of Christianity provide compelling information about the origins of Christianity

• What are the minimal facts about Jesus that (almost all) scholars agree on?

Digging Deeper:

• Book: The Historical Jesus, by Gary Habermas

• Video: The Minimal Facts Approach to the Resurrection

Week 13: Ask Me Anything

Question #1: My friend says she is Coptic. What's that? Are they Christians? How are they different than evangelicals?

Question #2: Does Matthew 24:36 teach that Jesus didn't know the future?

Question #3: What's the role of parents in their children's faith?

VIDEO COMING SOON!

Question #4: Does the concept of "blessings" and "curses" apply to New Covenant Christians?

Week 12: How Can Jesus be Both God and Human?

We're continuing our series of conversations about what our culture is asking about Jesus. In this lesson, we focused on the question, "How Can Jesus be Both God and Human?"

Key Themes:

•  4 Arguments for the Incarnation:

• The Bible teaches that Jesus is God.

• The Bible teaches that Jesus was human. 

• The apostles taught that Jesus was God in human flesh.

• Col. 1:15–18

• Phil. 2:6–11  

• The early church taught that Jesus was God in human flesh.

• Creed of Chalcedon (451 AD)

• Three options to account for this data:

• Arianism: Jesus was a created being; not deity.

• Docetism: Jesus deity, not truly human

• Hypostatic Union: Jesus was both God and human 

• The real meaning of Christmas

• Col. 1:15–29

Digging Deeper:

• Video: I interviewed my friend, Fr. Daniel Habib (who is a priest at St. John Coptic Church) about how he would respond to some of Bart Ehrman’s ideas about the deity of Christ from an ancient faith perspective. I'd like to invite you to watch some highlights from our conversation.

Part 1

Part 2

• Book chapter: "How Can Jesus Christ be Both God and Man?" Without a Doubt, by Kenneth Samples

• Worship: If Jesus is who He claimed to be, then He's not merely an idea to be apprehended, but a person to be worshiped. 

Week 11: Did Jesus Claim to be God?

This week we started a new series of conversations about Jesus. People make all kinds of assumptions and assertions about who Jesus is, so we want to take the time to get some clarity on the issue. We started by discussing the question, "Did Jesus claim to be God?"

Key Themes:

• Setting the context: What are others saying about Jesus?

• "Who is Jesus?" (popular culture's POV)

• Bart Ehrman (liberal scholars' POV)

• Summary: What Christians believe about Jesus 

• Nicene Creed

•  4 Arguments that Jesus Considered Himself to be God

• Jesus equated Himself to be God.

• Jesus made claims that the Jewish leaders considered blasphemous.

• Jesus engaged in activities that only God can do.

• The major controversy in the early church was that Jesus wasn't human.

Digging Deeper:

• Book chapter: "Is Jesus a Man, Myth, Madman, Menace, Mystic, Martian or Messiah?" Without a Doubt, by Kenneth Samples

• Debate: "How Jesus Became God, part 1" Bart Ehrman vs. Simon Gathercole on Justin Brierley's radio show, Unbelievable